'It's an awful feeling': Blind woman denied Uber ride twice due to her service dog

A blind woman is speaking out after she says she was denied an Uber ride twice because of her guide dog.

Veronika Kanya called to get an Uber ride in Winnipeg on Sunday. When it showed up, Kanya said the driver told her he wouldn’t drive her and her service dog.

Then, when a replacement Uber came, the same thing happened again.

“I love this guide,” Kanya said. “I love all my guide dogs and it's just painful. Very frustrating when I get denied a service because of him.”

After waiting half an hour outside of her home, a third Uber finally agreed to drive them.

Kanya has been blind for more than two decades and says over the years she has been denied rides because of her guides, but it has been happening less and less.

“Just of nowhere I get these two in a row,” she said. "It’s an awful feeling.”

She says the drivers told her it was against Uber’s policy to have dogs in the vehicle, but Uber says this is not the case.

“We are disappointed by Veronika’s experience, and we share in her frustration,” the company said in an email to CTV News.

Uber also says a special team is looking into what happened.

“It is a contravention of someone’s human rights to deny them access to services on the basis of their service animal,” Karen Sharma, the executive director of the Manitoba Human Rights Commission said.

She says common reasons for people denying service are that they have anxiety about dogs, or that they have allergies. Sharma says without medical documentation, it is illegal to deny the service.

The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) says instances like Kanya’s often go unreported because people are typically in a rush and don't have the time to report it, or they did not get the driver’s information.

“Guide dogs belong everywhere,” CNIB Advocacy and Community Outreach Lead Viva Dabee said. “It is the law. Wherever a person working with a guide dog would have access to in a public space, they are allowed to go.”

Kanya wants others to be aware of what happened to her.

“I’m going to look at this as an opportunity for change. An opportunity for awareness and opportunity for education,” she said.