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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><b>Subject:</b> [seeing-eye] Legally blind woman says some Uber drivers refuse to give her rides<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Legally blind woman says some Uber drivers refuse to give her rides<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Published:Monday, November 7th 2016, By Coleen Harry, Reporter<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><a href="http://www.wbtv.com/story/33653548/legally-blind-woman-says-some-uber-drivers-refuse-to-give-her-rides">http://www.wbtv.com/story/33653548/legally-blind-woman-says-some-uber-drivers-refuse-to-give-her-rides</a><o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Victoria Bellamy only has very limited vision in one eye. She and her guide dog, Mr. Radley, have been together for a year. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"Yes, he is my eyes because he can find anything for me. If I say to the steps, he’ll stop at the steps to indicate we are at the steps. I won’t go tumbling<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>down. If I tell him to the door he’ll take me to the door," Bellamy said. "Just a couple of weeks ago we went to the Raleigh State Fair and he navigated<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>me through all those crowds. He didn’t bump into anyone and knock anyone done and so basically he increases my independence."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>To get around Charlotte, Bellamy turns to Uber. But she said some Uber drivers have been turning her down. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"That has just been awful. I have been using the service of Uber since March and since that time – it’s been 9 months now – I’ve had eight denials," she<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>said. "So it's kind of becoming one denial per month."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The refusal has happened so often, Bellamy started recording when drivers arrived. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>She said when some drivers saw her two year old guide dog - the excuses why they won't give her a ride come pouring out. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"Some say they don’t want hair in their car. They say they have allergies. Some people say they just don’t want a dog, there’s no good reason – they just<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>say no and drive away" Bellamy said. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"When someone denies my service animal it’s really a heart breaking experience because this isn’t a regular dog. This is a dog I’m with 24/7 who increases<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>my independence, allows me to do things I didn’t think were possible, allows me to walk with my head held high instead of looking down to the ground to<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>know where I’m going. So he’s really like a part of me in a way a person uses a wheel chair that’s a part of them" she said. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>WBTV contacted Uber to see if the practice is accepted by the company but no one from Uber responded to our questions. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Julia Sain, the Executive Director of Disability Rights & Resources, said it's illegal to refuse service dogs. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"The Americans with Disabilities Act says if you are a private company, primarily in the business of transportation and you do demand response transportation<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>– of course that’s you call them up and they show up like cabs, and Uber – then you have to make sure you’re accessible to people that includes having<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>service animals in your vehicle."<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sain said people around the country began filing lawsuits against Uber. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"This past May, there was a settlement of class action lawsuit between Uber and the National Federation for the Blind when Uber finally admitted they had<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>been doing wrong," Sain said. "And they came up with five agreements in order for this to be settled." <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sain said Uber agreed to inform all their drivers what the requirements are so they would stop denying passengers who had a service animal. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Company executives said they were going to remove any drivers who violated the law. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sain said Uber also agreed to pay the National Federation for the Blind $225,000 penalty over three years, and they were going to revise their written<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>handbook and make sure everybody who was driving received a written copy of the policy to make sure they knew that. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>The company also said it would keep a database - a national database of all the complaints they had gotten of drivers who had allegedly done this and<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>how they had handled that driver.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Sain said she recommends anyone who is still experiencing service refusal to contact the National Federation for the Blind. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>Victoria Bellamy just wishes drivers would comply with the law. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal>"I can just really feel the discrimination and it hurts me deeply since it keeps happening and some occasions the denial has brought me to tears" she said. <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"'>-- <br>The Seeing Eye<br>Independence with Dignity since 1929<br><br> <br>If you need to contact one of the list owners for <br>> questions or assistance, please use the following email address: <a href="mailto:seeing-eye+owner@googlegroups.com">seeing-eye+owner@googlegroups.com</a>.<br>--- <br>You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Seeing Eye Discussions" group.<br>To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to <a href="mailto:seeing-eye+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com">seeing-eye+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com</a>.<br>To post to this group, send email to <a href="mailto:seeing-eye@googlegroups.com">seeing-eye@googlegroups.com</a>.<br>To view this discussion on the web visit <a href="https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/seeing-eye/040301d239d0%246ee5a410%244cb0ec30%24%40ky2d.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer">https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/seeing-eye/040301d239d0%246ee5a410%244cb0ec30%24%40ky2d.com</a>.<br>For more options, visit <a href="https://groups.google.com/d/optout">https://groups.google.com/d/optout</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></p></div></body></html>