The state’s Human Rights Commission wants to bring gas stations into compliance with federal and state disability laws in response to a series of complaints from disabled Vermonters who need help pumping gas.
The commission and other groups say gas stations need to put stickers on each gas pump telling physically disabled drivers that they can either press a “help” button, call a phone number or honk their horn to have an employee pump gas for them.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in a news release the stickers would bring the gas stations and convenience stores into compliance with the landmark Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The stickers would also bring the businesses into compliance with Vermont’s Public Accommodations Act from 1987.
“If you have a disability and you’re traveling by yourself and you can’t pump gas at all because of your disability, having the ability to obtain gas is really important,” said David Sagi, the state’s manager for the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Sagi said someone traveling through Vermont and unable to find gas could end up having to call roadside assistance, if they have the service. “Number one, it’s the law, and number two, it’s important to help people just from a human rights position,” he said.
The federal law requires businesses with more than four parking spots to clearly designate at least one for disabled patrons. The Vermont law requires gas stations to “prominently display” the blue disability sticker indicating that can have their gas pumped for them at no charge.
Under state law, a person using the service must have a blue wheelchair placard from the Department of Motor Vehicles. The gas station must charge the person using the service the self-serve price, and can only charge the full-serve price if that’s the only service the station offers.
The Vermont Retail and Grocers Association has made several stickers with the blue wheelchair logo and explanatory text and is selling them to gas stations for $1 each, or 75 cents each for its members. The association has sold 1,500 to gas stations across Vermont and has 20 left for people who need them.
“This is not a matter of hostility or indifference,” Jim Harrison, president of the Vermont Retail and Grocers Association, said in a news release. “Gas stations simply need information about their responsibilities.”
Karen Richards, executive director of the Vermont Human Rights Commission, said her office has received four similar disability complaints in the past three years. The most recent one, in February, prompted a Human Rights Commission investigation.
According to the investigation report from July, Wallace Nolen has visual and walking impairments and uses a cane. He went to a Montpelier gas station in February with his blue disability placard, but the gas station didn’t have accessible parking or an attendant to pump his gas for him.
The Vermont Human Rights Commission concluded that the gas station discriminated against Nolen by “not posting an accessible parking sign and striping the accessible parking space,” and “by not posting a sign indicating how he could receive assistance pumping gas.”
Nolen pointed to his activist group’s website, EnforceADA.com. He said he is going to buildings across the state and sending complaints about access to the Vermont Human Rights Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Access Board.
