Proclamation 5486—Better Hearing and Speech Month, 1986

Sounds, whether we produce them or receive them, are an integral part of our lives. Musical sounds bring us a whole range of delight. Much of our knowledge of the world around us we learn through sounds: conversations allow us to gather and convey information, to question and to receive answers; ringing fire alarms warn us to clear a burning building. Sounds—both the ones we hear and the ones we make—help us to understand others and be understood.

More than fifteen million Americans strive daily to surmount the isolation that hearing impairment so often brings. Over ten million Americans endeavor to communicate despite speech disorders. We can help people with communicative disorders fulfill their potential by identifying and removing the man-made obstacles that limit their educational and occupational opportunities. Our efforts will enrich not only their lives, but our own.

Today, in medical institutions across the country, scientists supported by the National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke and by numerous voluntary health agencies are carrying out a wide range of research to find better ways to prevent, treat, and cure hearing and speech disorders. Investigators have discovered much about the structure and function of the systems involved in hearing and speech. They have developed new devices and medications that offer hope where before there was none. Still, much remains to be learned.

To heighten public awareness of hearing and speech disorders, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 284, has designated the month of May 1986 as "Better Hearing and Speech Month" and has authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this month.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the month of May 1986 as Better Hearing and Speech Month, and I call upon the people of the United States to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

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

RONALD REAGAN