Last summer when Crystal White was visiting Houston for a convention of the National Federation of the Blind, she claims she had to hide her guide dog named Gage to get an Uber from the airport.
This is a common problem, she explains. “I’ve had them drive right by me and I’ve had neighbors say, ‘I think that was your Uber driver,'” White says. “And I’m like, ‘oh, great.’ So I’ve missed dates, I’ve missed my daughter’s school play.
“It makes you feel isolated – like it’s all your fault, you’re blind. And you can’t get anywhere when you try so hard to do so.
White, of Boise, Idaho, was among the protesters who gathered Oct. 15 outside Uber and Lyft’s headquarters in San Francisco to demand that the companies take serious steps to stop discrimination against people with disabilities on their platforms — especially people with disabilities. vision that use guide dogs or white canes.
Many have had personal experiences where they say Uber or Lyft drivers have turned them down as soon as they pull up. Juanita Herrera of Southern California was at the protest with her 4-year-old daughter. She says that when she was pregnant years ago, she left work late and didn’t want to take public transportation, so she called Uber.
“The driver came up, saw my dog and started getting aggressive. He was like “no dogs”. And I’m like, “but it’s a service animal.” He just kept saying “no dogs,” she says. “I’m visibly pregnant at the time, right? He just left me stranded. Then he drove off. He wouldn’t cancel the ride until 15 minutes later.
In another case in 2021. a Lyft driver refused to stop while Herrera’s young daughter was in a car seat because of her guide dog Jayden. The driver said she didn’t take pets. Herrera says the driver claimed he didn’t know Lyft’s policy on guide dogs, and that when she still refused to take them, Herrera told the driver she would report the incident. The driver got very angry, accused Herrera of trying to get her fired, and then drove off, she says. Herrera says she filed a report and nothing came of it.
At the protest, people said companies should implement a “zero tolerance policy” for discriminatory drivers who drop off visually impaired passengers. They also said that ride-hailing companies should better train their drivers on how to accommodate people with visual impairments. The protest was organized by the National Federation of the Blind and took place on White Cane Day to raise awareness of the needs of the visually impaired.
