[NAGDU] Rideshare Issues

[Heather Bird]

That is extremely helpful. That’s basically what I thought, but having a little bit more of the nuances and details filled out is very helpful. I think, the functional side, building up on the legal side is as follows. Often, accompany May  “upgrade, you quote to a larger vehicle, whether you want them to, or not, whether you ask them to or not, and in theory, this isn’t a problem. In theory, this could actually be a very nice thing. However, in practice, what I have found often happens, is that if they upgrade you from a car to a van, or from a van to a bus, the availability of vehicles may mean that you don’t get a ride, or that you get a ride at a time that does not work for you, when riding in a smaller vehicle, would’ve given you a ride at the time you asked for.  I, and many of my members experience this with our own Paratransit company, which is why we made the video. Additionally, it is very hard to prove, unless we have some insider knowledge at the call center when things are being worked out. For instance, if you call for a ride, and they have already flagged your profile as you having a service, dog, or, if the scheduler knows you well, if you are a frequent writer, and because they know you have a service dog already, they only look for rides in a van, excluding any with the cars they own, Then you might be told that there  were simply no rides available, or offered a ride. That is an hour or more different from what you are requesting, when a car could have accommodated you at the correct time. However, unless you can read their minds,  or know what’s going on in the call Center, this is very difficult to prove.  I have had some success in doing a little bit of a secret shopper process. For instance, if I call inand I’m told that there is no ride available, then I call back, making a ride for my son, or from one of my chapter members who has given me permission to do this, using the address that I wanted to start out, and what I wanted to end up at, and when they readily provide a ride, I take this information and run it up the chain to the head of our Paratransit service. I never told him I have a service dog, and I had to raise hell to get the fact that I have a service dog taken off of my record. And on occasion, I have had a car show up and refused to take me. So, I open the door and got in and refused to get out, and then I wound up calling the head of paratransit.  it also helps that, the vast majority of the drivers for a paratransit company, know me pretty well, but they do not know that I currently serve on the board of commissioners for their parent company, and I never intend to throw that fact around, because I’d rather get accurate information about what other people are experiencing.

I think, addressing the idea of an upgrade being used to marginalized or segregate. Someone is very important though. For instance, a restaurant can tell you that they have found you a table, so your dog can be more comfortable, when you actually wanted to sit at the bar with your friends, and they don’t want the dog at the bar. They might offer you a private room in the restaurant so that you can have more space and peace and quiet, which is functionally segregating you. Sometimes Airlines will try to force you to take the bulkhead seat, even if you don’t want that particular seat.  This doesn’t just happen to blind people either. For instance, as a breast-feeding, mom I can tell you there were many times, that a manager would come over and offer to escort me to somewhere more private, and sometimes that somewhere more private was a bathroom. Obviously, I refused to go, and thank goodness New York State law specifically protects breast-feeding moms.  I have seen a restaurant upgrade, a family of color to a private room, in order to hide them away, in a really nice restaurant. Many hotels will say they’re upgrading you to one of their pet friendly rooms, so your dog will be more comfortable, sometimes even offering to throw in a goodie basket for your pet. Never mind the fact that your guy dog is not a pet, I refused to stay in any room that is pet, friendly, ever. Our dogs are very well housetrained,  But often a pet friendly room comes with a carpet that has been saturated in dog urine over the years. Exposing your dog to indoor venues were accidents of happened, even if they have been cleaned up, set them up for failure and increases the chances that they will have a relieving accident indoors. I had a hotel once try to “upgrade me “to their sister hotel across the street, which was a pet, friendly hotel, when their hotel was not. Sometimes I think business is really are trying to be nice, and other times they’re absolutely using it as a loophole to try and get rid of you and your dog. Either way, if you don’t want an upgrade, it’s my understanding that legally, you do not have to take it. taking the guy dog out of the equation, this happens to blind folks as well. I once had a travel agency try to “upgrade my trip “what I found out, is the reason they were trying to offer me a different weekend, was because we were coming to a festival, and it would be very busy, and they mistakenly thought that a quieter less busy weekend would be better for our family with multiple blind people in it, never mind, the fact that the whole purpose of our trip was to attend that festival. even if you travel with a cane, they will often try to “upgrade you “to one of the forward facing, more comfortable seats on the bus, rather than sitting on the sideways facing seats closer to the front. This is especially problematic if you need to communicate with the driver, to find out exactly when your stop is coming up, and to not be forgotten if you’ve asked to be reminded of your stop, or to board and disembark from the bus quickly and efficiently.  I would say that, when you have the emotional and mental been with to do so, and the time, it can be very helpful to all blind people, if you fight the good fight, and insist that you do not want to “upgrade “especially when it is not functionally an upgrade at all, and you have not requested it in the first place.

I think, whenever we look at an access issue, we need to look at four things. First of all, exactly what Al  detailed for us, what is the law technically say, what is the legal precedent that has been set, what is actually written down and codified in legal terms. The second thing is what is functionally going to happen, regardless of what the law says, what is going to happen, or could happen, based on Human imperfection, and many other variables. The next thing is to look at who you are personally, details of your dog, and therefore, the resulting partnership of you and your dog, your life situation at the time, and all of those factors, basically the personal element. And lastly, you have to take all three of these things, put them together, and come up with an answer that works well for you, in the short term, and in the long term. And the long term and short term answers might be two different courses of action.