If you see a dog in a fancy vest, glued to their owner’s hip, that person likely has a disability. It’s actually incredible how dogs can help disabled people navigate, but the laws of a service dog are often poorly understood, like a business turning you away because they aren’t up-to-date. Now imagine being blind and someone you called for a ride is trying to separate you and your service dog. This is what happened to one woman in Oregon when she called for a Lyft.
TikToker Sadi the Blind Lady uploaded a video on social media—an unusual one given the content she normally does—of a Lyft driver insisting she put her dog in the trunk. “You want me to put my guide dog in the trunk?” Sadi says.
The Lyft driver points to the trunk, “Right here.”
“No, he can’t go in the trunk. He goes on the floor at my feet,” Sadi protests.
The Lyft driver says “No” and that Sadi should “cancel” the ride. But Sadi objects and tells him he’s the one who has to cancel, especially if it has something to do with Sadi having a guide dog. She even points out the trunk isn’t meant for a live animal.
“This is unbelievable,” Sadi says. At this point, the Lyft driver retrieves his phone to show her something, which gets a pretty hilarious response from Said. “I’m blind, sir. This is why I have a guide dog. I don’t know what you’re doing.”
Several commenters on TikTok seemed to have either missed the point of the video or don’t care to put their dogs in trunks, because they were too busy correcting Sadi on calling a hatchback a trunk. How would she know the difference, anyway?
As one person pointed out, “A service/guide dog NEEDS to be right with the owner at HIP max so they can monitor the owner in case of ANY problems.” In fact, even Lyft’s own website clearly states drivers have to allow service animals, even if they have allergies.
The Lyft driver gets back into his car, then opens the door and, sounding frustrated, says, “Come on.”
At the end of Sadi’s video, she got to have her furry pal along for the ride, as intended. As for the driver, he might be getting an earful for this. One commenter said, “What the hell? I hope you reported this,” which got a like from Sadi. It’s one way of learning the law, right?
