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

[Angie Matney]

Hi Craig,

I was wondering about this when I was reading this article. While I think there might be some positive aspects to the ADA Amendments Act, I'm concerned about just this type of situation.

Angie

On Fri, 5 Dec 2008 09:12:58 -0500, craig.borne at dot.gov wrote:

>Marion,
>As of January 1, 2009, the ADA Amendments Act may change this.  The
>ADAAA is to be interpreted much broader than the ADA, and its scope is
>not yet known.
>Craig

>Craig Borne
>NHTSA/DOT
>(202) 493-0627 
>craig.borne at dot.gov
> 
>-----Original Message-----
>From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
>Behalf Of Marion & Martin
>Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 8:18 AM
>To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>Subject: Re: [nagdu] On D.C.'s streets, blind injustice

>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/AR200812
>0303752.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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