Proclamation 5247—National Employ the Handicapped Week, 1984

Today we are at a benchmark in the employment of men and women with disabilities. We have made more progress than we would have dared dream of a century ago. But this very progress underlines the pressing needs which have not yet been met.

These are needs that will demand the utmost of all segments of our population-public and private, professional and volunteer, industry and labor, those who provide services and those who use them.

We have made great gains because of better training and job preparation, greater public understanding of disability, and the willingness of employers to accommodate jobs to disabled workers. We have actively encouraged this progress through programs such as equal employment opportunity and targeted tax credits. Disabled people have been given expanded opportunities for jobs with futures, but obstacles to the effective utilization of such opportunities remain, and technological advances are still beyond the reach of many who need them.

The Congress, by joint resolution approved August 11, 1945, as amended (36 U.S.C. 155), has called for the designation of the first full week in October of each year as "National Employ the Handicapped Week." During this week, let us renew our commitment to increase opportunities for disabled citizens and to help them attain their personal goals.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week beginning October 7, 1984, as National Employ the Handicapped Week. I urge all governors, mayors, other public officials, leaders in business and labor, and private citizens to help meet the challenge of the future by ensuring that disabled people have the opportunity to participate fully in the economic life of the Nation.

In Witness Whereof I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of October, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and ninth.

RONALD REAGAN