WUSA Channel 9: more on taxis, people with disabilities in Washington DC

Surely RantWoman can find plenty of affronts to human dignity and decency  right here in her very own back yard?

Yeah, sure, but RantWoman also travels in circles of people who from time to time fly off to our nation's capital for some or another exercise in democracy and public participation, or just to play tourist. With such travelers in mind, RantWoman presents the next installment of ongoing problems about taxi drivers picking up people with service dogs and other people with disabilities. More accurately, failing to pick up. Driving right past.  Mumbling excuses to someone 100 feet after the person trying to catch a cab.

The item below is from DC-area CBS affiliate WUSA9.

Not only do cabs pass people by, the form to complain about problems on the DC website is inaccessible! Accessibility is due to be fixed "by September." RantWoman has to assume there must be other accessibility failures besides lack of audio option in a required CAPTCHA page. Fix them please!


WUSA9, DC's local CBS affiliate, follows up on its undercover investigation into discrimination by taxi cab drivers in the nation's capitol and sparks the first official inquiry.  Since the story first ran, DC's Office of Human Rights has established a special online reporting web page as part of its initiative to document taxi cab discrimination. 

As ACB's Eric Bridges, Director of External Relations and Policy, attempted to fill out the online complaint form against the documented taxis that discriminated against him and his service dog, he found the web page was not accessible to the blind.  An intermediary from the DC government had to assist Eric in filing his complaint.  When asked about the inaccessibility of its web page, DC officials stated it is a government wide issue and vow to have the online reporting page accessible to the blind by Labor Day.

If the agency rules against the cabs, it has the power to levy penalties as high as hundreds of thousands of dollars.  A year after the initial investigation, Eric Bridges says "not much has changed on the streets of DC."

To view the video click here:
http://www.wusa9.com/story/news/investigations/russ-ptacek/2014/06/23/dctaxiblindcharges/11287489/

Francine Patterson
American Council of the Blind
2200 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 650
Arlington, VA 22201
(T) 202-467-5081
(F) 703-465-5085
Learn more about us at www.acb.org
Follow us on Twitter at @acbnational
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/AmericanCounciloftheBlindOfficial