International Day of Persons With Disabilities, 2012

Proclamation 8913 of December 3, 2012

International Day of Persons With Disabilities,
2012

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

Americans have always understood that each of us is
entitled to a set of fundamental freedoms and
protections under the law, and that when everyone gets
a fair shot at opportunity, all of us do better. For
more than two decades, our country has upheld those
basic promises for persons with disabilities through
the Americans with Disabilities Act--a sweeping civil
rights bill that moved our Nation forward in the
journey to equality for all. And from making health
care more affordable to ensuring new technologies are
accessible, we have continued to build on that
progress, guided by the belief that equal access and
equal opportunity are common principles that unite us
as one Nation.

On the 20th International Day of Persons with
Disabilities, we reaffirm that the struggle to ensure
the rights of every person does not end at our borders,
but extends to every country and every community. It
continues for the woman who is at greater risk of abuse
because of a disability and for the child who is denied
the chance to get an education because of the way he
was born. It goes on for the 1 billion people with
disabilities worldwide who all too often cannot attend
school, find work, access medical care, or receive fair
treatment. These injustices are an affront to our
shared humanity--which is why the United States has
joined 153 other countries around the world in signing
the Convention on the Rights of Persons with
Disabilities, which calls on all nations to establish
protections and liberties like those afforded under the
Americans with Disabilities Act. While Americans with
disabilities already enjoy these rights at home, they
frequently face barriers when they travel, conduct
business, study, or reside overseas. Ratifying the
Convention in the Senate would reaffirm America's
position as the global leader on disability rights and
better position us to encourage progress toward
inclusion, equal opportunity, full participation,
independent living, and economic self-sufficiency for
persons with disabilities worldwide.

We have come far in the long march to achieve equal
opportunity for all. But even as we partner with
countries across the globe in affirming universal human
rights, we know our work will not be finished until the
inherent dignity and worth of all persons with
disabilities is guaranteed. Today, let us renew our
commitment to meeting that challenge here in the United
States, and let us redouble our efforts to build new
paths to participation, empowerment, and progress
around the world.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the
United States, do hereby proclaim December 3, 2012, as
International Day of Persons with Disabilities. I call
on all Americans to observe this day with appropriate
ceremonies, activities, and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
third day of December, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twelve, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-seventh.