Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act, 1994

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Part VI

The President

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Proclamation 6708--Anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act,
1994

Federal Register
Vol. 59, No. 145
Friday, July 29, 1994

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Title 3--
The President
Proclamation 6708 of July 26, 1994

Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities
Act, 1994

By the President of the United States of America

A Proclamation

The Americans with Disabilities Act is a national
monument to freedom. Contained within its broad pillars
of independence, inclusion, and empowerment is the core
ideal of equality that has defined this country since
its beginnings. For when America's founders set down
the guiding words of freedom, first among them, proudly
were, ``We the People.'' Our young Nation would be
governed not by kings or tyrants--America would be led
by farmers and doctors, artists and merchants, teachers
and parents, each possessing widely different knowledge
and skills. Some would be active participants in
community life. Others would embrace the quiet joys of
home. But all of the people would make an essential
contribution to the character and quality of America.

On this, the fourth anniversary of the Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA), we mark the full extension of
the ADA's employment provisions to our Nation's small
businesses. In 1990, members of both political parties
resolved to make laws of inclusion, and today,
telephone relay systems connect deaf and hard-of-
hearing individuals to Americans everywhere. Four years
ago, we pledged to build bridges to independence, and
today, architectural barriers are coming down in office
buildings and movie theaters across the country, making
room for new passageways to participation. We moved to
craft policies of empowerment, and today, leaders in
public and private sectors alike are recognizing the
vast potential of every citizen and the breathtaking
determination of each to create and to achieve. With
this Act, we began a new era for 49 million of our
fellow citizens. And today, celebrating the rights of
people with disabilities, we declare in no uncertain
terms that ``We the People'' means all of us, with our
myriad differences and doubts, with our infinite
talents and aspirations.

This day--a wonderful, vigorous celebration of the
progress and possibilities for equal opportunity--must
also include an equally vigorous commitment to continue
the fight. Now is the time to act on our understanding
that having a physical or mental disability is a part
of the human experience. We must work to fully
implement the provisions of the ADA and to see that
these and related laws are aggressively enforced in our
schools and workplaces, in our national government and
local councils. Most important, we must finally
overcome the remaining handicaps of prejudice and
stereotype. Discrimination, ignorance, intolerance--
these barriers are a far greater tragedy than any
common limitation of the human mind or body. And it is
only in overcoming these that America will truly be
worthy of its people.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, WILLIAM J. CLINTON, President of the
United States of America, by virtue of the authority
vested in me by the Constitution and laws of the United
States, do hereby proclaim July 26, 1994, as the
Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. I
call upon the people of the United States to observe
this day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord
nineteen hundred and ninety-four, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and nineteenth.

(Presidential Sig.)>

Editorial note: For the President's remarks on signing
this proclamation, see issue 30 of the Weekly
Compilation of Presidential Documents.