Key Points
And you can't get anywhere when you're trying so hard to do so.. White, from Boise in Idaho, was among the protesters who gathered on October 15 outside the San Francisco headquarters of Uber and Lyft to demand that the companies take major steps to stop discrimination against people with disabilities on their platformsparticularly against visually impaired people who use guide dogs or white canes...
Uber and Lyft have been challenged in court and by activists for years on their alleged failure to fully cooperate with the Americans With Disabilities Act, which prohibits discrimination based on disability in public and commercial transportationwhich could mean lack of accessible vehicles, a higher price for services, or an outright refusal of services...
Guide dogs are $75,000 dogsthey're not gonna go to the bathroom in your car or get sick in your car, White says.. Barlak says that Uber and Lyft need to make it easier for visually impaired passengers to report difficulties using their services and for the companies to better educate their drivers on the needs of blind passengers...
Joe Rappaportcommunications and strategy director at Taxis for All, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on helping wheelchair users get access to accessible taxis and rideshare cars, and executive director at Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabledhas been central to the effort to make sure Uber and Lyft have enough wheelchair accessible cars in New York City...
You've got these companies who claim to be at the edge, introducing new technology and new ways of doing things, but in the end they're the same old bad service without a thought about accessibility, Rappaport says.. In 2018, Uber and Lyft settled a lawsuit filed in New York in which for-hire vehicle companies were required to have a quarter of their rides be in wheelchair-accessible cars by mid-2023..
