[NAGDU] Had a scary experience with Lyft today

[Leslie Hamric]

Hi Raul. Thanks for the advice and I too hope it was a misunderstanding about dropping me off in the parking lot.
Leslie Hamric
Cello and Braille Music Teacher

> On Jan 23, 2024, at 7:42 AM, Raul Gallegos - NAGDU <rgallegos at nagdu.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello Leslie,
> First off, I am sorry that you had an experience the way you describe. I am
> always scared that a driver who is not paying attention will start driving
> off before the door closes, dog or no dog. This has happened to me before,
> even without my dog, where I was halfway in the car, one foot still on the
> ground outside, and the rear passenger door still open, and the driver
> starts moving forward. Now, as to riding with someone who is deaf, what I
> have done is communicated with the driver via the Lyft or Uber message
> system. This presents a solution to the immediate communication, but also
> adds a masure of danger from texting and driving. So, another way you can do
> this is open your notes app on your iPhone, a Keep Note from your Android,
> or some form of large text area on any smart phone, make sure your
> brightness is up, and your screen curtain or hide screen feature is
> disabled. Then, write out, or dictate a quick message to quickly tell the
> driver what you want them to know. I will usually say something like, I hope
> we can communicate if necessary for this trip. The best way will be to use
> the Uber/Lyft message service since I cannot see your visual signs. I have
> found that this usually works well enough. While it is not cool that you
> were dropped off where you describe, I hope that it was due to a case of
> misunderstanding on the driver's part rather than a deliborte attempt to put
> you in danger. Still though, I'm glad that you reported this incident to
> Lyft.
> 
> Thanks for sharing.
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NAGDU <nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Leslie Hamric via NAGDU
> Sent: Monday, January 22, 2024 10:24 PM
> To: nagdu at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Leslie Hamric <lhamric930 at comcast.net>
> Subject: [NAGDU] Had a scary experience with Lyft today
> 
> Hi all. I wanted to let you know about a scary experience I had with Lyft
> today. Normally, when I get a notification saying that my driver is deaf or
> hard of hearing, I've never had a problem. But this driver obviously had no
> form of communicating with me. He did not appear to have Any form of
> functional speech. So, I get in the car, and I'm waiting for Omega to get in
> the car and he starts to drive off. I had this terrifying thought that omega
> and I would be separated in the worst way. All I could do is call Out, wait!
> And he stopped. Then, when he let me off, he dropped me right in the middle
> of the parking lot and I had no idea where I was.  All I could hear was
> traffic behind me and cars pulling in and pulling out of the parking lot all
> around me. Luckily, I was able to FaceTime my husband and get directions to
> where the building was. On the way home, I took Uber and that driver was so
> much better. I reported the driver to both Lyft and the Lyft safety team and
> I requested a refund. I got that refund too. I think next time I get an
> alert that a driver is deaf or hard of hearing, I'm just going to cancel it
> because I can't take the chance. I'm just glad that I OK, my dog is OK, and
> we got home safely. Have any of you experienced the situation like this? If
> so, how did you handle it?Thanks.
> Leslie Hamric
> Cello and Braille Music Teacher
> 
> 
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