Where Are You Taking Me? Reflections from Observing Ridesharing Use By People with Visual Impairments

Abstract

Ridesharing services have become a popular mode of transportation that holds significant benefits for people with disabilities unable to operate conventional motor vehicles. Prior work shows how these services enable people with vision impairments to travel independently without the use of public transportation or walking. We conducted a study in which we observed 17 blind or visually impaired participants using the Uber ridesharing service to explore the social and accessibility dynamics they perceived during their experiences. This paper presents a case study of the process used for our research, reflecting on aspects that considerably impacted the study. Key takeaways include study site considerations, recruiting participants, balancing realism with participant safety, and the unintended side effects of observations in a ridesharing context. The reflection points provided will help readers in considering important study aspects when conducting observations with participants with disabilities, particularly in a ridesharing setting.