skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, March 29, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Disability Advocates: Require Uber to Serve People with Disabilities

play audio
Play

Monday, September 28, 2015   

NEW YORK - Uber is under fire from those who accuse the ride-hailing service of violating the Americans with Disabilities Act. Several lawsuits claim the company rejected guide dogs for the blind and passengers in wheelchairs.

And a group of cab drivers just filed a lawsuit against New York City claiming a requirement for taxi companies to provide wheelchair accessible cabs causes them to lose money to Uber, which isn't subject to the same mandate. Disabled in Action vice president for public relations, Jean Ryan, says Uber's policies are an insult.

"I have tried twice to get Uber and neither time could I get a ride," Ryan says. "I use a motorized wheelchair and I could not get it into a regular sedan."

Lawyers for Uber argue the company isn't responsible for upholding the Americans With Disabilities Act because it doesn't own its cars.

Instead, they argue the company's contractors, the drivers, are responsible. The federal law requires all transportation providers to accommodate wheelchairs if the equipment can be stowed in the vehicle. The drivers must also accommodate passengers with service animals.

Ryan would like to see Uber retrain drivers instead of firing them and beyond that, she'd prefer Uber, and taxi companies of all sorts, go beyond the current legal requirements.

"We would like to have all the vehicles be wheelchair accessible," Ryan says. "Not a small percentage but all of the vehicles be wheelchair accessible."

She says this would help cut the cost of wheelchair accessible cars and equipment because prices would drop as demand rose.

Uber is currently fighting three lawsuits related to the ADA, in California, Texas and Arizona. In its defense, the company says it has launched new features in several cities that let people request extra assistance or wheelchair-accessible vehicles.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
The U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments this week about the popular abortion pill Mifepristone and will weigh in on whether the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was correct in how it can be dosed and prescribed. (Ascannio/Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

Missouri residents are worried about future access to birth control. The latest survey from The Right Time, an initiative based in Missouri…


Social Issues

play sound

Wisconsin children from low-income families are now on track to get nutritious foods over the summer. Federal officials have approved the Badger …

Social Issues

play sound

Almost 2,900 people are unsheltered on any given night in the Beehive State. Gov. Spencer Cox is celebrating signing nine bills he says are geared …


The U.S. teaching workforce remains primarily white while the percentage of Black teachers has declined. However, the percentage of Asian and Latinx teachers is rising.(WavebreakMediaMicro/Adobestock)

Social Issues

play sound

Education advocates are calling on lawmakers to increase funding for programs to combat the teacher shortage. Around 37% of schools nationwide …

Environment

play sound

New York's Legislature is considering a bill to get clean-energy projects connected to the grid faster. It's called the RAPID Act, for "Renewable …

Social Issues

play sound

Earlier this month, a new Arizona Public Service rate hike went into effect and one senior advocacy group said those on a fixed income may struggle …

Social Issues

play sound

Michigan recently implemented a significant juvenile justice reform package following recommendations from a task force made up of prosecutors…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021