Uber Sued by Chicago Disability Group Over Wheelchair Accessibility

CHICAGO, IL — A Chicago-based disability rights group is accusing Uber of violating the American With Disabilities by operating a ride service that isn't accessbile to people in wheelchairs, according to a federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

The lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of the nonprofit Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, is asking for Uber to add more wheelchair-accessible vehicles to its service in order to comply with federal law. The company does have a service, UberWAV, designed to serve customers in wheelchairs, but "this service has so few vehicles that it often shows no rides available anywhere in the Chicago area," according to an Access Living statement.

To illustrate its point, the nonprofit group noted that data from Chicago Accessible Taxi Advisory Committee showed that Uber provided nearly 2 million rides in Chicago in June of 2015. But from September of 2011 — the beginning of Uber's Chicago operations — to August of 2015, the service has only provided rides to 14 people requiring wheelchair-accessible vehicles.

"Uber and Lyft provide over three million rides every month in Chicago because they are convenient, timely and cost-effective," Justin Cooper, a member of Access Living's Young Professional Council who lives in Lake View, said in a release from the nonprofit. "My wheelchair cannot transfer into a regular Uber vehicle, and even if I were lucky enough to find a wheelchair-accessible vehicle operating, I would have to wait for that vehicle to cross the city to reach me. No one would use Uber if the entire service worked this way."

photo via Shutterstock

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