THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
_______________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release October 25,
2000
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT
Today, on National Disability Mentoring Day, I commend the members of
my Administration and the public and private organizations across the
nation that are conducting mentoring activities to help expand employment
opportunities for young people with disabilities. I also applaud the young
people participating in Mentoring Day, and extend my special
congratulations to the winners of the Disability Mentoring Day Essay
Contest. Each participant has helped advance the goal of today?s effort to
expose young people with disabilities to a variety of career options, while
acquainting employers with the contributions that this future talent pool
can make.
I am pleased to report that my Administration is taking specific
actions to help more people with disabilities participate in the workforce.
These steps include new public-private partnerships to close the digital
divide for people with disabilities, and a variety of grants to advance the
goals of the landmark Ticket to Work and Work Incentives Improvement Act I
signed last year.
I am also glad to report important progress in both federal and
private sector initiatives to hire more people with disabilities. First,
the federal government is on track to meet the goal I announced on the 10th
Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act to hire 100,000 more
persons with disabilities over five years. Second, CEOs of a dozen major
companies are leading the way by pledging to support the recruitment,
hiring, and promotion of individuals with disabilities.
Together, these important steps represent a powerful statement about
what we can accomplish when federal, state, and private sector partners
work together toward the full inclusion of people with disabilities in our
nation?s historic economic growth and prosperity. Hiring people with
disabilities is not just the right thing to do. It?s good for business,
it?s good for communities, and it?s good for all Americans.
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