Waymo and CNIB Raise Awareness Around the Need for Safe, Accessible, and Discrimination-Free Transportation for Canadians Who Are Blind
For more than 100 years, CNIB has worked to remove barriers and expand possibilities for people who are blind, Deafblind, or have low vision, from advocacy and community programs to advancing accessibility in everyday life. But the work is far from finished. Today, CNIB continues to advocate for the estimated 1.5 million Canadians who live with sight loss, including 681,000 in Ontario.
One of CNIB’s ongoing advocacy areas is ensuring people who are blind, Deafblind, or have low vision can access transportation without discrimination. That work is deeply personal for CNIB’s Larissa Proctor, Executive Director of Advocacy, and Keya Osborne, Director of Disability Justice. Larissa and Keya, who are blind, have been denied rides due to discrimination by ride-hailing services.
“Travel is one of the areas of our life together that is the most anxiety-inducing because Tulip is often not welcomed into transportation options,” explained Larissa, whose guide dog, Tulip, is a 45-pound Labrador retriever. “I’m always in the back of my head wondering ‘What is the reaction going to be to my guide dog?’”
Ontario has prohibited denying service to someone because they are accompanied by a guide dog since the Blind Persons' Rights Act took effect in Ontario in 1970. Yet decades later, discrimination still happens.
“There is never a time when you can take for granted that you are going to be able to get from Point A to Point B without somebody telling you that you don’t belong there,” Larissa said.
681,000 Canadians live with sight loss in Ontario. –CNIB
Keya, who uses a white cane, has experienced this feeling too.
“I have faced discrimination by not being picked up because I am a Black woman with sight loss,” said Keya.
Through her work with CNIB, Keya works to raise awareness and advocate for people who live with sight loss at the intersection of different identities.
Larissa and Keya recently traveled to San Francisco through a collaboration between CNIB and Waymo to explore how autonomous driving technology could one day help those living with sight loss in Ontario get around independently, without fear of being denied a ride by human drivers.
Waymo riders with disabilities can bring their service animals along with them.
“I think for Tulip and I, having transportation options that completely removes the possibility of discrimination is exciting, empowering,” Larissa said. “Tulip is very excited to know that she can get into a vehicle and no one is going to give her the side eye.”
Larissa and her guide dog Tulip about to take a ride in a Waymo.
On the day of their first Waymo ride, Larissa and Keya called for a ride using the Waymo app, which has been shaped with guidance from the blind community through strong community partnerships and guidance from the Waymo Accessibility Network.
Waymo’s accessibility features include screen-reader support, a setting to minimize walking time, and adaptive app navigation with turn-by-turn walking directions.
In the Waymo app, tap ‘Find my car’ to receive turn-by-turn directions to your car that use visual, audio, and haptic cues.
Riders can also activate purpose-built car sounds, like the car horn or a melody, to help find their vehicle by sound.
When the Waymo vehicle arrived, Larissa and Keya hopped into the backseat with Tulip. It took them a minute for it to sink that there was no human driver, and once it did, they were impressed by the smooth ride.
Larissa and her guide dog Tulip enter a Waymo vehicle.
“It feels very natural,” Larissa said. “It does,” Keya agreed.
“Waiting for the intersection to clear,” the Waymo’s in-car speakers announced, verbalizing its driving decision for the passengers.
“Wow!” both Keya and Larissa exclaimed in unison.
Waymo’s in-car audio announcements, which passengers can set to be fully descriptive through the app’s accessibility settings, are the result of Waymo’s efforts to make the passenger experience as customizable and comfortable as possible for people of all abilities and preferences.
“It’s telling you everything, so you can just sit back and relax,” Keya noted.
After the ride, Larissa said riding with Waymo gave her a feeling of autonomy.
“It almost feels like the closest you can get to driving as a blind person, like you’re in control of the vehicle,” said Larissa.
Keya said she felt the exact same sense of autonomy.
“It really gave me that sense of control, that sense of ‘I'm in the driver’s seat’,” said Keya.
Keya and Larissa smiling after taking a Waymo ride.
Keya emphasized that embracing autonomous driving doesn’t mean replacing other forms of transportation. She regularly uses the TTC, Wheel-Trans, and GO trains in and around Toronto. For her, Waymo has the potential to become a reliable new option for people who are blind, Deafblind, or have low vision to travel to medical appointments, work, social events, and wherever else they need to go.
“It’s all about choice, and it’s all about expanding the options people have for transportation so that they can live the lives they choose.”
