Disabled people who use rideshare apps Lyft and Uber say their experience is not a seamless task of pressing a few buttons and being whisked to their destination minutes later.

Instead, people who use wheelchairs and guide dogs have watched drivers cancel rides, charge cleaning fees for guide dogs or outright refuse to take them where they need to go.

The rideshare companies plan to push app updates soon to address cancellations and misunderstandings, but advocates and disabled users say they want to see drivers be better educated about how to comply with the Americans With Disabilities Act and want the companies to put in stricter discrimination policies. The new app features are just “window dressing,” said Lynn Dubinsky.

“This option puts the burden back on the client rather than on the companies themselves to directly address (discrimination) with their drivers,” said Dubinsky, who works for a guide-dog training school in San Rafael, California.

Uber and Lyft have been the target of past federal lawsuits that allege they didn’t follow ADA laws; Uber settled its suit in 2022 and Lyft settled a separate one in 2020. While rideshare apps aren’t the only option for disabled people across the U.S. — public transit agencies must also have ADA-compliant buses and trains and offer paratransit options like shuttles — the disabled community relies on rideshare more than others, according to 2022 U.S. Bureau of Transportation statistics.

That’s the case for Amber Sherrard, who is blind and has a guide dog named Della.

The 32-year-old Denver resident has grown accustomed to drivers refusing to transport Della, whom she prefers to bring along instead of using a cane, which she says is less safe. Once, she ended up getting a ride from strangers at Denver’s airport because a rideshare driver wouldn’t allow Della in the car.

Uber’s app update will give users a way to identify as blind or deaf. Lyft will allow users to tell a driver they have a service animal — something that Uber launched as a small pilot program last week in the U.S. and Canada. Both rideshare companies have hotlines for people to report drivers who refuse to allow them into their cars with a service animal.

Sherrard said she’s skeptical that the new app features will help, since she usually informs drivers about her guide dog and figured out how to add that she’s visually impaired to her profile name to cut down on cancellations.

Robert Silva has had issues with rideshare drivers because of his folding wheelchair, which he has used since losing his right leg in a car accident. The 34-year-old from Alameda, California, said he once tried ordering a rideshare five times in an hour and a half to go to Disneyland before a driver accepted his request.

“They just see me in a wheelchair, first thing, and they’re expecting that there’s going to be a lot of baggage there,” said Silva, who usually can get into a vehicle without assistance. “I’m sure when they see me they think it’s going to be a lot more work than it actually is.”

Uber and Lyft said their disability policies include following the ADA and not denying rides to people solely because they have a guide dog.