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A few months ago, Kate ordered Kate Higgins to return home for a dentist appointment in Watertown.
“I got a text from the driver saying, ‘I’m not canceling, but I’m not picking you up,'” she said.
Higgins, who is blind and uses a yellow lab called Dodger, felt she had no choice but to pay $5 to cancel her trip and request a new one. She suspected that the first driver would not want to pick her up when he saw her dog. When the second driver arrived, they clearly told her she couldn’t drive because of the dodger.
“It was like two shots in a row,” she said. Finally, the third driver picked her up and she continued on her way.
Higgins and other assistance dog users say this experience is not uncommon. This is part of a growing trend in recent years where blind people who use guide dogs face illegal discrimination in their daily lives and travel – and bear the burden of asserting their rights.
Although the rules have been around for a long time since I first got a tour many years ago, it doesn’t seem like it’s getting any easier to advocate for access, Higgins said.
Guide dog users point to some explanations: Uber and Lyft drivers who are careful not to let animals in their own cars; workers from cultures where dogs are not widely accepted as pets; And the proliferation of pets being passed off as emotional support animals blurs the lines for business owners.
All of this leads to conflict between those who believe in sincerity and those who have the civil rights of people with disabilities.
Service Animals v. Emotional support animals
Guide dogs, like the one Higgins works with, are highly disciplined dogs who undergo years of rigorous training at one of a dozen dog schools around the country.
As defined by the Americans with Disabilities Act, service animals are dogs that, almost always, are trained to assist their owners in a specific task related to their handler’s disability. In addition to guiding dogs for the blind and visually impaired – helping them in all areas of daily life, including navigating the streets or finding an elevator in a subway station – service animals can also help the deaf by alerting them. Physically assisting a person with hearing or mobility issues. Service animals are allowed to go where the public is allowed, including Ubers and Lyft.
Under the ADA, a business owner or employee is only allowed to ask two questions of a person who owns a service animal: Is your animal a service animal, and if so, what tasks does the animal help you perform? No certification or documentation is required for service animals. A handler must ensure that the dog is well behaved. Service animals are also protected under the Air Carrier Access Act, which governs air travel to and from the United States.
An emotional support animal is an animal that supports a person’s overall well-being. While they have some protections under the Fair Housing Act, they do not have protections under the ADA.
A recent explosion of people trying to bring emotional support animals into public spaces has many guide dog users concerned, who fear such behavior is affecting people’s response to legitimate service animals.
The problem, according to Guide Dog Users, is that anyone can easily pass off their dog as an emotional support animal by buying a “service animal” or “working dog” shirt online. There is no guarantee that the animal will be strictly trained or socialized.
“Individuals are corrupting legitimate service dogs by scamming pets, especially if they are not well-behaved, into offering them as service animals.” can [be] Sheila Goff, vice president of government relations for the American Kennel Club, said it’s difficult for members of the public to distinguish between a legal service dog and a pet.
Last year, major airlines began restricting the use of emotional support animals on planes, now requiring guide dog users to fill out paperwork in advance.
Lack of education and awareness
Confusion about the rights of service animals also applies to other travel situations, dog users say.
Last summer, Nora Nagle was visiting a national park with her guide dog, a German shepherd named Larry, when a park ranger approached her and told her her dogs could not enter. Nagle explained that as a guide dog, Larry was allowed, but the handler answered and asked why he wasn’t wearing a vest – which he wasn’t required to wear.
Eventually, people in the parking lot got involved and stood aside, and the guard finally let Nagle go. But it was disappointing. She’s worked with Larry since the snowy winter of 2015, and she still encounters people who don’t understand her rights.
“I always ask, why isn’t he wearing a vest? Where’s the ID?” Nagle said. “A lot of this happens because of these fake service animals.”
“Individuals corrupt legitimate service dogs by fraudulently misrepresenting pets as service animals, especially if they are ill-behaved.”
-Sheila Goffe, American Kennel Club
In those situations, the burden of educating someone about the legal rights of service animals often falls on the handler.
Recently, Higgins and her husband were working with a realtor to find a summer vacation rental. Her husband told his wife that she would bring her guide – not to ask permission, but as a courtesy. Even after Higgins sent links and language explaining her rights, the landlord was reluctant to respond.
Finally, after several weeks, the landlord said yes – but Higgins didn’t feel good about having to go back and forth to explain a right that shouldn’t be a question.
“So I already felt that this was discrimination. I don’t feel like I want to be in a place where I don’t want to take my vacation and I worry that they might charge me something – an extra cleaning fee or that my dog got hurt when he didn’t. ” she said.
Legal action
Carl Richardson, president of Massachusetts Guide Dog Users, said while it’s not an everyday occurrence, he’s noticed a trend toward discrimination at rideshares and restaurants. Richardson works with an 11-year-old black lab named Merrick.
“It’s not unusual for me to get up without being in a restaurant for an hour, then I get up and people walk out and they’re like, ‘Oh my God!’ “There was a dog there,” he said.
Richardson says the most common form of discrimination is when a rideshare driver approaches and then cancels upon seeing the dog — although it’s difficult to prove discrimination because the driver can cancel the ride for any reason.
“they [Uber and Lyft] Tell us it’s not a systemic issue, but we are in the blind and low vision community and we believe the service dog community is a systemic issue. “We all know at least one person banned, at least I mean.”
Richardson estimates that 10 to 20 percent of the time the ride will be canceled before the driver meets him.
Higgins knew exactly that would happen. “My husband usually has vision, and he sees it happen — he says, ‘Oh, there’s the car.’ She said to me.
Meghan Smith / GBH News
In response to questions from GBH News, Uber and Lyft said all drivers are required to accommodate service animals and that all drivers agree to the policy when they join.
“We have zero tolerance for discrimination on the Uber platform and take reports of service animal failures very seriously,” an Uber spokesperson told GBH News. Uber says it will take “appropriate” action when a driver discriminates, which could include removing the driver from the app.
Still, blind drivers across the country have reported being denied travel, from Wisconsin to Tennessee to Louisiana to Maine.
In the year In 2016, Uber filed the first nationwide lawsuit against the rideshare company, along with the California National Federation of the Blind, to address discrimination against blind drivers. Uber has pledged to do more to reduce incidents of discrimination.
Then, in 2021, Uber was ordered to pay $1.1 million for violating California’s Uruh Civil Rights Act and the ADA after a San Francisco woman filed at least 60 discrimination cases against her and her tour guide.
“It’s not a right. It’s a basic human right to be able to bring my dog somewhere.”
-Kate Higgins, guide dog user
Legislators are taking notice, too—Goffe said the AKC is supporting legislation in several states, including Massachusetts, to increase penalties for those who describe emotional support animals as service animals.
Guide Dog Users Inc. Rideshares launched a survey in December with the American Council of the Blind to gather stories from dog users who have experienced discrimination while using them. They intend to send the results of the survey to the Department of Justice to draw attention to what they call the violation of citizens’ rights.
Higgins said she hopes that with more awareness and education, dog owners won’t have to deal with the “rollercoaster” of going public with the controversy surrounding their dog.
“Also, I think if there was a way to educate the public at large about the challenge people feel when they can’t replace their pets – people with used animals would have an easier time. It is not a right. It’s a basic human right to be able to bring my dog somewhere,” Higgins said.
This story is a result of GBH News’ listening sessions with community members. To learn more about our mission to be a newsroom without walls and how you can connect with our editors and reporters, Visit our community page.
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