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

Sun Dec 7 01:05:17 UTC 2008

Craig,
    I sure hope the DOJ doesn't open up a can of worms!

Marion


----- Original Message ----- 
From: <craig.borne at dot.gov>
To: <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, December 05, 2008 9:12 AM
Subject: Re: [nagdu] On D.C.'s streets, blind injustice


> 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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