Contact Information
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888-838-ABLE
(toll-free in Florida)
850-224-4493 Voice or TDD
850-224-4496 Fax
Email:info@abletrust.org
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With Americans expected to set all-time records in vacation travel this summer, the Department of Justice provides guidance on self-serve gas pumps.
The Civil Rights Division notes people with disabilities who find it difficult or impossible to use self-service gas pumps might be forced to buy more expensive gas from a full-service pump, if the option is available, or not buy gas at all.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires self-serve stations to provide equal access. If necessary, they must provide refueling assistance on request of a motorist with a disability. A service station or convenience store is not required to provide such service at any time it is operating on a remote control basis with a single employee, but encouraged to do so if feasible. They must let patrons know (through apparent signs) that customers with disabilities can obtain refueling assistance by either honking or otherwise signaling an employee. And they must provide refueling assistance without charge beyond the self-service price.
For information, call the ADA hotline at 800-514-0301 Voice or 800-514-0383 TDD. Or visit the website at www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm.
A new video produced by a nonprofit organization, Interviewing Skills for Job Seekers with Physical Disabilities, is designed to help students and adults during the interview process.
The 20-minute video shows people with hearing impairments, paraplegia and other physical disabilities keeping interviewers focused on their abilities.
It gives guidance on: how to decide if, when and to whom to disclose your disability; put the interviewer at ease; deal with improper disability etiquette; handle illegal or inappropriate questions; and answer unasked questions about your ability to do the job.
The video comes with a study guide and can be used individually or in group training sessions.
It is $89, plus $6.75 handling, from Program Development Associates, Box 2038, Syracuse, NY 13220 or 800-543-2119.
The Florida ADA Community Network is sponsoring a free one-day training event at Abilities of Florida on August 13, 1999. This training program will focus on the employment (Title I) and public accommodations (Title III) provisions of the ADA.
The event requires participants to register, however no fee will be charged. The program is a direct result of input from readers of the ADA Pipeline who responded to previous requests for their training needs by requesting current, affordable technical assistance.
To register, call Jack Humburg at Abilities, 727-538-7370, ext. 311 (v/tty). Abilities is located at 2735 Whitney Road in Clearwater, Florida.
On May 5 the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) announced the release of the "Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0" specification as a W3C Recommendation. W3C encourages information providers to raise their level of accessibility using this recommendation.
The guidelines establish stable principles for accessible design, such as the need to provide equivalent alternatives for auditory and visual information. Each guideline has associated "checkpoints" explaining how these accessibility principles apply to specific features of sites. For example, providing alternative text for images ensures that information is available to a person who cannot see images. Providing captions for audio files makes information available to someone who cannot hear.
The W3C was created to lead the Web to its full potential by developing common protocols that promote its evolution and ensure its interoperability. It is an international industry consortium jointly run by the MIT Laboratory for Computer Science in the USA, the National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control in France and Keio University in Japan.
For more information, visit the website at www.w3.org.
The National Council on Disability has established the National Disability Policy Fellowship program in Washington, DC in an effort to identify and develop new leaders with disabilities and to enhance NCD's policy capacity. The purpose of the program is to provide experience, training and contacts to qualified individuals with disabilities. One to two fellows will be sponsored per year.
Selected fellows will receive benefits, a competitive stipend to cover living expenses and reasonable relocation expenses. Selected fellows will be responsible for relocating to Washington DC during their term of fellowship, which begins in January of 2000.
Applications are available on NCD's website at www.ncd.gov or by calling Stacey Brown at NCD, 202-272-2004 V or 202-272-2074 TTY.
