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An online activist's story

November 11, 2001: This message was distributed by Papyrus News. Feel free to forward this message to others, preferably with this introduction. For info on Papyrus News, including how to (un)subscribe or access archives, see <http://www.gse.uci.edu/markw/papyrus-news.html>.

Earlier, I mentioned the story of Elizabeth Fisher, the woman who launched a one-person Web campaign against Honda for not providing seat-belt extenders for large people (see her site at http://www.ifisher.com/honda.htm). In the interim, I emailed Elizabeth to ask her about her experiences, and she was gracious enough to tell me more about her story. Here it is, in her own words, both from an email message and a speech that she gave. I love the part at the end about throwing the earth off its axis. Enjoy! Mark

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Date: Tue, 06 Nov 2001 21:04:13 -0600
Subject: Re: your site
From: Elizabeth Fisher <elizabeth@ifisher.com>
To: Mark Warschauer <markw@uci.edu>

Mark,

Wow, let's see. Where do I start? You might want to get some of your favorite caffeine before you start reading this...

> I'd be interested in knowing more about how you came to be such a skilled Web campaigner

In February, 1999, an executive at Honda's corporate office told me emphatically that there was nothing I could do to get Honda to change their policy on seat belts. "Nothing." This pronouncement came after several weeks of faxes and several phone calls with various Honda corporate executives. Not only was I angered by his harsh words, but I immediately had this scene playing through my head of "mighty corporation crushes single consumer."

When I was deciding how to proceed, I thought about my options. I could sue, but I didn't want to do that. Besides, I hadn't really been damaged. I work full time, so I needed something I could do whenever I had spare time. I can't afford to spend millions, so I really needed something I could accomplish with resources I already owned. With that in mind, I picked up the biggest hammer I could find (the internet) and proceeded to bonk Honda on the head with it.

My first website was clean and simple, written using Microsoft Word because I knew nothing about web programming. It involved a camera and a roll of film, three wonderful friends, our Hondas, a trip to a one-hour photo store, and in a few hours, I had my website--"Honda Says NO to Seat Belt Extenders."

>From there I proceeded to educate myself. I spent hundreds of hours on the internet looking for people I could write to to plea my case. I didn't want to sue Honda. I just wanted them change their policy and make seat belt extenders available for purchase. I wrote every member of Honda's Board of Directors, both here and in Japan. I wrote every seat belt organization, and every safety organization I could find. I wrote my elected officials, I even wrote George Bush, Al Gore, Hillary and Tipper. And then I wrote the local newspaper.

A few weeks later I stepped out of the shower to a blaring radio and front page newspaper coverage. "She's too fat to drive. She should be walking everywhere she goes," one caller declared. The morning drive DJ's had made me the topic of the day. Someone else said what I was doing was just another frivolous lawsuit. I wasn't suing! Dripping wet, and with righteous indignation overpowering any fear I might have had, moments later it was MY voice being broadcast. The DJs changed their tone after I called. Bullies are like that though, they back down when confronted.

It was empowering knowing that I had a voice. I know what I am asking for is the right thing to do, and I know how many people need seat belts who don't have the courage to stand up for themselves.

I quietly (well, not so quietly at times) began gathering an army of supporters. I send hundreds of emails and dozens of postal letters. There is a huge (no pun intended) community of fat people online, and many of them immediately became my ally. Email began to trickle in from others who had the same problem, some of them too embarrassed to admit it, and some who thought they were the only one having trouble with stingy seat belts.

My early morning brush with the radio public happened 2 years and 9 months ago. Had you sat down with your favorite search engine that morning and typed in "seat belt extenders," you would have gotten no meaningful results.

You know, I've spent the last few days mulling this email over in my mind, because you asked me what I consider a significant question. When I got to the last paragraph above, I realized that what really would tell the story is a speech I gave at the NAAFA Convention in Boston this past August. (NAAFA is a 32-year-old human rights organization devoted to improving the quality of life for fat people through education, advocacy and support.) This seat belt campaign is all mine, but many NAAFA members and officials have written letters on my behalf.

Before you read my speech, let me answer a couple other things you asked.

> Thanks for offering to share more of your story. I'd be interested > in knowing more about how you came to be such a skilled Web > campaigner, how much time you (have) put into it, and how you feel > about the results you've achieved so far, etc.

I have put thousands of hours into this campaign. Some days I work on it more than others, but almost every day I do something for it. I get a lot of email from people who visit my site who need information on their options for seat belts.

How do I feel about the results I've achieved so far? Truthfully, I am in awe. Not of me, but of knowing that one person can impact an international corporation. There is also a federal regulation that is very likely going to be changed because of my campaign. If so, it will be the first time that ANY federal regulation has been written specifically addressing the needs of large people.

Even in the worst case scenario, one where no regulations are changed, and Honda and other automakers aren't mandated to make seat belt extenders available, this campaign has still been a significant accomplishment. I've gotten so many letters from people who didn't even know seat belt extenders existed, and that they were available for their vehicles. People have written me telling much I touched their life because now they can wear seat belts just like everyone else.

Sondra Solovay wrote about my campaign in her book, Tipping the Scales of Justice. A year ago I was at a conference in San Diego where Solovay was a guest speaker. She told a story about a man who had been riding unbelted for years because the seat belts were too short for him. After Solovay's book came out, someone in his family read it and urged him to get seat belt extenders. I don't think they knew such a thing existed before reading her book and visiting my website. He got the extenders, and you've probably already guessed this part, but shortly thereafter he was in a terrible crash. Had he not been wearing his seat belt he believe he would have been killed.

I know I've probably written more than you may have anticipated I would, but I feel you are someone who is truly interested in the impact the internet has on our lives.

Best wishes to you,

Elizabeth Fisher

NAAFA 2001

In January 1999 I placed a phone call to Honda's national customer service center. "Hello, Honda Customer Service? I'm having a problem with the seat belt in a Honda. It's too short and I'd like to know how I can order a seat belt extender from Honda." The voice on the line told me that Honda did not have seat belt extenders, but that I could buy them anywhere. "Anywhere," I asked? "Even at WalMart?" "Yes," she assured me, "Ševen at WalMart."

One month later, and my request for a seat belt extender has bounced from the President of American Honda's desk to Honda's Product Regulatory Department, to one Honda attorney, and then a second Honda attorney, to their Consumer Affairs Manager, and finally to a Team Environment Leader for Honda's Consumer Affairs Division who obviously drew the short straw.

For those of you who don't already know, I'm from Louisiana, more commonly known as cajun country, land of Mardi Gras, boudin, jambalaya, jazz, and, well, people named Boudreaux. Even though American Honda's corporate office is in California, they managed not only to find someone with a southern accent to call me, but his name is Mr. Boudreaux. Mr. Boudreaux also has a sister fat enough that standard seat belts don't fit her. He was very nice, as we southerners are known to be, but he also told me there was nothing Honda could do for me.

Weeks later I'm on the phone with Mr. Boudreaux's supervisor, Mr. Simmons, who isn't nearly as nice as Mr. Boudreaux, and it appears that I have pissed Mr. Simmons off. Our conversation ended that day with a quote I will never forgetŠ "There is nothing you can do to get Honda to change their policy. NOTHING."

Two and a half years ago you could type the phrase "seat belt extenders" in a search engine on the internet and get no results. Today you get pages of links, to newspaper articles, magazine articles, and websites, including mine, ifisher.com, which has had 140,000 visitors. You, the fat community, have embraced this cause. Seat belt extenders have also found their place in popular culture. USA Today, the New York Times, and People Magazine have all written positively about this campaign and the need for longer seat belts. Reporters from Germany, France, Australia, and Czechoslovakia have interviewed me. Dennis Miller even rants about seat belt extenders in his stand-up comedy routine. And recently, Starr Jones, a large woman in every way, played an attorney in an episode of Strong Medicine on Lifetime TV. In this episode Jones is shown dictating to her assistant about "suing the car maker, the dealership, and even the salesman who sold her client a car with seat belts that were too short." She quotes information from my website almost word for word.

In April of 2000, I filed a petition with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, asking that the current federal regulation, which only requires automakers to manufacture seat belts that fit people up to 215 lbs., be changed so that any person who is able to fit in a vehicle be able to fasten their seat belt.

I asked you to write NHTSA and your elected officials and tell them about your experiences with stingy seatbelts. Bill Fabrey, the founder of NAAFA, told me that NHTSA could be moved to action with as few as ONE HUNDRED letters. He'd seen it happen. I went out on a limb and asked you to write two hundred and fifteen--one letter representing each pound of the weight limit in the current federal law.

I asked for 215-so far you've written over 800, to NHTSA and your elected representatives, and thousands of letters to me. You've put banners on your websites, you've asked friends and family to sign the petition, you've written articles and published them in your magazines and newsletters, and several of you have put yourself in front of media cameras, microphones, and reporters to talk about the need for longer seat belts.

Mara Nesbitt Aldrich, a woman who broke the windshield with her head when she was riding unbelted, recently spoke before a convention of law enforcement agents and officials. They were so moved by our dilemma that 85 police officers, sheriff deputies and state troopers signed a petition to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, asking that automakers be required to provide a means for larger passengers to fasten their seat belts.

Remember Mr. Simmons, the man at Honda's corporate headquarters who told me there was NOTHING I could do to get Honda to change their policy on seat belt extenders?

He was wrong.

In February, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration granted my petition. This means that they agree the issues I raised in my petition warrant further discussion. And they've gone one step further. Stephen Kratzke, NHTSA Associate Administrator for Safety Performance Standards tells me that NHTSA anticipates taking the next step in the rulemaking process, a published proposal, by October of this year (2001).

If this federal regulation is changed, and I have every reason to believe it will be, not only will it give us a tool to make us safer in our vehicles, it will also be the first time in history that a federal law has been written specifically addressing the needs of larger Americans. This will be a significant accomplishment for our community, one that could not have been done without your letters, emails, phone calls, and your willingness to put yourselves out there and take a stand. Thank you.

If you haven't yet written a letter to your elected officials, or to NHTSA, there is a table set up outside the registration area for you. Fill out one of the forms and put it in the box at the table, and we'll take care of the rest.

I have one more thing I'd like to talk to you about. Earlier I mentioned that I'd received thousands of letters since this campaign started. Mostly they are positive, but I'll admit, I've had my share of negative ones too. One I received recently started off in the typical way. He called me fat. Like that's a bad thing? He went on to make disparaging remarks about the size of my ass, and about how whiney I am just because there are potentially millions of people out there who cannot fasten their seat belts, and well, you know the rest.

It was his closing remark that made the most impact on me. He said the earth would spin much easier if I wasn't throwing it off its axis. It was the "throwing the earth off its axis" part that really stuck with me because I believe that's something we have the power to do.

I'm not the only one who feels that way, because recently I've been reading about something called Paying it Forward. Maybe you saw the movie, but it goes like thisŠ

Pay It Forward

If someone did you a favor -- something big, something you couldn't do on your own, and instead of paying it back, you paid it forward to three people

And the next day, they each paid it forward to 3 more people

And the day after that, those 27 people each paid it forward to another 3

And each day, everyone in turn paid it forward to three more people,

In two weeks, that comes to 4,782,969 people.

We do have the power to knock the earth off its axis, not be being fat, but by being revolutionaries, by paying it forward. Each of you can leave here today and change the lives of three people. Share with them how you found self acceptance, become a mentor to a fat teen, or a medical advocate and accompany a fat person to the doctor, donate fat positive books to your libraries and schools, educate your doctors on our issues, start an exercise class for large people, work to get anti-fat-discrimination laws passed in your area, donate your time, your money, and your energy to doing the work that NAAFA was founded on. Improve the quality of life for other fat people by doing something for them that is hard, something they cannot do for themselves, and when they want to pay you back, tell them instead to pay it forward - NAAFA style.

Remember how Honda told me there was nothing I could do to get them to change their policy? NOTHING? I have one parting comment for them. Honda, there is nothing YOU can do to stop us. NOTHING.



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Last updated: November 12, 2001 in Hot Metal Pro 6.0