Presidential Document2022-21774
National Disability Employment Awareness Month, 2022
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 5, 2022
Signed
September 30, 2022
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 192 (Wednesday, October 5, 2022)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 192 (Wednesday, October 5, 2022)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 60251-60252]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21774]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 87 , No. 192 / Wednesday, October 5, 2022 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 60251]]
Proclamation 10460 of September 30, 2022
National Disability Employment Awareness Month,
2022
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
During National Disability Employment Awareness Month,
we celebrate the essential contributions to our
workplaces, economy, and Nation made by disabled
Americans and recommit to promoting equal opportunity
for all people.
For far too long in this country, employers could
refuse to hire you if you were disabled. Stores could
turn you away. If you used a wheelchair, there was no
real way to take a bus or train to work or school.
America simply was not built for all Americans. In
1945, President Truman established National Disability
Employment Awareness Month and issued the first
national call for disabled people to access all the
opportunities and rewards of work. Forty-five years
later, in 1990, the Congress came together to pass the
Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), which helps to
ensure our workforce is more productive, prosperous,
and inclusive by banning disability discrimination,
including in the workplace. Courageous activists of all
backgrounds had fought for decades to lay the
groundwork and change public consciousness, and I was
proud to cosponsor this groundbreaking civil rights
law. Since then, the ADA has not only transformed
lives, but it has also inspired over 180 other
countries to pass similar laws and brought us closer to
realizing the full promise of our Nation.
Still, we have a long way to go. Studies have found
that Americans with disabilities are especially
productive and motivated workers--but they still have a
harder time getting jobs, promotions, and fair pay.
They are three times less likely than others to be
employed and often earn sub-minimum wages for their
work. That is wrong. We have an obligation to change
that, and as the Nation's largest employer, the Federal
Government has a responsibility to set an example as a
model workplace where everyone is valued and treated
with respect. Last year, I issued an Executive Order
putting diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility
front and center across the entire Federal Government.
To ensure our Federal workforce actually looks like
America, the Executive Order directs agencies to find
and remove barriers to hiring and promotion and to
recruit more recent graduates with disabilities.
Meanwhile, my Administration's Labor Department is
protecting the rights of workers with disabilities in
the private sector, cracking down on employers who
discriminate, and ending the unfair use of sub-minimum
wages. The Departments of Education, Labor, Health and
Human Services, and the Social Security Administration,
are helping State and local governments, employers, and
nonprofits that hire people with disabilities to access
funding for competitive integrated employment
opportunities. My Administration's Bipartisan
Infrastructure Law is expanding access to transit,
updating old train stations and airports so more people
with disabilities can travel and work. We are working
to ease the added threat the pandemic has posed to the
disabled community and its support networks. Where long
COVID has now risen to the level of a disability, we
are helping people understand their rights and get the
workplace accommodations they need.
[[Page 60252]]
This month, let us acknowledge workers with
disabilities who make our communities, our economy, and
our Nation stronger. Let us continue the legacy of
generations of disability rights activists who have
fought for equal employment opportunities, integrated
workplaces, and equal pay for equal work. Let us
deliver the promise of America to all Americans.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 2022
as National Disability Employment Awareness Month. I
urge all Americans to embrace the talents and skills
that workers with disabilities bring and to promote the
right to equal employment opportunity for all.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirtieth day of September, in the year of our Lord two
thousand twenty-two, and of the Independence of the
United States of America the two hundred and forty-
seventh.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2022-21774
Filed 10-4-22; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F3-P
</pre></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 5, 2022.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.