Bob Dole: “25 years ago today I rose to give my maiden speech as the newly elected junior Senator from Kansas. It concerned a…”

“25 years ago today I rose to give my maiden speech as the newly elected junior Senator from Kansas. It concerned a minority group whose existence affects every person in our society and the very fiber of our Nation. It is an exceptional group which I joined another April 14th, during World War II. As I said then, it is a group no one joins by personal choice, and neither respects nor discriminates by age, sex, wealth, education, skin color, religious beliefs, political party, power, or prestige. It is a group that for too long had known exclusion--maybe not exclusion from the front of the bus, but perhaps from even climbing aboard it; maybe not exclusion from pursuing advanced education, but perhaps from experiencing any formal education; maybe not exclusion from day-to-day life itself, but perhaps from an adequate opportunity to develop and contribute to his or her fullest capacity. Mr. President, it is a minority, yet a group to which at least one out of every five Americans belongs. progress in 25 years Mr. President, I was speaking then about Americans with disabilities--today 49 million persons, 24 million of whom are severely disabled. As I said in 1969, and which is still true today, the challenge to our Nation is to help foster their independence, dignity, and security.”