Proclamation 5131—National Decade of Disabled Persons

During the 1981 International Year and the 1982 National Year of Disabled Persons, we learned about the many accomplishments of disabled persons, both young and old. We also gained vast new insights into the significant impact that access to education, rehabilitation, and employment have on their lives.

The progress we have made is a tribute to the courage and determination of our disabled people, to innovative research and development both in technology and training techniques to assist the disabled, and to those—whether in the private or public sectors-who have given so generously of their time and energies to help enrich the lives of disabled persons.

We must encourage the Provision of rehabilitation and other comprehensive services oriented toward independence within the context of family and community. For only through opportunities to use the full range of their potential will our disabled citizens attain the independence and dignity that are their due.

In furtherance of the initiatives encouraged by observance of the International Year of Disabled Persons, the United Nations General Assembly has proclaimed the years 1983 through 1992 as the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons. The Congress of the United States, by House Concurrent Resolution 39, has requested the President to take all steps within his authority to implement, within the United States, the objectives of the United Nations Decade of Disabled Persons as proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly on December 3, 1982.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the years 1983 through 1992 as the National Decade of Disabled Persons. I call upon all Americans in both the private and public sectors to join our continuing efforts to assist disabled people and to continue the progress made over the past two years.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-eighth day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth.

RONALD REAGAN