Victorian woman Kathryn Beaton says repeated, illegal denials of service from drivers refusing to allow her guide dog into their vehicles have left her effectively housebound.

Victorian woman Kathryn Beaton says repeated, illegal denials of service from drivers refusing to allow her guide dog into their vehicles have left her effectively housebound.

  • fiat_lux@kbin.socialOP
    41·
    1 year ago

    I’ve personally witnessed 2 taxi drivers in a 10 minute time span who were hailed on the side of the street begin to pull over to collect a passenger, but stop as soon as they see the guide dog and drive off saying “sorry, no dogs”. If they can deny someone to their face, they will deny them 1 block away.

    I’d like to see the companies allow people with evidence of disability affected by dogs to opt out in advance from being assigned pickup jobs for people with service animals.

      • fiat_lux@kbin.socialOP
        41·
        1 year ago

        From the article:

        If a driver is reported once for refusing a service animal, they are suspended from the Uber driver app until they undergo additional education to understand their legal obligations.

        A second report will generally result in permanent loss of access to the Uber driver app.

        Drivers who breach the legal requirement to transport assistance animals in Victoria may be fined more than $1,900, lose their accreditation or, in some cases, face legal charges.

        “Uber has tried to put things in place, but we don’t believe there has been a reduction in the frequency of issues — in fact we think there has been an escalation,” Blind Citizens Australia chief executive Sally Aurisch said.
        She is calling for more law enforcement and transparency regarding refusal complaints, as well as service animal training in the preferred language of a driver.

        “At the moment people stop complaining because they never find out what has happened, … there are penalties in place, although we don’t see them being enforced regularly.”

        Still happening and getting worse despite existing driver penalties. The penalty needs to be escalated up the chain to include the company.