[nagdu] On D.C.'s streets, blind injustice

Jenine Stanley jeninems at wowway.com
Fri Dec 5 00:14:55 UTC 2008


Dan, 

I'm with you on this one, how frustrating it seems that each time public
officials responsible for taxi control are confronted, they act as if they
have never heard about this issue.  

I have to say that I've been extremely lucky in NYC, Manhattan anyway, and 9
times out of 10 I've been able to get a cab. I'm still a novice at haling
them so I ask people to help or have my friends who live there do it.  When
I'm by myself, I will go to a nearby hotel and ask the bellman to help. This
has always worked in NYC for me. Also, I've had no problem with the cab
stand people at Penn Station. 

DC is quite another matter though. I had a very similar experience,
including the yelling driver, to the man in the article outside of a hotel
on K street. The bellman was shocked. I was not. Happily the driver right
behind that cab pulled up and readily took me. 

I think we as blind people working with guide dogs, regardless of any
organizational or school affiliation need to seek out those people within
the Muslim faith who, like the person cited in the article, are willing to
explain to others of their faith the fallacy of reasoning for refusing a
service dog team. This kind of education has to go beyond us into the
community and I'm not sure how we can help that to happen. 

 Jenine Stanley
jeninems at wowway.com





More information about the NAGDU mailing list