[NAGDU] My Thoughts on the NAGDU Seminar

[Al Elia]

All,

Regarding the basis for automatic complaints: If a user chooses to 
participate in Self-ID, which again is entirely at the discretion of the 
rider, every driver would be informed in the driver app that they are 
about to pick up a rider with a service animal. The app would  remind 
the driver that the law and Uber policy requires them to transport 
service animals, and that they may not refuse to transport a service 
animal. If the driver  attempts to cancel the ride after that message 
appears, they will be informed by the app that if they cancel this ride, 
they will be presumed to be canceling because of a service animal. Their 
account will be immediately suspended, and an investigation of their 
conduct will begin. If they still cancel the ride anyway, then their 
account will be immediately suspended so that they cannot drive for 
Uber, and an automatic complaint will be registered noting that the 
driver was provided with Uber's policy and  the law pursuant to the 
SelfID system, and that the driver  chose to cancel anyway. An 
investigation will begin immediately, and a new driver will be assigned 
to the rider with a service animal. We have proposed that Uber must 
assign a new driver that will minimize any extra time the rider would 
have to wait above and beyond the time the previously assigned driver 
would have taken, even if that means matching a driver at a higher class 
of service, with no extra charge to the rider.

We have been told that the only circumstances where a driver would have 
their account reactivated would be circumstances where the driver said 
they canceled because they were going to pick up their kid and were 
matched before they could stop the app, or that they canceled because 
they really needed a pit stop etc. We have been told that the 
investigators will see if the driver was on their way to their kid's 
school before the cancelation or to a gas station etc, and will use the 
app's tracking feature to see if the driver really went to their kid's 
school or gas station etc after the cancellation. Only if they find that 
the driver's pre-denial and post-denial actions match their stated 
reason for cancellation  will they be reactivated, and only once. A 
second similar excuse will automatically result in permanent 
deactivation.  In all other instances the presumption that the 
cancellation was because of a service animal will result in a driver's  
permanent deactivation on the first complaint.

We are also working with Uber to ensure that we receive data on denial 
complaints, including automatic complaints, and on permanent 
deactivations and any reactivations. Uber has  agreed in principal to 
this, and we are pushing them to provide more data more quickly than 
they would prefer.

I hope this at least partially addresses the concerns mentioned on this 
thread.  Again, we are also encouraging members to file DOJ complaints. 
A link will go up on the NAGDU homepage to file such complaints shortly. 
In the meantime, here is where you can [file a complaint with the 
Department of Justice](https://civilrights.justice.gov/report/)

Yours,

/Æ


On 2 Jul 2023, at 23:58, Buddy Brannan wrote:

> I share these concerns. Also, reports automatically filed? What 
> constitutes the criteria for such an automatic filing? Drivers are 
> already doing things to weasel out of taking us and making it look 
> like they aren’t discriminating. Remember the fake “He wasn’t 
> wearing a mask” ploy? What about the “I really didn’t know, 
> I’m sorry” ploy? Or the “Oh, I took him, but then charged a 
> cleaning fee because I had to take a dust buster and vacuum up some 
> hair” ploy? There are others, of course, but really, what would 
> constitute the basis for an automatic complaint being files?
>
>
> --
> Buddy Brannan, KB5ELV, WRVB670 - Erie, PA
> Email: buddy at brannan.name
> Mobile: (814) 431-0962
>
>
>
>
>> On Jul 2, 2023, at 10:56 AM, Michael Forzano via NAGDU 
>> <nagdu at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> It was nice to see quite a bit of discussion about what are arguably 
>> the biggest issues of discrimination facing guide dog users today, 
>> rideshare and the airlines. Unfortunately, there was not a whole lot 
>> in the way of even working towards solutions that truly eliminate 
>> these problems. What I heard is that the best hope of changing the 
>> airline situation is a pilot program in the FAA reauthorization Act 
>> that would create essentially TSA pre-check for guide dogs. This 
>> would make things easier for frequent travelers, but what about folks 
>> who don't travel often? What about folks who aren't good with 
>> technology? And at the end of the day, it still leaves the door open 
>> for discrimination at the airport. On rideshare, we are working with 
>> Uber on a pilot program where riders can identify themselves as 
>> service animal users before a ride and have reports automatically 
>> filed if they are denied. Considering some of the drivers I've 
>> encountered, I would not be surprised if drivers continue to deny us 
>> even if they're threatened by a message in their app. And when they 
>> do, Uber has a terrible track record of handling reports and taking 
>> action, as we all know. Even during the settlement period when Uber 
>> was required to deactivate drivers in certain situations, they rarely 
>> did.
>>
>> It seems to me that the NAGDU board has taken the position that we 
>> now live in a world where these discriminations are our reality. As 
>> was pointed out by a NAGDU member, guide dog access was better 25 
>> years ago and our rights are being rolled back. But there is no 
>> realistic way to go back to "the good old days".  We are so afraid of 
>> losing more, that we're not willing to demand back the rights that 
>> the blind fought so hard for. While that's a perfectly valid position 
>> for someone to take at an individual level, is that the position we 
>> want the NFB, the voice of the nation's blind, to take?
>>
>> Protesting was brought up multiple times during the seminar. The 
>> response from our leaders was that they did not think it would be 
>> effective. The fact is that we don't know if it will be unless we 
>> try. Protesting has helped advance civil rights causes in the past, 
>> including those of the blind. In my opinion, the NAGDU board should 
>> not be worrying about members traveling across the country for a 
>> protest that turns out to be ineffective. Advocacy takes work, and 
>> I'd like to think that people signing up for a protest are well aware 
>> that it probably won't yield immediate results. As was pointed out, 
>> we would not have the ADA if disabled advocates hadn't crawled up the 
>> steps of the capitol. The NFB has protested on a number of issues as 
>> well.
>>
>> Particularly when it comes to Uber, I think a protest is long 
>> overdue. We've sued them, settled with them, and tried to work with 
>> them for almost 10 years. It is long past time to change our 
>> strategy, and yet we're too afraid because of their PR resources.
>>
>> Another argument that I heard was that we would be unable to advance 
>> legislation due to Republican control of Congress. My question is, do 
>> other civil rights orgs put their advocacy on hold when the party 
>> that most supports their cause isn't in power? The split in Congress 
>> is quite narrow and I doart think it's that far fetched that we could 
>> convince some Republicans on the importance of some of our 
>> legislation.
>>
>> I am curious if other members have similar sentiments, and thoughts 
>> on what actions we can take. I have thought about bringing a 
>> resolution to the convention to make these issues a top priority for 
>> the NFB as a whole but I assume it's too late this year. Open to 
>> ideas, and happy to help in any way I can. That said, doing this work 
>> as an individual doesn't make a lot of sense, we need to be aligned 
>> as an organization in order to make real progress.
>>
>> -Mike
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
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