"Welcome to the pump!" shouted Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday as he was touting for customers to Taipei's first gas station run by people with disabilities, which was officially opened the same day.
Attired in the red vest of the Syinlu Service Station, with automatic gasoline nozzle in hand, Ma worked at the gas station for a while to see for himself what it was like to work at a filling station.
Addressing a brief ceremony marking the gas station's inauguration, Ma said, "Where there is love, there are no barriers," encouraging the physically and mentally-challenged staff at the Syinlu Service Station to take up their duties courageously while thanking the few other staff workers who are not handicapped but work as supporters and supervisors of their colleagues with disabilities.
Chinese Petroleum Corp President Pan Wen-yan (
The Syinlu Service Station, sponsored by the non-profit Syinlu Foundation, currently has 29 physically and mentally challenged employees working at the station as attendants, cashiers, cleaners, office staff and salespersons, according to Chen Mei-ling (陳美鈴), executive director of the foundation.
Chen said the new staff -- many of them only with slight disabilities -- received intensive training before being appointed to their posts and have been approved by their doctors to work at the service station.
The Syinlu Service Station, located at a corner of the crossing of Chienkuo South Road and Civic Boulevard, maintains normal business operations just like any other gas station in Taiwan -- 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, Chen said.
The Sunshine Social Welfare Foundation, which has sponsored a car wash service in Taipei over the past several years using the handicapped as staff, is also preparing to open a gas station run by physically and mentally challenged people shortly, it was learned yesterday.
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