Michael May travels frequently, including trips to Oahu on a regular basis for vacations, and he uses ride-sharing services quite a lot.
Being legally blind, he gets around with the help of his guide dog Jonnie, a 60-pound golden retriever, and sometimes a white cane. The well-trained canine obeys numerous commands and has been taught to sit quietly on the floor while traveling.
May, who is from Reno, Nev., has welcomed technology into his life as a means to independence, including the convenience of getting a ride with companies such as Uber and Lyft through an app, but has also been frustrated with them.
There have been times when ride-sharing drivers denied him service after seeing he has a guide dog, and in many other instances, drivers have approached the pickup spot, noticed the dog and then disappeared around the corner, canceling the ride.
And then there are drivers who show up and tell him they are not Uber Pet and cannot take him with his dog, even after he explains that Jonnie is a service animal.
Under the Americans with Disabilities Act, businesses that serve the public, including ride-sharing businesses, generally must allow service animals to accompany people with disabilities in vehicles and facilities.
Both Uber and Lyft have policies prohibiting discrimination of any kind, including against passengers with service animals.
Uber said drivers who sign up agree to follow its U.S. Service Animal Policy and to adhere to any relevant federal and state accessibility laws or else potentially lose their access to the app. Lyft, likewise, said it has zero tolerance for any driver knowingly violating its Service Animal Policy, which could result in immediate and permanent deactivation.
May, who has a timeshare at Hilton’s The Grand Islander in Waikiki, said his experience with ride-sharing denials during a visit to Oahu over the summer was one of the worst he remembers.
“I had six rejections (out of 10 requests), and one day I had three in a row,” he said. “As soon as I sent the message that I have a guide dog, they canceled. That was a much higher percentage than I’m used to.”
With assistance from the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, May filed a complaint with the Honolulu Civil Rights Commission in October, the first time he’s filed one at the local level.
Alerting a driver about having a guide dog is not required, but he has done it to save time from having to rebook another ride — plus the rejection is documented.
The consequences of being denied rides have included missing flights, being late for appointments and being flat-out stranded.
Once, he spent nearly six minutes persuading an Uber driver in Orlando, Fla., to drive him to the airport, promising to tip him well and give him a sticky roller to clean up dog hair.
A national issue
Louis Erteschik, executive director of the Hawaii Disability Rights Center, said U.S. Department of Justice lawyers have informed him an investigation into alleged discrimination by ride- sharing companies is underway nationally and that the local Civil Rights Commission has verified receipt of May’s complaint.
“It seems to me he has a pretty solid case under state law,” Erteschik said.
The issue has been ongoing for years, according to the National Federation of the Blind, based in Baltimore, Md.
According to NFB, a groundbreaking settlement was reached in 2016 between its California affiliate representing guide dog users and Uber, which agreed to take certain steps informing drivers of the laws.
But hundreds of visually impaired riders with guide dogs continue to report rejections by ride-sharing companies, prompting NFB to organize a rally last month in front of Uber and Lyft headquarters in San Francisco. Hundreds of members flew in from all over the U.S. for the mid-October rally, with their guide dogs by their side.
The NFB said it was demanding that Uber and Lyft implement a zero-tolerance policy for violators; reduce the burden on visually impaired passengers to report denials; and deliver better driver education on the policy and laws regarding blind passengers, especially guide dog users.
James Gashel, president of NFB’s Honolulu chapter, attended the rally and said it has been an ongoing problem everywhere, including Hawaii.
“Some of the dog users that I know will say to me, you know, because this is a problem, they tend to avoid trying to use them,” he said.
Uber has a responsibility to ensure this does not happen in all areas where it operates, Gashel said.
“They have printed policy that says they can’t discriminate against dog guide users and they acknowledge that responsibility, but they don’t really do anything serious about it,” he said. “They didn’t just learn about it last week. We’ve been talking about it for years.”
He added, “I’m beginning to think this problem won’t be solved until local jurisdictions, until City and County of Honolulu, take responsibility to regulate these people. You can’t have Uber people here if you won’t pick up people with guide dogs.”
Uber, Lyft policies
Both Uber and Lyft said they have taken steps to address the discrimination issues.
“We want every Uber trip to feel safe, equitable, and positive for people with disabilities on the platform,” said a statement from Uber.
Drivers agree to transport service animals and assistive devices when signing up for the Uber platform and must follow community guidelines that prohibit discrimination.
Uber said the policy is sent to drivers in quarterly emails and that it recently sent all drivers a new service animal education video. It also launched a dedicated service animal denial reporting line at 833-715-8237.
“We encourage any rider who encounters a service denial to report it so we can take appropriate action, which may include permanent deactivation of the driver’s account. We will continue to invest in and develop technology that further enhances accessibility,” the company’s statement said.
Lyft also said its drivers are made aware of the policies in place and are reminded of them through regular communications, including a notice that they may be deactivated aftercanceling a ride.
“Discrimination has no place in the Lyft community,” said Lyft in a statement. “We strive to provide an inclusive and accessible platform for riders, including those who rely on service animals or mobility devices. We continually update our practices to improve accessibility for riders and are proud to be working directly with advocacy organizations in the community.”
Lyft said it is also piloting a Service Animal Opt-In feature that allows riders to disclose that they travel with a service animal when requesting a ride. Lyft has also produced an educational video on its service animal policy.
Well-trained dogs
Honolulu resident Vickie Kennedy, who serves on the national board of Guide Dog Users Inc., does not use ride-sharing services often.
Many local residents use the city’s HandiVan service, she said, or rely on friends or family for transportation, as repeated ride-sharing trips can get expensive. But she is concerned for disabled visitors who rely on ride-sharing services, saying the drivers who reject them are “not acting with aloha.”
According to Kennedy, guide dogs go through months of training, not only learning to serve their humans but to practice “intelligent disobedience,” which means not obeying orders if a danger presents itself. They also are trained to be quiet and adapt to many different environments.
Dogs that don’t pass a temperament test or other criteria do not graduate as guide dogs.
Kennedy’s dog Buddy is a Labrador retriever from Guide Dogs for the Blind in California that has transformed her life.
The group surveyed its alumni last year and found 83 percent experienced ride- sharing denials, which results in psychological, social and economic impacts.
There is also the issue of people who pass off their pets as fake service dogs, which was addressed with state legislation in 2018, imposing penalties.
May, who develops global positioning systems used by the blind, wonders whether many drivers mix legitimate service dogs with fake ones that may not be well- behaved, which understandably leads to mistrust.
He said that when Jonnie has her harness on, she takes her job seriously, even while riding in unfamiliar vehicles.
“She sits on the floor,” May said. “We try to be very unobtrusive. We get in and then she doesn’t budge.”
He wants to raise awareness of the issue, which hasn’t stopped him from traveling. May is planning another trip to Oahu in the spring.
