On January 13, 1999, President Clinton announced a budget initiative to improve economic opportunities for U.S. citizens with disabilities. The following text is drawn from the President's remarks on that occasion.

Many years ago, after I lost an election, a wise old country lawyer wrote me a letter, telling me that it takes a little bit of strength to sustain a terrible setback, but the real courage in life is living through the grind of day-to-day existence with dignity and nobility and charity.

How much more true is that for people with disabilities, for whom daily existence can be a greater grind, for whom charity is harder to muster because so many of the rest of us have been so blindly insensitive to things which would enable all of us to get through that daily life better.

A lot of good things have happened in recent years -- the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the renewal of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. But 75 percent of Americans with disabilities are still unemployed. Millions are forced to make the impossible choice between going to work and keeping their health insurance. Millions more lack the tools and services that could make the difference between dependence and independence.

We all know working is a fundamental part of the American Dream. Maya Angelou once said that work is "something made greater by ourselves, and in turn, that makes us greater." Every single one of us wants to be fully engaged in life. And we ought to have the chance to do so.

With the largest surplus in our history, the longest peacetime expansion, perhaps the strongest economy we've ever had, now is the time to address the following issue.

Today, I am pleased to announce that the balanced budget I will present to Congress fully funds a vitally important three-part disability initiative.

First, it fully funds the proposed Work Incentives Improvement Act, which improves access to health care, modernizes the employment services system and creates a work incentive grant program. Our citizens will never have to choose between the dignity of work and the health care they need.

Second, we must make it easier for people with disabilities to get to work. As anyone with a disability can tell you, it takes more than a job to enter the work force. Often, it takes successful transportation, specialized technology or personal assistance. And the cost can be prohibitively high. I am pleased to announce today a new $1,000 tax credit so hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities will be helped to meet these critically important expenses.

Finally, we have to give people with disabilities the tools they need to succeed. These can range from a portable computer kiosk that helps people with disabilities vote or find a job to the latest voice recognition software that lets you use a computer without touching a keyboard. It includes a new generation of mobile telephones that connect directly to hearing aids and a device to immediately translate music into Braille. This kind of "assistive technology," as it is called, will empower people as never before. I am pleased to announce that my budget will double our investment in this sort of technology, to make it more available to people with disabilities.

We will also help states to expand low-income loan programs to help more people afford these promising products. The federal government will become a model user of assistive technology; we will increase our commitment to research and development to continue our progress.

Increased access to health care, more assistance at home and in the workplace, remarkable new technologies made more available -- this is how we can make sure that all Americans can take their rightful place in our 21st-century workplace.

People with disabilities are increasingly a powerful presence in the United States, from our schools to our businesses to the halls of government -- but maybe equally important, increasingly a welcome, comfortable, normal presence. President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "No country, no matter how rich, can afford to waste its human resources." This is really all about living up to that objective.