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National Architectural Barrier Awareness Week Letter to Members of the National Association of Theater Owners.

May 19, 1978

To the Theater Owners of America

America loves to go to the movies, but many people in our country who would like to go to the movies cannot. Even two steps at the theater entrance loose insurmountable obstacles to many handicapped people.

During National Architectural Barriers Week, all Americans are being called upon to recognize those barriers that physically and psychologically keep handicapped Americans from full participation in our society. I am calling on all Americans to do everything possible to eliminate such barriers. I commend your president's call on theater owners to improve the access to motion picture theaters for the handicapped. I urge the American business community to follow your voluntary example by creating more accessible facilities.

The National Architectural and Transportation Compliance Board here in Washington will be glad to provide information and advice on how you can make your theaters more accessible to the physically handicapped. Also, the Tax Reform Act of 1976 allows a tax deduction up to $25,000 for businesses that make facilities accessible to the handicapped. This deduction is available through 1979.

I congratulate you on your leadership and on your efforts to help build a barrier-free America.

JIMMY CARTER

Note: The President proclaimed the week of May 21-27, 1978, as National Architectural Barrier Awareness Week by Proclamation 4566, of April 25. The text of the proclamation is printed on page 774 of this volume.

In response to the proclamation, Marvin Goldman, president of the National Association of Theater Owners, issued an open letter to members of the association calling on them to do all that they can to eliminate physical barriers in movie theaters across the country.

Jimmy Carter, National Architectural Barrier Awareness Week Letter to Members of the National Association of Theater Owners. Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/244842

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