Hillary Clinton Statement on the International Day of Disabled Persons

"For 15 years, the International Day of Disabled Persons has provided a great occasion for citizens of all nations to unite behind our shared vision of a kind and just world that treats all people as equals. It is an occasion to celebrate the progress we have made toward securing equal rights for six hundred million people around the world, including fifty-four million Americans, who live and work with some form of disability. It is also a time to remember how far we still must go to create jobs and schools and homes and communities where all kinds of obstacles and discrimination, concrete and less tangible, are a tragedy of our past.

"Today, in the United States, people with disabilities have half the employment rate and double the poverty rate of Americans without disabilities. I began my work to expand opportunities for people with disabilities 35 years ago. I had taken a job with the Children's Defense Fund, and I walked door-to-door trying to understand why many young children did not attend local public schools. It was heartbreaking to meet children with disabilities who desperately wanted to learn and succeed, but were blocked from schools that refused to accommodate them. The Children's Defense Fund submitted our findings to the United States Congress, and it was not long before the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act became law in America.

"As President, I will continue to work to build an America that leads the world in tearing down the barriers that face people with disabilities and in providing opportunities for all Americans to learn and work and thrive. I helped write the IDEA Reauthorization Act in 2004. I worked to pass the Community Choice Act of 2007, and I strongly supported the Americans with Disabilities Restoration Act, which I look forward to signing into law as President. I am also proud to have set forth a bold agenda for helping all individuals with disabilities fulfill their potential by increasing access to employment opportunities. My agenda recommits the federal government to hiring 100,000 people with disabilities, doubles our investment in work-enabling technologies, eliminates disincentives for work that are present in many federal programs, and more. I have also proposed a plan to provide guaranteed, quality, affordable health care coverage to all Americans. Under my plan, no one will ever be denied health care because of preexisting conditions or risk factors.

"All my policy proposals rest upon a single, unifying belief that reflects what, above all, we celebrate on the International Day of Disabled Persons: that we are all in this together - one people, one world - and that kindness and justice for all is the common seed of the American dream and the dreams of us all."