[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 191 (Friday, October 2, 1998)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 52957-52958]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-26595]


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                         Presidential Documents 
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  Federal Register / Vol. 63, No. 191 / Friday, October 2, 1998 / 
Presidential Documents  

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 Title 3--
 The President

[[Page 52957]]

                Proclamation 7128 of September 29, 1998

                
National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 
                1998

                By the President of the United States of America

                A Proclamation

                Today America is enjoying great prosperity, with the 
                prospect of an even brighter future in the 21st 
                century. Our economy is the strongest it has been in a 
                generation. We have created more than 16 million new 
                jobs in the past 5 years, and we are witnessing the 
                lowest inflation rate in three decades, the lowest 
                unemployment rate in 28 years, and the smallest welfare 
                rolls in 29 years. But we cannot consider ourselves 
                truly successful until all Americans, including the 30 
                million working-age adults with disabilities, have 
                access to the tools and opportunities they need to 
                achieve economic independence.

                The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is making it 
                possible for millions of Americans to participate more 
                fully in our society. However, 8 years after the ADA's 
                passage, the unemployment rate among people with 
                disabilities is still far too high. Almost 75 percent 
                of working-age Americans with severe disabilities 
                remain unemployed. If America is to live up to its 
                promise of equal opportunity, and if our economy is to 
                continue to strengthen and expand, we must be able to 
                draw on the untapped energy, talents, and creativity of 
                this large and capable segment of our population.

                Last March, I issued an Executive order to establish 
                the National Task Force on Employment of Adults with 
                Disabilities and begin to break down the remaining 
                barriers for people with disabilities. I charged the 
                Task Force with creating a coordinated and aggressive 
                national strategy to make equality of opportunity, full 
                participation, inclusion, and economic self-sufficiency 
                a reality for all working-age Americans with 
                disabilities. I have also directed the Attorney 
                General, the Chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity 
                Commission, and the Administrator of the Small Business 
                Administration to increase public awareness of rights 
                and responsibilities under the ADA. It is particularly 
                important to reach out in this effort to the small 
                business community, because it employs most of our 
                Nation's private work force.

                Employment is the best path to economic security and to 
                personal and professional fulfillment. I salute 
                disability community leaders, business and labor 
                leaders, government officials, community organizations, 
                and concerned citizens who are working together to 
                remove the remaining obstacles on that path so that all 
                Americans with disabilities have the opportunity to 
                contribute to our national life.

                To recognize the great potential of people with 
                disabilities and to encourage all Americans to work 
                toward their full integration in the 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 
                1998 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 52958]]

                IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this 
                twenty-ninth day of September, in the year of our Lord 
                nineteen hundred and ninety-eight, and of the 
                Independence of the United States of America the two 
                hundred and twenty-third.

                    (Presidential Sig.)

[FR Doc. 98-26595
Filed 10-1-98; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3195-01-P