Because simply having a disability should not deny the opportunity to participate fully in society. With that, we have broken new ground and today we break new ground again with Pennsylvania's first, comprehensive, government-wide, disabilities agenda. The Governor's Disability Policy Team was then created to examine the issues and make recommendations on how state government can eliminate or mitigate obstacles and barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from being as productive as possible and fully participating in society. No issue was left untouched. Already, they have been hard at work and already they have made recommendations.
Many initiatives are comprehensive and complex.
We understand that many of these initiatives will take hard work and time to complete. Others, we will be able to act on almost immediately. For example, pay phones for persons with speech and hearing impairments will be installed at rest stops along all interstate highways. Not only will this eliminate obstacles for Pennsylvanians, but will indicate to Pennsylvania visitors that our state welcomes all persons, with or without disabilities. Persons using wheelchairs have often faced a barrier when they faced a curb.