[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 145 (Friday, July 29, 1994)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 38873-38874]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-18733]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: July 29, 1994]


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Part VI





The President





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Proclamation 6708--Anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, 
1994


                        Presidential Documents 


Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 145
Friday, July 29, 1994

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Title 3--
The President
                Proclamation 6708 of July 26, 1994

 

Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities 
                Act, 1994

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                The Americans with Disabilities Act is a national 
                monument to freedom. Contained within its broad pillars 
                of independence, inclusion, and empowerment is the core 
                ideal of equality that has defined this country since 
                its beginnings. For when America's founders set down 
                the guiding words of freedom, first among them, proudly 
                were, ``We the People.'' Our young Nation would be 
                governed not by kings or tyrants--America would be led 
                by farmers and doctors, artists and merchants, teachers 
                and parents, each possessing widely different knowledge 
                and skills. Some would be active participants in 
                community life. Others would embrace the quiet joys of 
                home. But all of the people would make an essential 
                contribution to the character and quality of America.

                On this, the fourth anniversary of the Americans with 
                Disabilities Act (ADA), we mark the full extension of 
                the ADA's employment provisions to our Nation's small 
                businesses. In 1990, members of both political parties 
                resolved to make laws of inclusion, and today, 
                telephone relay systems connect deaf and hard-of-
                hearing individuals to Americans everywhere. Four years 
                ago, we pledged to build bridges to independence, and 
                today, architectural barriers are coming down in office 
                buildings and movie theaters across the country, making 
                room for new passageways to participation. We moved to 
                craft policies of empowerment, and today, leaders in 
                public and private sectors alike are recognizing the 
                vast potential of every citizen and the breathtaking 
                determination of each to create and to achieve. With 
                this Act, we began a new era for 49 million of our 
                fellow citizens. And today, celebrating the rights of 
                people with disabilities, we declare in no uncertain 
                terms that ``We the People'' means all of us, with our 
                myriad differences and doubts, with our infinite 
                talents and aspirations.

                This day--a wonderful, vigorous celebration of the 
                progress and possibilities for equal opportunity--must 
                also include an equally vigorous commitment to continue 
                the fight. Now is the time to act on our understanding 
                that having a physical or mental disability is a part 
                of the human experience. We must work to fully 
                implement the provisions of the ADA and to see that 
                these and related laws are aggressively enforced in our 
                schools and workplaces, in our national government and 
                local councils. Most important, we must finally 
                overcome the remaining handicaps of prejudice and 
                stereotype. Discrimination, ignorance, intolerance--
                these barriers are a far greater tragedy than any 
                common limitation of the human mind or body. And it is 
                only in overcoming these that America will truly be 
                worthy of its people.

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, by virtue of the authority 
                vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United 
                States, do hereby proclaim July 26, 1994, as the 
                Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I 
                call upon the people of the United States to observe 
                this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and nineteenth.

                    (Presidential Sig.)>

[FR Doc. 94-18733
Filed 7-28-94; 10:48 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P

                Editorial note: For the President's remarks on signing 
                this proclamation, see issue 30 of the Weekly 
                Compilation of Presidential Documents.