On Tuesday, March 13, 2018, Disability Rights Advocates (DRA) filed a major class action lawsuit against Lyft challenging the popular ride-sharing service’s lack of wheelchair-accessible vehicles. The state suit was brought by a coalition of individuals and disability rights groups in the San Francisco Bay Area: the Independent Living Resource Center of San Francisco and two individuals […]
Disability Rights Advocates is investigating a new transportation service offered in San Francisco: Chariot. Chariot, touting itself as “mass transit reinvented,” uses brand new 14-passenger vans, which you can book and pay for your seat using a smartphone app. Chariot offers fixed routes throughout San Francisco with assigned pickup/drop-off stops. Currently, Chariot only operates publicly […]
In September 2017, Disability Rights Advocates announced a settlement of its federal lawsuit on behalf of the American Council of the Blind (ACB) and members of the blind community against eatsa, a growing, national fast-casual restaurant chain. eatsa utilizes a high-tech service model in which customers order meals via its smartphone app or at an […]
DRA is representing the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and guide dog users in their efforts to secure equal access to Lyft’s transportation network nationwide. Lyft provides transportation services through thousands of vehicles, to consumers throughout the nation. Lyft uses smartphone applications to create a convenient, streamlined experience, dispatching cars on-demand to drive passengers […]
In September of 2015, San Francisco Federal Credit Union overhauled its website. Suddenly, Credit Union member Marco Salsiccia, who is blind, discovered he was unable to use the Credit Union’s online banking services independently. “I could no longer log in to my account like I had before,” he recalled. “I had to get a sighted […]
In January of 2017, Disability Rights Advocates announced a settlement of its 2016 federal lawsuit on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind (“NFB”) and three blind individuals, alleging that the City of New York and its partner, CityBridge LLC, discriminated against blind people in their LinkNYC program. LinkNYC, touted as a “first-of-its-kind communication […]
Page Contents Introduction Case Background Settlement Addressing Ongoing Discrimination Introduction In 2016, DRA reached an unprecedented settlement with Uber to stop discrimination against blind people who use guide dogs on the Uber platform. DRA is currently monitoring Uber’s compliance with the settlement agreement. If you were denied service by an Uber driver because you travel […]
In today’s challenging economy, many Americans are shopping at stores like Wal-Mart that offer low prices, convenience and affordability. These stores are central to activities of daily living for millions of people. Yet many of these retailers knowingly place point-of-sale machines beyond the reach of patrons with disabilities who use wheelchairs and scooters. This compromises […]
Self-service kiosk technology allows us to bank, shop, and conduct a wide range of transactions independently, without the assistance of a clerk. In this era of automated technology and self-service, it is important that businesses operate kiosks that allow everyone, including people with disabilities, to use their services. In January 2012, DRA, along with the […]
In July 2014, DRA filed a lawsuit on behalf of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and Heidi Viens, challenging Scribd, Inc.’s failure to design its digital reading subscription service to work with software used by the blind. Available on desktop and mobile devices, Scribd’s service provides users access to a large library of […]