Dear Fellow Advocates:
As the petroleum industry shifted from a full service to a self service industry, they forgot about us. Many of us drivers with disabilities actually need help getting gas into our vehicles and by law they are required to pump our gas if there is more than one employee on duty. The two basic problems with this are:
1) We don't know how many employees are inside.
2) We have no consistent way of letting them know we need assistance when we get there.
There are millions of us drivers out there and we need to let our voices be heard.
We need you to do 5 things!
1)
Watch these news videos about how drivers all over the country can't get gas in their car.
2)
Fill out the survey (takes about 5 minutes).
3) Write legislators on Federal, State and local levels to share your frustrations.
Visit our document library to see model legislation to fix this problem.
4) Share this site with other drivers with disabilities.
5) Write to the Department of Justice and let them know your thoughts about the
current guidelines (PDF) that they are giving the petroleum industry. They are the enforcement arm of the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) and if they don't hear from you - then they won't know it's a problem. Here is the address:
United States Department of JusticeDisability Rights Sections
PO Box 66738, Washington, D.C. 20035-6738
Please take the time to read up on this issue. Many of us have a local gas station that know our cars when we pull up; however, if I were to come to your state, I would have no idea how and who was the "good guy" to pump my gas, thereby limiting my ability to travel.
The changes we are asking for are simple, clear, not too onerous and they would make our lives so much better. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions.
Sincerely,
Mike HarrisExecutive Director
