CLINTON ANNOUNCES SERVICE CAMPAIGN

WASHINGTON - Seeking to dispel myths about the mentally ill,
President Clinton teamed up today with Tipper Gore, wife of his vice
president, to announce a new public service campaign designed to
change attitudes about schizophrenia, depression and other such maladies.

``The hard truth is, in too many of our communities, and in too many
of our hearts, mental illness is misunderstood and feared,'' Clinton
said in his weekly radio address. ``Too many people with mental
illness are denied the opportunity to fully participate in American
life.''

Clinton asked Mrs. Gore to join him in the address as a prelude to the
first White House conference on mental illness Monday. He said the
session would seek ways to fight the stigma that prevents the mentally
ill from rejoining society.

Mrs. Gore, wife of vice President Al Gore, disclosed recently that she
had battled depression. A longtime advocate for the mentally ill, she
played a leading role in organizing the conference.

``One of the most widely believed and most damaging myths is that
mental illness is a personal failure, not a physical disease,'' she
said. ``Nothing could be further from the truth.''

Clinton issued an executive order Friday eliminating the federal
government's stricter hiring and promotion standards for the mentally
disabled.

``Our administration has worked hard to widen the circle of
opportunity for every American,'' the president said in his
prerecorded speech. ``That means making sure people living with mental
illness have the same chance to live up to their God-given potential
as all other Americans.''

Mrs. Gore is working with the surgeon general and the Ad Council to
produce a public service campaign to combat the stigma surrounding
mental illness, which she said affects one in five Americans every
year.

``Virtually every American has a friend, a neighbor, or a colleague
with a mental illness,'' she said.

``Why, then, is mental illness met with so much misunderstanding and
fear?'' Mrs. Gore asked. ``We have come so far in the diagnosis and
treatment of mental illness, but our attitudes have lagged far behind.''