[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 198 (Thursday, October 10, 1996)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 53291-53292]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-26223]


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  Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 198 / Thursday, October 10, 1996 / 
Presidential Documents  

[[Page 53291]]


                Proclamation 6929 of October 4, 1996

                
National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 
                1996

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                As we rapidly approach the 21st century, we are 
                entering an age dominated by information and 
                technology, the microchip and the global marketplace. 
                We can't afford to waste the talents of a single person 
                if we are to succeed in this exciting and challenging 
                new world, and people with disabilities have a major 
                role to play in helping us to achieve a dynamic, 
                productive work force in a united community.

                In the darkest days of World War II, the American 
                people looked to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a 
                person with a disability, for leadership and strength. 
                Today, as college presidents and scientists, world-
                class athletes and physicians, our citizens with 
                disabilities make their own invaluable contributions to 
                our Nation's strength. From Main Street to Wall Street, 
                they have performed successfully at every level of 
                business and government, demonstrating in large ways 
                and small that they can meet the same challenges as 
                everyone else.

                 We can be proud of the great progress we have made in 
                eliminating overt discrimination. Leaders of business 
                and industry, veterans service organizations, and 
                labor, as well as community leaders from all walks of 
                life, have worked together to implement the Americans 
                with Disabilities Act, which bans discrimination in 
                recruitment, interviewing, hiring, and advancement.

                 Yet, 50 years after President Roosevelt's death, too 
                many doors to employment remain closed to individuals 
                with disabilities. We must work to eradicate more 
                subtle forms of discrimination. We must make sure that 
                our words of support for empowerment and inclusion 
                continue to be reflected in our policies. It is up to 
                all of us--employers, labor, educators, veterans, 
                people with disabilities, and government--to stay the 
                course until every barrier against individuals with 
                disabilities comes down.

                In recognition of the great potential of people with 
                disabilities, and to encourage all Americans to work 
                toward their full participation in our work force, the 
                Congress, by Joint Resolution, approved August 11, 
                1945, as amended (36 U.S.C. 155), has designated 
                October of each year as ``National Disability 
                Employment Awareness Month.''

                NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the 
                United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 
                1996 as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. 
                I call upon government officials, educators, labor 
                leaders, employers, and the people of the United States 
                to observe this month with appropriate programs and 
                activities that reaffirm our determination to fulfill 
                both the letter and the spirit of the Americans with 
                Disabilities Act.

[[Page 53292]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen 
                hundred and ninety-six, and of the Independence of the 
                United States of America the two hundred and twenty-
                first.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 96-26223
Filed 10-9-96; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P