Proclamation 4314

September 17, 1974

The single greatest difficulty facing the handicapped person is not his or her own disability but rather the attitudes of society toward that disability. Yet handicapped people have proven themselves capable of performing a wide range of jobs with great diligence, skill, and efficiency.

As scientists, teachers, Government officials, aerospace engineers-in nearly every occupation-otherwise qualified but handicapped Americans have contributed significantly to our Nation's progress.

Let us resolve in 1974 to make use of the talents and abilities and energies of the handicapped. Our Nation needs them.

Now, Therefore, I, Gerald R. Ford, President of the United States of America, in accordance with the joint resolution of Congress approved August 11, 1945, as amended (36 U.S.C. 155), designating the first week in October of each year as National Employ the Handicapped Week, do hereby call upon the people of the United States to observe the week beginning October 6, 1974, for such purpose.

I urge the Nation's Governors, Mayors, and all other public officials, as well as leaders in every area of American life, to join with the handicapped themselves in active participation in this observance.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventeenth day of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred seventy-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America, the one hundred ninety-ninth.



GERALD R. FORD