Haben Girma (’13), Global Accessibility Leader, and Terri Gerstein (’95), Director of the New York University Wagner Labor Initiative, are calling out ride-sharing companies Uber and Lyft for their failure to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities, including those with guide dogs. In a video posted to YouTube, Haben, who is blind and with her guide dog, waited for her third Uber after the first two cancelled. “Wherever I travel . . . this happens all the time. We’re regularly canceled on because we’re disabled and have an assistance animal.” Haben invited the public to join the National Federation of the Blind’s Rideshare Rally outside Uber headquarters: “This shouldn’t be normal. We shouldn’t have to get used to drivers canceling as soon as they realize we’re blind or have another disability and an assistance dog. My dog helps me navigate the world, increasing my access to visual information and audio information. So join the movement. October 15th. #RightToRide.”

Terri also contributed an article to Slate, examining how the gig business model itself is largely at fault (“The Sneaky Tactic That Makes Uber and Lyft Worse for Everyone,” Oct. 16). In unpacking the data from a “2020 San Francisco County report [which] found that less than half of all wheelchair-accessible vehicle trip requests to Uber and Lyft were served,” Terri noted that the companies “would like us to believe that it’s a matter of a few rogue drivers who didn’t get the memo.” Rather, ride-sharing companies avoid responsibility by “engag[ing] in the fiction that each driver or delivery worker is running their very own totally independent car-driving or delivery business.” Terri highlighted how “when sued for discrimination involving riders with disabilities, Uber and Lyft have both stated that the Americans with Disabilities Act doesn’t even apply to their operations.” The companies “have created this lose-lose situation in which grossly underpaid workers end up denying services urgently needed by people with disabilities (and required by law), like accommodating wheelchair users and guide dogs.”