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

Fri Dec 5 22:41:07 UTC 2008

It sounds like this problem is more pervasive in big cities.  Probably
because there are more cab companies and it is more difficult to identify
the perpetrator.  It might be helpful to get an eye witness to jot down the
name of the company and ideally the cab's ID number, then call the police.
I've had problems in New Haven where one company has about 95% of the
market.  It started one day when my wife had just had an outpatient surgical
procedure.  She was taken to the ramp of the hospital building and a cab was
called.  She was wheeled to the door of the cab and got in.  When the driver
saw me following with the dog, he started yelling that we couldn't get in.
She started to back out but I forced her in and got in with the dog.  The
driver told me he wasn't taking us anywhere.  I suggested that he call the
police because we weren't getting out and explained the law to him.  He
called the dispatcher who told me that drivers were self employed
independent contractors and could do as they pleased and that the cab
company had no responsibility here.  I informed him that he was full of
****.  It was about 5:00pm on Friday and the driver didn't want to waste
time at his busiest hour.  He drove us home.  On Monday, I reported the
incident to the city agency involved.  They required the cab company to
educate all of their drivers, post notices around the shop and require that
anyone who felt they should be exempt due to allergy have a letter from his
doctor in his personnel file.  It was far from the end.  I've been doing
battle with them for years.  They learned my home address and phone number
and I'm sure that I Wait longer than others for a ride to work.  Fortunately
I don't need to rely on them much.  We solved the problem by finding one of
the drivers an we have become his personal clients.  We generally make
arrangements a day in advance .  If it's at the last minute and he can't
make it, he calls one of his friends in the company to pick us up.  We
always tip well.  It's worth it for the peace of mind.  One part of me feels
that we should sue them in civil court or something, but you have to pick
your battles.  I'm always at war with my employer, a federal agency and only
have so much energy to fight.  Maybe if I was younger.

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Angie Matney
Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 9:16 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] On D.C.'s streets, blind injustice

Hi Dan,

Excellent post! Yes, I'd say this is the most significant issue I deal with.
Where I live now, in Charlottesville, VA, access problems are pretty rare.
But in Richmond, it's a different story. And I've also tried to get cabs in
larger cities, so I know what 
you mean.

I have friends in Boston who have difficulties. It seems that a significant
number of drivers there believe that they can choose to refuse a person who
has a service dog. (I don't think the problem is unique to Boston--I just
happen to know lots 
of people there who have had problems recently.)

Maybe the thing to do would be to write to state legislators and to try to
get more media exposure. 

Angie

On Thu, 4 Dec 2008 17:37:22 -0500, Dan Weiner wrote:

>Yes, folks.
>I can attest to the veracity of this article having lived in Maryland and
>having gone to DC a few times.
>Why even have guide dogs if the law is violated with impunity so often it's
>not even funny.
>Of course, murder's against the law too and it still happens, right?
>And, don't think that the sting operation solved the problem in the Big
>Apple because when I've been there I always have had  problems.
>The New Carleton train station near DC was mentioned in the article and
I've
>been there and yes I have had  a problem.

>It has gotten totally out of hand.

>Any guide dog user who claims there's no problem is living in a dream
world.

>Let's discuss more often what type of joint campaign or action we as blind
>people with guide dogs can take to nix this problem.
>It's not something that one person can do alone as I've done the reporting
>and filing stuff and it doesn't solve the problem, just one case at a time.

>Somehow the consequences of violating the rules have to become sufficiently
>unpleasant to convince people violating the law to cease and desist.
>I've been thinking about this a long time and do think it's probably the
>most significant issue we as guide dog users face.

>Cordially,

>Dan W. and the hounds  

>-----Original Message-----
>From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
>Of Ginger Kutsch
>Sent: Thursday, December 04, 2008 10:25 AM
>To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
>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/AR200812030
3
>752.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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