Memorandum 

Date: June 6, 1993  
To: Senator Dole 
From: Alec Vachon (initialed) 
Re: Speak/ National Retail Federation Dinner  

	You have indicated you "will try" to drop by the National Leadership Federation annual Washington Leadership Conference dinner on Tuesday, June 8th, to accept their highest award, the "Leadership in Public Service Award." This award is intended to recognize your creation of the Dole Foundation and other work on behalf of people with disabilities. 

	Attached are short remarks for your review -- after which I will blow up. In these remarks, several topics are discussed: 
(1) your personal experience with disability, (2) the work of the Dole Foundation, and (3) the need for their help in making ADA work and in removing attitudinal barriers towards people with disabilities. 

	Incidentally, if you are unable to attend, Paul Hearne has also been invited and could accept the award on your behalf. 

(handwritten note: "Too long")

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National Retail Federation 
Annual Washington Leadership Conference Dinner 

Talking Points for Senator Dole 
on Receiving "Leadership in Public Service Award" 
And 
Presenting "American Spirit Award" to Harold Sells, Woolworth CEO 
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	Thank you, Joe, for that kind introduction. 
	I am honored to be with you again this evening, and to accept the National Retail Federation's "Leadership in Public Service Award." I understand that I am only its third recipient, following two very distinguished individuals, President George Bush and Ambassador Carla Hills. 
	I am particularly pleased to receive this award because it concerns my work in disability, which is something both very personal and very important to me. 
-- Personal Experience with Disability 
	As Joe mentioned, I know not only about disability, but I know of disability. 
	Almost fifty years ago, during World War II, I was wounded in the right shoulder by an enemy bullet while serving in Italy. Several vertebra were fractured, and for a time I was completely paralyzed. I spent over 3 years in hospitals receiving medical treatment and rehabilitation. 
	Later I returned to my hometown of Russell, Kansas. Back then, most folks didn't have medical insurance, and the people of Russell raised $1,800 to pay for special surgery I needed on my right arm. 
	Even so, I still have some residual impairment. But I have never forgotten the kindness and generosity of the people of Russell. Indeed, although I have learned many lessons because of my disability, perhaps the most powerful is how much I owe others. 
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-- About the Dole Foundation 
	In part, it was this sense of obligation that led me to create the Dole Foundation on Employment of People with Disabilities ten years ago. I am pleased that you have invited Paul Hearne, President of the Foundation, to be with us tonight. Paul has done a superb job over the past four years in expanding the Dole Foundation's programs and resources. 
	The Dole Foundation is about employment. Work is the cornerstone of everyone's life, and no less for people with disabilities. It is key to fulfilling personal goals, and, realistically, there are few good substitutes for a paycheck to have a decent income. 
	But many people with disabilities are jobless, and thus it should be no surprise that almost half of all people with a disability live below or near the poverty line. 
	Indeed, as a pioneering 1986 survey of disabled Americans concluded: "Not working is perhaps the truest definition of what it means to be disabled in this country." 
	Let me note that not only are people with disabilities as good employees as others - research has shown that - but I also believe that they are often better employees. 
	As I mentioned, having a disability teaches a person many things, at least three of which have special value in the workplace. First, it makes a person a problem solver. Every day a person with a disability has new challenges to overcome. 
	Second, disability requires persistence. And third, dis­
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ability teaches how necessary it is to work well with others in order to get things done. 
-- Asking Their Help in Combatting Discrimination 
	Ladies and Gentlemen, I deeply appreciate your award. But tonight I would also like to ask something more of you as well - your help in realizing the promises of the Americans with Disabilities Act and in removing the attitudinal barriers faced by many people with disabilities. 
	I suspect I am preaching to the converted. In a moment, we'll be hearing about the fine work of Harold Sells and Woolworth in employing people with disabilities - but even the converted need to go to church once in a while. 
-- First, the Americans with Disabilities Act 
	Regarding ADA, today, all over this nation, businesses, schools, state and local governments, and other organizations are figuring out how to comply with the law. 
	I know its requirements are unfamiliar to many - although it is based on a 1973 federal law that applied to federal contractors and recipients of federal funds. Anticipating this, I had a technical assistance provision added to ADA so that businesses and others would have the information and advice they need. 
	And I know no one likes mandates, or to be told what to do. So I ask you to remember why the law was necessary, and to challenge you to take pride in meeting its mandate. 
	As the poet Archibald MacLeish once wrote, "America was always promises." But the promi3es of America have been too long 
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denied to people with disabilities. 
	Buildings have been inaccessible because of architectural barriers. For example, for the person who uses a wheelchair, steps can prevent entering or moving about a building. But ramps, elevators, and lifts can make it accessible - and all that the building may offer - whether a job, an education, registering to vote, or entertainment such as a play or movie. 
	And accommodations have often been unavailable. For a person with limited vision, a large print menu can allow easy and unassisted selection of a meal. 
	Indeed, accessibility and accommodations are not simply matters of personal convenience for people with disabilities, but are essential if they are to be productive and active citizens. 
	Ladies and Gentlemen, people with disabilities are a group that no one Republican or Democrat, rich or poor, of whatever sex or ethnic background - joins by choice. 
	Disability does not discriminate - and neither should we. But by not providing accessibility and accommodations, we unnecessarily exclude people with disabilities from the mainstream of American life, and, intentionally or not, discriminate against them. 
	And that's why ADA was needed. 
	Ladies and gentlemen, we are counting on you to fulfill the promises of ADA, and, indeed, the promises of America. 
	And in turn, I promise you this - that we in Congress will do our part. We are keeping close tabs on the law, and are com­
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mitted to seeing that it works for everyone - including business. 
-- Second, Removing Attitudinal Barriers 
	I wish ADA was the total solution to equal opportunity for people with disabilities, but it's not. Some of biggest barriers are ones we cannot see, ones that ADA, or perhaps any law for that matter, cannot remove - and those are attitudinal barriers. 
	Let me give you an example. Recently one of my aides had lunch with a colleague, a fellow scientist and deputy director of the medical rehabilitation center at the National Institutes of Health. NIH is, I think most people would agree, perhaps the finest medical research center in the world. 
	The Deputy Director uses a wheelchair. The restaurant was completely accessible: on one level, no steps, plenty of aisle space between tables. 
	But they waited 45 minutes for a table, while many others behind them were seated. They complained to the young woman doing the seating, to no avail. Finally, they had to ask for the manager. 
	My aide was shocked, but his friend told him it happened all the time. He said, "If you're in a wheelchair, people seem to think you have all day." 
	Too often I'm afraid we just don't see people with disabilities, who, incidentally, are customers as well. 
Conclusion 
	In closing, despite much work remaining, we can say with pride that America today is a better place for people with dis­
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abilities than at any other time in our history. 
	Indeed, fifty years ago, we had a President, Franklin Roosevelt, who could not walk, and believed it necessary to disguise that fact from the public in order to be elected. 
	But today I trust that Americans would have no problem in electing a man or woman President simply because of a disability. 
	Once again, thank you. 
[Note to Senator: At this point, you may sit and Joe Antonini will introduce short video on Woolworth and Employment of People with Disabilities. Following which, you present an award to Harold Sells; text below.] 
-- Presentation of American Spirit Award to Harold Sells 
	Thank you, Joe. And I want to add my own personal thanks to Harold Sells and the Woolworth Corporation on behalf of Americans with Disabilities. 
	Harold, I'm honored to present this special and well-deserved award to you tonight before your friends and colleagues. 
	Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in saluting Harold Sells. 
# # # 
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(Pause for Antonini comments about Sells and Video Excerpt.) 
-- Presentation of American Spirit Award to Harold Sells 
	Thank you, Joe. And I want to add my own personal thanks to Harold Sells and the Woolworth Corporation on behalf of Americans with Disabilities. 
	Harold, I'm honored to present this special and well-deserved award to you tonight before your friends and colleagues. 
	Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in saluting Harold Sells. # # # 
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