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As we've discussed at the Metro and At-Large Chapter meetings this month,
here is the open letter from our national president to Uber’s CEO about
their recent ads. Please continue to share this with your friends,
family, and social networks.<br><br>
<br><br>
<a href="https://nfb.org/programs-services/advocacy/policy-statements/letter-uber-ceo-stop-recent-ad-promoting-negative">
https://nfb.org/programs-services/advocacy/policy-statements/letter-uber-ceo-stop-recent-ad-promoting-negative</a>
<br><br>
<h1><b>Letter to Uber CEO to Stop Recent Ad Promoting Negative Perception
of Blindness</b></h1><br><br>
February 15, 2024<br><br>
Dear Dara Khosrowshahi,<br>
I am writing to you today concerning an Uber ad that has been brought to
my attention by the members of the National Federation of the Blind.
Considering Uber’s core values and the prior messaging provided to our
community about its awareness of concerns from the blind community and
its desire to work with the Federation to resolve those issues, the
messaging of the advertisement has the opposite effect. We call on you to
immediately stop use of this ad. We continue to provide you with clear
and honest feedback from our community with the hope that we might make
progress in getting our concerns addressed. I share our concerns with you
trusting that you will in turn share them with the appropriate teams
within Uber. We will also be sharing this communication with our
membership so that everyone is aware that we have reached out to Uber
about this most recent issue.<br><br>
The ad in question features a blind woman speaking about how Uber has
increased her ability to travel independently. As you know, blind people
deeply appreciate the increased freedom of movement that comes from
having Uber as an option in their local community. We also recognize that
Uber can be a useful tool wherever an individual may be on their journey
of coping with changing eyesight. Nonetheless, as an organization focused
on raising expectations and empowering blind people, we feel that the ad
sends negative messages about blindness and its effect on our lives.
These messages encourage the public to pity us and to see Uber as the
only means of saving us from lives of constant fear, isolation, and
physical harm, rather than as one tool that can enhance our independence.
This is particularly problematic considering the unaddressed harmful
treatment that blind people have received from many drivers in the Uber
community.<br><br>
The ad begins, as just one example, with the narrator suggesting that
people can experience what it is like to be blind by simply closing their
eyes. Years of experience have taught us that vicariously experiencing
blindness through temporarily blocking one’s eyesight increases
people’s fear of blindness without meaningfully enhancing their
understanding of how blind people live our lives. Because people who are
just closing their eyes and trying to accomplish some tasks do not have
the tools, training, and skills that blind people develop and acquire,
often over many months or years, the experience tends to suggest to them
that blindness is more of a barrier than it is for those of us who are
accustomed to dealing with it on a daily basis.<br><br>
In another example of problematic messaging, the narrator says that
“you have to have really good mobility skills to use the white cane,
there's cracks in the sidewalk, I can't see the black ice, I've had
broken bones just trying to get to my bus stop.” This suggests that the
white cane is not an effective mobility tool for blind people. This sends
a message to the public that is clearly different than the experience of
thousands of blind people who have learned to use the white cane with
ease and grace. Furthermore, the specific examples here are flawed: While
black ice is a hazard even to people who have perfect eyesight, white
canes often detect it without issue, since its slipperiness contrasts
with the texture of surrounding surfaces. An effectively used white cane
will also usually detect sidewalk cracks. Of course, coping with vision
loss is a journey, and it can be particularly difficult for people whose
eyesight has changed suddenly. While we respect individual lived
experience, exploiting negative incidents in an advertisement sends a
message of helplessness and dependence, rather than one of hope and
empowerment. It is important for blind and low-vision people, wherever
they are on their individual journey, to understand that their lives can
still be full of possibility and even joy. Uber missed a significant
opportunity to portray blind people living that kind of life. Instead,
the ad suggests that blind people’s lives are a series of physical
catastrophes unless they have Uber to “save” them from this painful
and frightening fate. As I have said, Uber is a valuable and powerful
tool, but millions of blind people traveled safely and independently
before it existed, and many still get along quite well without
it.<br><br>
It should be possible for Uber to market how it meaningfully addresses a
true barrier faced by blind people, access to reliable motor vehicle
transportation, without exploiting fear and stereotypes. Uber should
treat us not as pitiable recipients of its beneficence, but as people who
use the service to participate fully in work, school, and community life.
Uber’s failure to portray us as we are is a direct result of its
failure to reach out to us and meaningfully collaborate on this marketing
campaign. This failure would be regrettable enough in isolation, but
given that Uber has already developed a negative reputation in our
community because of its handling of the guide dog issue, this misstep
compounds the problem. The creation and dissemination of this ad sends
the unfortunate signal that Uber is willing to exploit us to obtain the
goodwill of the public, while still failing to address the issues we have
raised with you over the years. This may not have been the intent, but
our community cannot be blamed for interpreting it that way.<br><br>
I hope that you will take this letter in the spirit of constructive
feedback in which it is meant. The marketing campaign that gave birth to
this ad can only serve to further alienate many of the same people that
Uber claims are its valued passengers. I hope that you will end use of
this ad immediately. I also hope that this communication will produce a
more positive and constructive approach across the board. We are prepared
to inform your work with the authentic experience of blind people if Uber
truly desires to have our community as valued customers.<br><br>
Sincerely,<br><br>
Mark A. Riccobono, President<br>
National Federation of the Blind</blockquote></body>
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