Proclamation 5196—National Arts With the Handicapped Week, 1984

Art flows from and nourishes the human spirit. Through art, we learn to understand ourselves and our potential. For disabled people, the creative experience—whether as artists, audiences, educators, or students-is an essential part of leading a full and productive life. It is an important means for the disabled to be integrated into the mainstream of educational and cultural programs as well.

Therefore, it is critical that our cultural institutions, educators, and communities strive to assure that disabled people can participate fully in the arts. The National Committee Arts with the Handicapped, an educational affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, is dedicated to extending opportunities for such participation. It conducts education programs in all fifty States, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico. Funded by both the public and private sectors, the Committee is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year. To mark this achievement, the Committee is sponsoring a very special arts festival during the week of May 20, 1984, in Washington, District of Columbia.

In recognition of the importance of the arts in enriching the lives of disabled persons and in celebration of the work of the National Committee Arts with the Handicapped, the Congress, by Senate Joint Resolution 220, has designated the week of May 20, 1984, as "National Arts with the Handicapped Week" and authorized and requested the President to issue an appropriate proclamation.

Now, Therefore, I, Ronald Reagan, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim the week of May 20, 1984, through May 26, 1984, as National Arts with the Handicapped Week. I encourage the people of the United States to observe the week with appropriate ceremonies, programs and activities.

In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this 20th day of May, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and eightyfour, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and eighth.

RONALD REAGAN