[nagdu] Trying to understand: denial of access bad allergies

Wed Aug 26 22:08:26 UTC 2015

Hi I come from both sides. Please read as my story is different and was hard at the time.

I am a mother of three sons. When my first son was born I had Loris. We had been together for over four years when he was born.  I once in his first three months was turned down for a cab and it was a cold evening. The driver said he was allergic to dogs. I was lucky that another taxi pulled in a few minutes later and the drivers changed who they were taking in their cars.

I phoned and made a complaint the next week. 

 Okay now this becomes even harder as two weeks later I found out that my son was allergic to dogs, and the doctor thought he could live with the dog.

Two months later no I had to send back Loris as he just couldn't live in the same house as my Loris.

So I do understand that people do have to share that they have it so it can be on the file at work. If the driver decide not to report it knowing they can have guides dogs in their car. They should take us but isn't it up to dispatch to know what driver can't take a guide dog and send the right driver.

So this is hard for me as for about three my son couldn't even be around a person who had been near a dog of any kind. 

He now lives with us as he is 22 years old and has over the last ten years been doing that.

I just want all to understand that it upsets me when I get turned down but do understand the other side of the coin. I think we should fight that if you are allergic you should let the employer know  that you have the allergy, and that is more important we fight for, as then it is up to dispatch  to make sure that that driver isn't sent. Thanks for reading and ask questions Louise and princess Kiara 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michael Hingson via nagdu
Sent: August 25, 2015 12:54 PM
To: 'NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users' <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Michael Hingson <mike at michaelhingson.com>
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Trying to understand: denial of access bad allergies

Hi,

I hear what you are saying. However, while there are many different perspectives on the subject there is the law that dictates what is required of Uber drivers and anyone serving the public in general. Also, often allergies are simply used as an excuse. If someone truly has an allergy issue sufficient to be a real medical issue then they should do what is necessary to prove it a disability for them and abide by the consequences. Marion put this well a bit ago.

As blind people we are not asking for much. We ask for equal treatment and to be valued as much as everyone else. Using an allergy as an excuse really says that "I don't want your dog around and my position is thus better than yours". "I consider you less than I and thus I will do what I can to keep you out of my space."

Read this last section from the 1956 banquet address of Dr. tenBroek. The speech is entitled "Within The Grace Of God". It is one of my favorite speeches and this portion is a part of many of the speeches I give today. This speech, I think, is the best embodiment of the overall philosophy of the National Federation of the Blind.

" In the Sixteenth Century, John Bradford made a famous remark which has ever since been held up to us as a model of Christian humility and correct charity
and which you saw reflected in the agency quotations I presented. Seeing a beggar in his rags creeping along a wall through a flash of lightning in a stormy
night Bradford said: "But for the Grace of God, there go I." Compassion was shown; pity was shown; charity was shown; humility was shown; there was even
an acknowledgement that the relative positions of the two could and might have been switched. Yet despite the compassion, despite the pity, despite the
charity, despite the humility, how insufferably arrogant! There was still an unbridgeable gulf between Bradford and the beggar. They were not one but two.
Whatever might have been, Bradford thought himself Bradford and the beggar a beggar—one high, the other low; one wise, the other misguided; one strong,
the other weak; one virtuous, the other depraved.

We do not and cannot take the Bradford approach. It is not just that beggary is the badge of our past and is still all too often the present symbol of social
attitudes towards us; although that is at least part of it. But in the broader sense, we are that beggar and he is each of us. We are made in the same
image and out of the same ingredients. We have the same weaknesses and strengths, the same feelings, emotions, and drives; and we are the product of the
same social, economic, and other environmental forces. How much more consonant with the facts of individual and social life, how much more a part of a
true humanity, to say instead: 'There, within the Grace of God, do go I.'"

Best Regards,

Michael Hingson

The Michael Hingson Group, INC.
"Speaking with Vision"
Michael Hingson, President
(415) 827-4084
info at michaelhingson.com
Please help us empower blind people and their families with your support at www.gofundme.com/michaelhingson
To order Michael Hingson's new book, Running With Roselle, and check on Michael Hingson's speaking availability for your next event please visit:
www.michaelhingson.com

To purchase your own portrait of Roselle painted by the world's foremost animal artist, Ron Burns, please visit http://www.ronburns.com/roselle

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Aleeha Dudley via nagdu
Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 12:24 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List, the National Association of Guide Dog Users <nagdu at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Aleeha Dudley <blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nagdu] Trying to understand: denial of access bad allergies

I ask because many people have different perspectives on this matter. We are not all the same. Some would choose to handle a situation differently, as Daryl expressed. It is not a 2question that I ask lightly, nor is a question I ask simply because I am offended at a little name calling. I spoke frankly to that person and told him exactly what I thought. However, I want to understand all that surrounds this topic. I want to be sensitive to others’ conditions, as I would ask that they be of my blindness. I also want to make sure I know all I can about this issue: from the scientific data to the personal opinions, so that I might become a more well rounded, more thoughtful human being. 

> On Aug 25, 2015, at 3:09 PM, Star Gazer via nagdu <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 				Who is telling you this and why do you care?
> I ask in all sincerity. 
> Also, asking the list what it thinks on this topic as like asking the 
> Budweizer company if you should have another beer.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nagdu [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Aleeha 
> Dudley via nagdu
> Sent: Tuesday, August 25, 2015 1:55 PM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Aleeha Dudley <blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com>
> Subject: [nagdu] Trying to understand: denial of access bad allergies
> 
> Hello all,
> Can you guys weigh in on this? I have been severely criticized and 
> called selfish for my opinion on this matter. This especially has to 
> do with denial of access to uber vehicles, but could also have implications elsewhere.
> Let's start with a hypothetical situation. I request a ride with the 
> uber app. As I do not think it is necessary, I do not inform the 
> driver that I am accompanied by my dog. The driver shows up and says 
> that they cannot take my dog because they or someone in their family 
> has a severe allergy to dog dander, to the point that their throat closes up.
> In my opinion, this person shouldn't be driving anyway because anyone 
> could be carrying pet dander on their clothing. My dog poses just as 
> much a risk as the next person if my dog is well groomed. I believe 
> that everyone should follow the law. Now, I'm told that this view 
> makes me close minded and selfish. I have a similar view on fear of 
> dogs. I'm told that we are all being close minded and spewing rhetoric 
> when we talk about the uber lawsuit, but that is a topic for another post. What do you all think?
> Aleeha
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
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