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Speeches
President Bill Clinton
The 9th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act
July 26, 1999
Washington, DC
Today I join Americans across our country in celebrating the 9th
anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Next year, at the
dawn of the millennium, we will celebrate the 10th anniversary of the
Americans with Disabilities Act and the 25th anniversary of the
Individuals with Disabilities Act. These two laws, championed by
disability advocates throughout the United States and serving as a
beacon for people throughout the world, have helped to transform our
nation's disability policy.
In 1993, Vice President Gore and I established three core
principles for our Administration's disability policy -- inclusion,
independence, and empowerment. Like many racial and ethnic groups
throughout history, people with disabilities have endured isolation
and segregation because of social discrimination. Now, we strive to
promote inclusion for people with disabilities in all aspects of
American society, just as we do for racial and ethnic minorities. In
the past, Americans have presumed that disability meant a life of
dependence. Now, we recognize that people with disabilities want to --
and can -- lead independent lives and contribute to our nation's
prosperity. For too long, we have encumbered disabled Americans with
paternalistic policies that prevent them from reaching their
potential. But now, we endeavor to empower individuals with the tools
they need to achieve their dreams.
Disability advocates have drawn our nation's attention to the
pervasive stigma and discrimination faced by people with disabilities.
Never before has disability been so prominently discussed in the
mainstream media. We must use this rising level of awareness to infuse
the values of the ADA -- equality of opportunity, full participation,
independent living, and economic self-sufficiency -- into all aspects
of government and social policy.
To succeed, we must be vigilant in defending the ADA as well as
vigorous in enforcing it. I am pleased that the Supreme Court upheld
the rights established in the ADA by recognizing that the unjustified
isolation and segregation of persons with disabilities in
institutional settings is a form of discrimination prohibited by the
ADA. But I am concerned that the way the Court defined disability
could undermine the ADA's nondiscrimination goals. We must work
together to ensure that the ADA's original intent -- to dismantle
discrimination based on accumulated myths and fears -- is
sustained. No American -- on account of race, national origin, gender,
sexual orientation, religious beliefs, or disability -- should be
denied the opportunity to hold a job for which he or she is fully
capable.
While the ADA has been a source of hope to our citizens with
disabilities, it has not been enough to change the intolerable rate of
unemployment. My Task Force on Employment of Adults with Disabilities
is building on the ADA's foundation by developing a coordinated and
active employment agenda for people with disabilities. Increasing
access to health care, providing more assistance at home and on the
job, maximizing the use of new technologies -- these are the kinds of
actions that will empower all Americans to participate fully in the
workplace.
This year, my budget includes a three-part initiative aimed at
removing significant barriers to work for people with disabilities.
This proposal invests $2 billion over five years to help provide
better health care options for people with disabilities who work by
fully funding the Work Incentives Improvement Act; offers a $1,000 tax
credit for work-related expenses; and doubles our investment in
assistive technology. My budget also would target tax credits for
working adults with disabilities who have long-term care needs. On
July 1, we raised the amount an SSDI or SSI recipient can earn --
without losing crucial benefits -- from $500 to $700 per month. And,
under the leadership of Tipper Gore, we are beginning to address the
stigma and discrimination confronted by people with psychiatric
disabilities.
By modernizing and strengthening Medicare, increasing access to
prescription drugs, and passing a meaningful patients' bill of rights,
we can further reach our goals of inclusion, independence, and
empowerment for people with disabilities. I especially urge Congress
to move swiftly and pass the Work Incentives Improvement Act. As I
said in my State of the Union Address, "No one should have to choose
between keeping health care and taking a job." We cannot think of
Social Security benefits and other services and supports as
antithetical to the civil rights goals of the ADA. We must, instead,
view them as important tools for empowering people with disabilities
to lead independent lives as equal citizens in our social mainstream.
Thank you for all you have done to realize the promise of the
ADA. Only by fully utilizing the contributions of every sector of our
society -- advocacy, business, service organizations, government --
can we achieve our goals. Together, as Justin Dart continually reminds
us, we shall overcome.
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