National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 1997

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Part IV

The President

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Proclamation 7031--National Disability Employment Awareness Month,
1997

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Title 3--
The President

Proclamation 7031 of October 2, 1997

National Disability Employment Awareness Month,
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.