Proclamation 5536

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Of the approximately 35 million disabled persons living in the United States, some eight and one-half million are residents of rural areas.

The proportion of disabled persons in rural areas is much higher but less concentrated than in urban areas. This means that disabled persons residing in rural areas are often isolated and far from the types of services, programs, and assistance that are available to their urban counterparts.

To focus attention on the unique problems faced by rural disabled persons and their families, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 406, has designated October 4, 1986, as "National Outreach to the Rural Disabled Day" and authorized and requested the President to issue a proclamation in observance of this event.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 4, 1986, as National Outreach to the Rural Disabled Day. I encourage all Americans to help bring attention to unmet needs of disabled persons in their communities and to underscore the potential of these disabled persons by observing the day with appropriate activities in their communities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this fourth day of October, 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 eleventh.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 10:52 a.m., October 6, 1986]