[Flagdu] Cab drivers in DC pass blind people with guide dogs

[Sherri]

I know you and Merry have done a lot of work with the cab companies in Tampa 
so I believe you are correct. Tamps would show a much higher compliance. But 
then there's Orlando and Miami.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Marion Gwizdala" <blind411 at verizon.net>
To: "Florida Association of Guide Dog Users" <flagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, September 05, 2010 5:09 AM
Subject: Re: [Flagdu] Cab drivers in DC pass blind people with guide dogs


> Sherri,
>    I am pretty confident that, if a similar study were done in Tampa, the 
> results would be very different. Merry and I have worked very hard 
> "educating" the cab companies. (smile) For those who are unaware, this 
> "education" took the form of several criminal cases against individual 
> cabbies in which the taxi companies asserted the drivers were independent 
> contractors over which the companies had no control. It wasn't until the 
> owners found themselves facing charges of discrimination themselves that 
> effective changes were made! As I said, if this were done in Tampa, there 
> would be pretty high compliance, I believe. Now, getting the public 
> transit company to comply with their responsibilities, that's a different 
> story!
>
> Fraternally yours,
> Marion
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Sherri" <flmom2006 at gmail.com>
> To: "NAGDU Mailing List" <nagdu at nfbnet.org>; "Florida Association of Guide 
> Dog Users" <flagdu at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, September 04, 2010 11:02 PM
> Subject: [Flagdu] Cab drivers in DC pass blind people with guide dogs
>
>
>> An interesting message. Just giving credit to the sender. Wonder what 
>> would happen if we did a similar study in say the Tampa or Orlando area? 
>> Only problem I have with the article is that it said the blind people 
>> were "put" in certain places. I would have preferred the word "stood", 
>> because being "put" makes us sound like inanimate objects! Just being 
>> picky I guess.
>>
>> Sherri
>> From: leadership-bounces at acb.org [mailto:leadership-bounces at acb.org] On 
>> Behalf Of Eric Bridges
>> Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 1:04 PM
>> To: leadership at acb.org; announce at acb.org
>> Subject: [leadership] In study, half of D.C. cab drivers pass by blind 
>> people with guide dogs
>>
>>
>>
>> The below article appears in today's Washington Post. ACB is proud to 
>> have provided all of the testers for this study and looks forward to 
>> continuing our work with the Equal Rights
>>
>> Center.
>>
>>
>>
>> Eric
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/01/AR2010090102344.html
>>
>> By Henri E. Cauvin
>>
>> Washington Post Staff Writer
>> Wednesday, September 1, 2010; 10:04 AM
>>
>> In a study by a civil rights watchdog group, taxi drivers in the District 
>> often drove past blind people who were trying to hail a cab while 
>> accompanied by guide dogs.
>>
>> This Story
>>
>> In study, half of D.C. cab drivers pass by blind people with guide dogs
>>
>> Shedding light on sidewalk safety
>>
>> The Equal Rights Center, in a report released Wednesday morning, said it 
>> conducted 30 tests earlier this year and that in half of the tests, 
>> drivers passed a man or woman with a guide dog to pick up a person who 
>> did not have a guide dog. In three of the cases where the taxi did stop 
>> for the blind person, the driver attempted to impose a surcharge for 
>> transporting the dog, the Equal Rights Center said.
>>
>> Under local and federal law, businesses, including taxis, must make 
>> reasonable accommodations to blind people and their service dogs and may 
>> not impose surcharges for transporting a service dog. But blind people in 
>> the District have complained for years that some taxi drivers flout the 
>> law.
>>
>> Prompted by such concerns, the Equal Rights Center, which is part of the 
>> Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs, 
>> undertook an investigation, assisted by the law firm Hogan Lovells.
>>
>> In each of the 30 tests, which were conducted between March and May, the 
>> Equal Rights Centers placed a blind person with a guide dog and a sighted 
>> person on a high-traffic thoroughfare in the city. The blind person was 
>> placed about 100 feet closer to oncoming traffic so that he or she would 
>> be the first prospective passenger a taxi would encounter.
>>
>> With a video camera rolling, the Equal Rights Center recorded 15 taxis 
>> bypassing the blind passenger for the sighted person standing farther 
>> away. Video clips of some of the encounters can be seen here. In its 
>> report, the Equal Rights Center said its findings made clear that more 
>> needs to be done to ensure that the rights of blind people are protected. 
>> Taxi drivers in the District and elsewhere have long faced scrutiny for 
>> passing up prospective black passengers, and several years ago, the D.C. 
>> police conducted sting operations intended to deter discrimination by 
>> taxi drivers.
>>
>> The Equal Rights Center said that the police, the D.C. Taxi Commission 
>> and the D.C. Office of Human Rights need to adopt a more aggressive 
>> approach to addressing taxi-driver bias against the blind, stepping up 
>> both education and enforcement.
>>
>> "The law is in place," said Ashley N. White, outreach manager for the 
>> Equal Rights Center, "but no one is really enforcing it."
>>
>>
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>
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