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

Fri Dec 5 13:17:37 UTC 2008

Dear Ginger and All,
    This is a great article; however, there is one factual error. The DOJ 
says that allergies and fear of animals are not reasons to exclude a person 
with a service animal. Even with a doctor's note, technically they cannot 
refuse you service. Should a person with an allergy claim that their allergy 
rises to the level of a disability and, therefore, claim protection under 
the ADA, they would need to prove that their allergy "substantially limits 
one or more essential life functions". Testimony from an authority on this 
subject states that this is extremely rare. Just wanting to make sure all of 
the information is accurate!

Fraternally,
Marion gwizdala

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ginger Kutsch" <gingerkutsch at yahoo.com>
To: "NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users" 
<nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 10:25 AM
Subject: [nagdu] On D.C.'s streets, blind injustice

On D.C.'s Streets, Blind Injustice
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/03/AR2008120303752.html
Jim Dickson, with his 3-year-old black Lab, Pearson, says he and others with 
guide dogs or wheelchairs often have trouble getting cabdrivers to stop for 
them in the District. (By John Kelly -- The Washington Post)

By John Kelly
Thursday, December 4, 2008; Page B03
The Washington Post
Jim Dickson had the feeling empty cabs were zipping past him without 
stopping as he stood at 17th and L streets NW the week before last, his hand 
raised for a taxi. He didn't know for sure, though. Jim is blind. Standing 
next to him was his 3-year-old black Lab guide dog, Pearson.

I watched for a few minutes as taxis -- their rooftop lights lighted, their 
back seats vacant -- ignored Jim and Pearson, then I walked up and suggested 
he might have better luck at the Mayflower Hotel's cabstand.

"This is not a unique experience to me," Jim said. "People with guide dogs 
and people with wheelchairs complain all the time about cabs refusing to 
take them."

That seemed pretty cold -- refusing to stop for a disabled person? -- but 
then we got to the Mayflower. There were no cabs at that moment, but 
National Cab No. 64 soon pulled up and disgorged a passenger. The hotel 
doorman held the door for Jim and Pearson, but when the cabdriver saw them, 
he started shouting. The cab rolled forward a few inches, the door still 
open. Then the driver got out and started swearing at the doorman. After the 
door was shut, he got back behind the wheel and drove off.

The doorman was as disgusted as I was. Jim took the next cab.

A few days later, I spoke with Jim, who is vice president of government 
affairs for the American Association of People with Disabilities. Lots of 
drivers don't like dogs and won't stop, he said. "The only place it doesn't 
happen is up on Capitol Hill," said Jim, 62. "I usually get a Capitol 
policeman to flag the cab for me."

Mario Bonds, a 21-year-old student from Bowie who travels with his black 
Lab, Sydney, said the same thing. He often needs a cab at the New Carrollton 
Metro station. "I've felt quite stupid standing there for a long time, when 
a regular sighted person says, 'There's plenty of cabs here. I don't know 
what these guys are doing.' "

George Merriweather said it was so hard to get a cab for him and his 
standard poodle guide dog, Gambit, that he stopped coming into the District 
from Olney for doctor's appointments. "They're hard on blind people," said 
George, 61. "Especially if you've got a dog, you don't get in a cab."

Why wouldn't a cabdriver stop for a blind person with a dog? Some might be 
concerned that dogs would make the vehicle dirty, though Jim makes Pearson 
sit on the floor and on wet days carries paper towels to wipe the seat. Some 
might be allergic, though Jim said that if so, they're supposed to have a 
doctor's letter on file. Jim and Mario said some drivers have told them it's 
against their religion to have a dog in the car. Could that be true?

Some Muslims believe that dogs are unclean, said Abdullahi An-Na'im, a 
professor at Emory University who specializes in Islamic law, but this is 
more a cultural notion than a religious one. He said nothing in the Koran 
stipulates that dogs must be avoided. What's more, two Islamic tenets would 
override any reluctance to take a guide dog: the imperative of being helpful 
to someone in need, and what's known as darura, or necessity. If you're 
blind and need a dog, darura means that's okay. The same goes when you're a 
taxi driver who encounters blind passengers.

Said the professor: "I don't think that's acceptable for a Muslim" not to 
take a service animal in his cab.

The Big Apple solved this problem nine years ago with an awareness campaign 
and an undercover sting operation, said Allan Fromberg of New York's Taxi 
and Limousine Commission. Plainclothes officers and guide dogs were used to 
catch drivers who wouldn't stop.

tent that you post.

Who's Blogging» Links to this article
When I called Leon Swain, chairman of the D.C. Taxicab Commission, and told 
him what I'd heard from visually impaired people, he was furious. "That's 
something that I have zero tolerance on," he said. "If you have a bona fide 
service animal, you need to be transported to the location." He invited Jim 
to file a complaint and has set up a meeting between cab company owners, the 
Columbia Lighthouse for the Blind and other local disability rights groups.

I asked the owner of National Cab Co., Balwinder Singh, to look into what I 
saw. He said the driver of No. 64 told him that he already had a passenger 
in his cab (an invisible one, I guess). "It's hard to prove for me," Singh 
said. "I'm telling you what he told me." He said licensed drivers "should be 
picking up whoever comes next" -- blind people and their dogs included.

Anyone can see that -- and every time I take a cab in the future I'll be 
reminding the driver of that fact.

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