[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 36, Number 27 (Monday, July 10, 2000)]
[Pages 1581-1582]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 7327--Spirit of the ADA Month, 2000

July 1, 2000

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    The enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) 10 years 
ago this month signaled a transformation in our Nation's public policies 
toward people with disabilities. America is now a dramatically 
different--and better--country because of the ADA.
    In the last 10 years, we have worked hard to eliminate harmful 
stereotypes and have grown to understand disability as a natural part of 
the human experience. We are taking steps, such as renovating and 
constructing public accommodations to make them fully accessible, to 
ensure that people with disabilities are fully integrated into our 
communities and workplaces. And we have come to appreciate that people 
with disabilities are a key element--and an untapped resource--in 
sustaining our Nation's historic economic growth.
    Throughout our Administration, Vice President Gore and I have worked 
hard to achieve the ADA's core goals--equality of opportunity, full 
participation, independent living, and economic self-sufficiency. Our 
Administration has vigorously defended the ADA in court cases across the 
Nation; we are collaborating with State Medicaid directors to implement 
the Supreme Court's 1999 Olmstead decision, which prohibits unjustified 
isolation of institutionalized persons with disabilities; we helped 
ensure that 80 percent of America's public transit buses are now 
accessible; we are implementing the Ticket to Work and Work Incentives 
Improvement Act, which I proudly signed into law last December; we have 
worked closely with schools and colleges to improve the enrollment, 
retention, and graduation of students with disabilities; and my Task 
Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities is developing far-
reaching policies for a comprehensive, coordinated employment agenda.
    We still have much to accomplish. Because the many barriers 
confronting people with disabilities took generations to develop, 
breaking them down requires consistent, coordinated, and farsighted 
effort. We must work aggressively to increase the employment rates of 
people with disabilities by attacking a range of work disincentives, 
including barriers to education, health care, technology, housing, and 
transportation. We must provide real choices for people with 
disabilities to live and work in their communities with the necessary 
services and supports. And we must be vigilant in protecting the rights 
we have secured through decades of legal activism. I am encouraged that 
the first 10 years of the ADA's life have provided us with a solid 
foundation for meeting these challenges.
    To mark the ADA's 10th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the 
Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the American 
Association of People with Disabilities has organized a nationwide 
``Spirit of ADA'' Torch Relay. Twenty-four cities from coast to coast 
are hosting official relay events, and hundreds of communities are 
organizing additional local events as part of this national celebration. 
The Spirit of ADA's organizing theme is ``Renew the Pledge'' to 
encourage individuals, organizations, and government entities to 
reaffirm their commitment to the principles of the ADA and IDEA. Vice 
President Gore and I are proud to join in the celebration and to renew 
our own pledge to help advance the cause of disability rights.
    Promoting disability rights not only improves the lives of the 54 
million Americans with disabilities, it improves all of our lives. As 
President Franklin Roosevelt recognized more than 60 years ago, in words 
that are now inscribed on the FDR Memorial in our Nation's capital: ``No 
Country, however rich, can afford the waste of its human resources.''
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by

[[Page 1582]]

the Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim July 
2000 as Spirit of the ADA Month, 2000. I urge government officials, 
business people, community leaders, educators, and all the people of the 
United States, to celebrate the contributions people with disabilities 
have made, and continue to make, to the progress and prosperity of our 
Nation, and to renew our commitment to upholding the nondiscrimination 
principles of the ADA and IDEA.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this first day of 
July, in the year of our Lord two thousand, and of the Independence of 
the United States of America the two hundred and twenty-fourth.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., July 6, 2000]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on July 7.