[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 41 (Monday, October 14, 1996)]
[Pages 1970-1971]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6929--National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 1996

October 4, 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.

[[Page 1971]]

    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.
    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.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., October 9, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
10. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.