Not Just a Glitch: Why Uber’s Discrimination Against Service Dog Teams Matters

In this CBS News segment, disability advocate and accessibility strategist Ryan Honick shares his personal experience with repeated Uber ride denials while traveling with his service dog, Lovey. The interview follows a new lawsuit filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against Uber, alleging widespread discrimination against passengers with disabilities who use service animals.

Yesterday, I spoke on CBS News about the U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit against Uber. I’m named in the complaint, but I’m not the story. The story is the pattern. The silence. The systems that kept letting it happen—and the people expected to endure it quietly.

Lovey isn’t a pet. She’s my Canine Companions® service dog. She’s not a “suggestion.” She’s medical equipment with a heartbeat. Legally protected. But try explaining that for the third time in one day while someone slams a car door in your face.

People have told me I look angry in my videos. And you know what? I was.
By the time I hit record, I’d often already been denied 2–3 times. I wasn’t upset about one driver. I was tired of the years of broken complaint forms and corporate PR that pretended this wasn’t happening. My tone wasn’t the problem. The problem was the pattern, and the lack of enforcement behind it.

This lawsuit is a first step. Not toward perfection, but toward truth. And that’s what we need more of: clarity, policy that works, and a whole lot less compliance theater.

So thank you to the DOJ for stepping in.

And thank you to Jennifer Williams, Elizabeth Cook, and the CBS News team for giving me space to talk about it like a whole person and not just a headline.

Because what’s at stake here isn’t just the ride.
It’s dignity. Autonomy. Access.