I would suggest that if the allergies are sufficient enough to reach disability, that instead of "Uber needs to assign the closest non-allergic driver" (because the ADA doesn't require that a passenger state that they have a service animal) ...

Rather, Uber needs to offer accommodations to drivers. Modification of the vehicle so that the driver and passenger areas are separate and the there is sufficient air filtration.

This way, Uber would be handling both disabilities appropriately with the ADA by providing the respective accommodations.

This sounds nice in theory, and, sure, it will solve the situation with a driver having a dog allergy.

But what about a more common and realistic scenario, where the driver doesn't have the allergy, but the next Uber passenger does (the one who gets into the car after the passenger with a dog leaves)? Do you propose to perform full sterilization of the vehicle after every passenger with a dog (and I mean an actual full sterilization, not just wiping the seats clean)? Because otherwise, the dog dander particles will still be present in the vehicle in some capacity, thus causing an allergic reaction in the next passenger who has allergies.

I think the challenge for Uber is that (despite being illegal) it still makes way more sense for a driver to pass up a $10 fare than spend 15 minutes in close proximity to an animal they're allergic to followed by however long it would take to sanitize your car afterwards. If drivers were employees, then Uber could just say "do it or you're fired" but as independent contractors the situation is much harder.

This.

Blind passengers need to have reasonable access to cars. If Uber wants to play in that market, they need to figure out how to accommodate those passengers. If the driver needs a screen, or a stack of N95 masks, to avoid allergies, that should be Uber's responsibility to provide.

What stops every driver from checking the "I'm allergic to dogs" box?

A premium that is paid by the passenger with a dog.

Ideally that premium should mostly go to the driver, minus the regular Uber cut.

That is specifically and explicitly prohibited by the ADA. The service may not charge more for an individual with a service animal than an individual without.

If you can't fulfill your duties as an employee/contractor due to a medical reason, you should be able to document that reason. If a driver can find a doctor to testify that they are allergic to dogs, the conversation ends there.

Something that comes as a surprise to many Europeans on HN: healthcare in the United States is not free. Doctor's notes cost money. Uber drivers are, by definition, poor, and do not have health insurance.

Should drivers with life-threatening allergies be expected to spend hundreds or thousands of dollars extracting a deposition from a medical professional to avoid being killed by a dog?

Great, I guess we'll have to gate ADA compliance on overhauling the entire US healthcare system, first. Heaven forbid someone has to do work in the same environment as a blind person with a service animal.

Until we do, are there any other forms of work that you feel that an employee/contractor/etc. should be able to shirk by claiming that they have a medical condition, without providing a shred of evidence thereof?

A medical note for a chronic, life-threatening condition is a sufficient, and reasonable requirement, and is good from years to decades.

I agree with people with service dogs should be picked up and blind people.

But my thoughts drifted to what if a driver without allergies picked up a passenger with a service dog, that driver would then presumably need to spend time vacuuming the car such that another passenger with allergies isn't also impacted?

That could be a reasonable accommodation. Another reasonable accommodation would be to send another car.

Imagine if the Uber driver himself had a dog, and showed up to pick an allergic passenger up. What would the reasonable accommodation be in that case? Depending on how severe an allergy is, no amount of vacuuming is going to make a ride in such a car pleasant for the passenger.