[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 33, Number 40 (Monday, October 6, 1997)]
[Pages 1480-1481]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7031--National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 1997

October 2, 1997

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    America has always been blessed with abundant natural resources; but 
we sometimes fail to recognize that we have been blessed with rich human 
resources as well. Millions of people in thousands of professions have 
built this great country with their labor and made a reality of the 
American Dream for themselves and their families. But for 20 percent of 
our population, that dream has too often been deferred or denied. 
Americans with disabilities have had to overcome barriers in 
communication, transportation, architecture, and attitude to take their 
rightful place in our Nation's work force.
    If America is to continue to grow and prosper, if we are to lead the 
challenging global economy of the 21st century, we cannot afford to 
ignore the talents, energy, and creativity of the 54 million Americans 
with disabilities. Thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act, we are 
making significant progress in eliminating workplace discrimination and 
ensuring equal job opportunities for people with disabilities. This 
landmark civil rights legislation, enacted 7 years ago with bipartisan 
support, has opened doors and brought down barriers across our country 
for people with disabilities. It has empowered them with the opportunity 
to become employees, taxpayers, and active participants in the life of 
their communities.
    To build on this progress, government at every level must work in 
partnership with business, labor, and community organizations to ensure 
that all Americans, regardless of disability, can live and learn and 
work alongside their fellow citizens. Only when we guarantee the 
inclusion, empowerment, and independence of all our people will America 
fulfill its great promise of freedom and opportunity.
    To recognize the full potential of individuals with disabilities and 
to encourage all Americans to work toward their full integration into 
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 1997 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 achieve the full integration into the work 
force of people with disabilities.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this second day of 
October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-seven, and 
of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and 
twenty-second.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:53 a.m., October 3, 
1997]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on October 
6.

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