Report to the President: Progress in Advancing the Status of People withDisabilities Around the World: The Work of the United States Delegation to the Thirty-Third Session of the Commission for Social Development of the United Nations. Held in Vienna, Aus

摘要

On Thursday, February 4, 1993, President William J. Clinton appointed John A.Gannon of Washington, DC, as Acting Chairperson of the National Council on Disability. The first task presented to Mr. Gannon as Acting Chairperson was to travel to Vienna, Austria with the United States Delegation to the Thirty-Third Session of the United Nations Commission for Social Development to represent the needs of people with disabilities before the Commission during its ten day session beginning February 8, 1993. Accordingly, Mr. Gannon travelled to Vienna accompanied by Edward P. Burke, Executive Assistant to the Chairperson of the National Council and Chief of Governmental Liaison, an expert on disability policy with significant intergovernmental and international experience. The mission involved intense negotiations with representatives of the 104 Member States and Organizations assembled for the biennial meeting of the Commission. The Member States and Organizations were categorized as follows: 32 were official Members of the Commission for Social Development (including the United States); 42 were official Observers from Member States of the United Nations; 2 were Observers from Non-Member States; and 28 were Observers from other Organizations, mostly Non-governmental Organizations.