Proclamation 5905

By the President of the United States of America A Proclamation

Craniofacial conditions of some kind affect approximately 465,000 people in the United States each year. Hereditary and congenital conditions such as Down Syndrome and cleft lip and palate are the leading reasons for facial disfigurement. Hundreds of thousands of others suffer facial disfigurement from cancer. Advanced medical technology can save people who might otherwise die from accidents or burns, but their faces remain affected. People with craniofacial conditions often experience emotional isolation and rejection and live in seclusion from society.

Now, various foundations and institutions are addressing their needs. They have begun to fund programs for research and education regarding craniofacial conditions, to initiate the funding of surgical and nonsurgical treatment for people from our country and around the world, and to seek people who can be helped.

Mutual support organizations now forming are dedicated to helping the facially disfigured, their families, and the professionals who care for them. Through newsletters and computer linkages, people throughout our Nation offer shared experiences and resources for recovery. These praiseworthy mutual support groups encourage people to esteem the person behind every face.

Because of the difficulties of looking "different," it is important that the public understand the exceptional challenges confronting people with craniofacial conditions. Personal and community outreach efforts to befriend and assist these people deserve our cooperation, participation, and recognition.

The Congress, by House Joint Resolution 573, has designated the week of November 13 through November 19, 1988, as "National Craniofacial Awareness Week" 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 the week of November 13 through November 19, 1988, as National Craniofacial Awareness Week. I call upon the people of the United States and concerned organizations to observe that week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities that foster awareness about craniofacial conditions and the continuing efforts to lessen the suffering of people afflicted.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this seventh day of November, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eighty-eight, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirteenth.

RONALD REAGAN

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 3:06 p.m., November 8, 1988]