Today, the White House initiated the first monthly White House Call on Disability Issues. These calls will be continued on the first week of every month.  Today’s call was hosted by Kareem Dale, Assistant to the President on Disability Issues. The two speakers for the call were Alexa Posney from the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitation Services (OSERS) and the State Department’s Judy Heumann, Special Advisor on Disability Rights. Ms. Posney discussed several issues including the opportunity for people with disabilities when it comes to education, access to employment and self-sufficiency, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), and she shared stats in relation to people with disabilities and education such as that there has been an increase in enrollment for people with disabilities in 2 and 4 year colleges. Ms. Heumann discussed the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the process that the US government goes through to ratify the UN Convention.  She also discussed today’s celebration of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (which is today) and opportunities for employment for people with disabilities. As part of her discussion on employment, Ms. Heumann shared that there are internship opportunities at the State Department on a year round basis for people with disabilities. At the end of the call, there was a period set aside for Q&A.  These included questions about making fuel pumps more accessible to people with disabilities to questions dealing with census numbers in regards to people with disabilities. Check the UN website to read the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at http://www.un.org/disabilities/convention/conventionfull.shtml.