AUCD Members Attend Ceremony Honoring Senator Bob Dole

December 12, 2012

On December 4, Barbara LeRoy of the Wayne State University UCEDD, Cynthia Rowland from the Utah State UCEDD, and Robert Stodden, Norma Jean Stodden, and Jean Johnson with the Hawaii UCEDD, were invited to the Senate Dirksen Building for a ceremony honoring and celebrating Senator Bob Dole. This ceremony was sponsored by U.S. International Council on Disabilities and over 50 other organizations, including AUCD, serving veterans and people with disabilities. Senator Dole has been a life-long advocate for services for people with disabilities.

Following the ceremony, the folks from the UCEDDs walked to the U.S. Capitol to witness in the Senate Chambers the historic vote on the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). Prior to the vote, Senators John Kerry and John McCain presented impassioned bipartisan speeches in support of the CRPD. Senator Dole, a strong supporter of the CRPD and in a wheel chair following a recent hospitalization, was wheeled onto the floor of the Senate by his wife, the former Senator Elizabeth Dole.