[NFBF-Tampa] An Open Letter to Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART)

[marion.gwizdala at verizon.net]

Dear Tampa Bay Chapter Members & Supporters,

 

                AS we have been discussing in our meetings and through this
discussion list, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit has a pervasive and
offensive disregard for their consumers, especially their disabled
consumers. These challenges have been brought to their attention numerous
times in the past and have been nmet with only excuses and placations but
resulted in very little change. HART is in the midst of what seems to be a
significant transformation and we must be a part of that transition or be
left out again! Please take the few minutes necessary to read the following
letter sent to the HART Board of Directors, its ADA Accessibility committee,
and the media for public dissemination. Please help us amplify our voice by
sharing this with as many of your friends, family, and colleagues so they
are aware of these issues and will act accordingly. I hope this letter
encourages you to take an active role in this shift, if all that means is
you show up and pass it on! Please wear your yellow shirts! I will be
wearing mine!

 

Fraternally yours,

Marion Gwizdala 

 

Please circulate the following message as widely as appropriate.

 

An Open Letter to HART 

February 12, 2024 

Dear HART Board of Directors, Management, and Consumers – especially its
disabled consumers, 

I realize the following is quite long and necessarily so! Despite its
length, the policies and 

practices this correspondence addresses is but a slice of a much broader
systemic challenge within 

Hillsborough Area Regional Transit. It is not meant to be exhaustive but to
serve as a catalyst toward a 

significant shift in the paradigm of HART’s culture of disregard for its
patrons, especially those of us 

who are disabled. Please take the few minutes this important correspondence
requests and personally 

commit to achieving the goals of this message. 

My name is Marion Gwizdala. I am a member of the Hillsborough Area Regional
Transit (HART) 

ADA Accessibility Committee. I was elected to the position as the result of
more than thirty years of 

increasingly responsible advocacy for persons with disabilities,
specifically for disabled individuals who 

use service dogs. I have specialized educational and practical experience in
the field of psychosocial 

aspects of disability, as well as in public policy making concerning the use
of service animals. I currently 

serve as president/CEO for Advocates for Service Animal Partners Inc. I am
blind and use a guide dog. 

In my last public comments before being elected to this committee, I told
HART and the 

committee that I realize “The squeaky wheel gets the grease; HART would be
well advised to stock up 

on grease!” There are many reasons a door may squeak and tending only to the
squeak rather than 

identifying the reason can often lead to a more severe problem beyond just
the squeaking door. In the 

most severe of causes, there may be a catastrophic compromise of the very
foundation. If we know it is 

the result of the foundation and just keep greasing the squeak, the entire
structure is at risk. 

I am writing to offer my perspective on a recent study by the Florida
Department of 

Transportation that found that HART is effective despite challenges. As a
disabled user of HART, I 

wanted to know how the study defined “effective”, since my real-life
experience and those of my 

disabled colleagues reveal a very different reality. In an effort to support
their contention HART is 

effective, the study cited National Transit Database metrics that show
ridership recovering to pre-

pandemic levels. Is this the only metric of effectiveness? Well, the study
did interview what they 

referred to as “stakeholders”. Who were these stakeholders? They were
current and past CEOs, board 

members, legal counsel, elected officials and personnel at peer transit
agencies. Can effectiveness be 

measured without input from consumers who use the service? Let me share my
truth as a blind person 

who uses public transit as my primary form of transportation, the input I
have received from my 

disabled peers, and my perspective of HART’s effectiveness. 

For thirty-three years, the Americans with Disabilities Act has mandated
that individuals who 

are disabled must have fair and equitable access to public entities and
private businesses that provide 

public accommodations. Covered entities are required to modify their
policies, practices, and 

procedures to remove artificial barriers faced by the disabled. Most
companies are aware it is easier to 

build accessibility into products and services than to retrofit them to
comply with the law. HART is not 

one of those companies, in spite of the fact that HART has heard from
numerous disabled individuals 

about the ineffectiveness and lack of accessibility of their services. I
have repeatedly advised HART 

officials and their boards that “customer service and accessibility are
afterthoughts for HART” and 

“when HART is unreliable it makes us look unreliable”. Whenever we bring our
concerns to HART 

officials, we are met with excuses and placations but no accountability.
Without accountability there 

will be no substantive change. 

There is an adage in the disability rights community, “Nothing about us
without us!” In an effort 

to ensure the disabled community’s voice was heard, disabled advocates
pressed to create the HART 

ADA Accessibility Committee. Such a committee exists but HART does not seem
to seek or heed its 

advice. 

On September 28, 2023, I received an email invitation from HART inviting me
to “A Celebration 

of HART for All”. Within the email was a link labelled, “Open Invitation”.
When I opened the invitation, 

it was a visual animation completely inaccessible to my screen reader
software. This is a copy and 

paste of the accessible elements of that invitation. The only difference
between what is below and the 

original invitation is the line verifying my RSVP. 

Card Content please join us for a CELEBRATION OF TUESday OCTOBER 24, 2023
10:00 AM - 

12:00 pm SEMINOLE GARDEN center 5800 N CENTRAL AVE TAMPA, FL 33604 PLEASE
RSVP BY 

OCTOBER 18, 2023 

mc-ref

You are attending 

VIEW RSVP

mc-ref

Image Only: Envelope Front

mc-ref

Image Only: Envelope Flap

mc-ref

Image Only: Envelope Back

I have attempted to reproduce this invitation as best I can but cannot
attest to the visual 

elements it contains. I realize there are spelling and format errors and
those errors are those of the 

document I received, not my errors. I correctly assumed -- and this
assumption was confirmed after-

the-fact -- I was invited because of my service on HART’s ADA Committee but
I had no idea what this 

event was about. I sent a message to the sender with my original RSVP asking
for more details about 

the event. The only reply I received was another confirmation of my RSVP and
an inquiry asking if my 

message meant there would be two in attendance. I confirmed this and again
asked for more details 

and received a nearly identical response. The failure to respond to my
questions seemed secretive. 

Instead of being a celebration, I felt it was one of the most offensive
displays of ablism I have 

witnessed in a very long time! My wife and I sat in a room filled with
politicians, agency 

representatives, HART executives, and, of course, the media. My wife
commented on how out-of-place 

we must appear dressed in business casual. We sat listening to politicians,
agency personnel, and HART 

staff touting the false narrative about their commitment to excellent
customer service to its disabled 

patrons. 

One of the most telling parts of the program seemed to be lost on others in
attendance, 

mesmerized by a slick marketing video and the contradiction that followed.
Within the video, the 

subject’s employer exclaims, “he is never late for work!” Following the
video, the subject’s mother tells 

the audience how great the para transit system is, how much independence it
gives her disabled son, 

and how much more freedom it gives his parents. Then she shares that getting
him to work on-time 

became a challenge, so they take him to work and HART brings him home. This
is a great alternative for 

those who have family or volunteers willing to take you to work every day so
you are not late. Most 

disabled individuals live and work independently and are unwilling to burden
others with the routine 

elements of daily life. There is dignity in making one’s own way and
disabled individuals value their 

dignity and self-respect in spite of the public misconceptions and attitudes
this dog & pony show 

reinforced and the media was urged to amplify. Disabled individuals utilize
this service to conduct their 

business, including keeping professional appointments, engaging in social
activities, accessing health 

care, and getting to work. Should we be able to apply for a job requiring
“reliable transportation” if we 

utilize HART? After all, “when HART is unreliable, it makes us look
unreliable!” 

If HART is so committed to the quality of service provided to its disabled
patrons, why were the 

very skills, talents, and input of their own ADA Accessibility Committee not
effectively utilized? This 

was a meticulously planned event to the extent there was a logo created for
the campaign and a bus 

wrapped in “HART for All!”. One after another Merry and I listened to what
HART does for “them” and 

their words did not resemble our reality! Did anyone ever tell them it was
impolite to talk about 

someone in the third person when they are in the room? “Nothing about us
without us!” 

Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) requires HART to
provide specialized 

transportation to individuals who, because of their disability, face
challenges riding the fixed route 

system. In order to use this service, an individual must complete an
application and present 

documentation of their disability. The ADA also requires public entities
such as HART to make their 

websites, documents, and services accessible to individuals with
disabilities, including those who use 

alternative techniques, such as screen reading software for the blind and
voice input and navigation for 

those with disabilities affecting manual dexterity. In addition, as a
recipient of federal funding, HART is 

required to comply with § 508 of the Rehabilitation Act by ensuring their
information and services are 

mc-ref

accessible to persons with disabilities. The Revised 508 Standards include
electronic content such 

as documents, web pages, presentations, social media content, blogs, and
certain emails. 

Though the creation of accessible documents should be a very fundamental
skill and one would 

think that an organization required to comply with federal accessibility
guidelines would require those 

responsible for such content demonstrate competency in applying these
guidelines, consider the fact 

that no one within the organization has or is required to have familiarity
with Web Content 

Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) published by the World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C), the main 

international standards organization for the Internet. Accessibility is an
afterthought for HART.”. 

HART is required by law to provide specific transportation to those who are
disabled and are 

unable to use the fixed route system or for whom using the system would
create a safety issue. Even 

the basic process of applying for this transportation service has been
inaccessible to those of us who 

are blind. Though HART has been advised numerous times over the past ten
years their application is 

inaccessible, it was not until two blind patrons demanded HART comply with §
508 and provide them 

with an accessible document that they began to finally work on their
compliance. Though creating such 

a document is a very fundamental skill to someone with competency in WCAG,
ten years later we are 

close but not yet there. One with such competency should be able to create
an accessible, useable 

form while it is being created and with little extra effort. At the time of
this letter, it has been more 

than two months since the first request for an accessible application was
made but they are using a 

hammer to quiet the squeak and refuse to admit the problem is at the
foundation due to poor 

engineering. Without relying upon metaphor, there have been several
iterations of this simple fillable 

form and they have not passed the human accessibility test. “Accessibility
is an afterthought for 

HART!” 

Neither those who pressed for compliance nor those who struggled to comply
should have ever 

been in a position to do either. It is far easier to build accessibility
into a product by design than to be 

forced to retrofit it. If it took this struggle to avoid another, it was
worth the effort. Time will tell amd 

we will be there to force compliance. “Nothing about us without us!”. 

During the “HART for All” event, we were told how HART goes above and beyond
to ensure 

disabled individuals their services are accessible by making sure all
operators receive disability 

awareness training, stops are fully accessible, all buses are wheelchair
accessible, and Location 

announcements are made on all fixed route vehicles. These comments seem to
indicate that HART 

makes the effort out of their own good will. The fact is that all these
services are required by law yet 

HART frequently is noncompliant. In addition, very basic customer service
decorum is generally ignored 

and excuses made to justify the pervasive problems. 

The implementing regulations of the ADA require operators of fixed route
systems to announce 

“connecting routes, major intersections, points of interest, and intervals
along a route sufficient to 

allow an individual who is blind to maintain their orientation. 49 C.F.R.
Section 37.167(b). HART buses 

are outfitted with a GPS system known as an enunciator programmed to make
these announcements. 

When the enunciator malfunctions, it is the operator’s responsibility to
make these same 

announcements; however, operators generally fail to make the mandated
announcements, even when 

advised the system is not working. 

Locating a specific stop along a long stretch of road with no announcements
is very difficult for 

a blind person and the regulations require operators to make requested
announcements. Many of us 

have encountered operators who take exception to such requests. I have even
been told by an 

operator that he cannot be bothered with keeping everyone’s stop
announcements in mind. 

“Accessibility is an afterthought for HART!” 

After the Fall mark-up three years ago, several announcements dropped off of
the enunciator, 

including the announcement at my westbound route 8 stop at Palm River Road
and 78th Street. This is a 

major intersection, had an announcement in the past and now it is deleted.
Several other significant 

announcements along this one route are still not in place, in spite of the
fact that I have filed several 

reports concerning this. On a recent trip, only two of the eight regular
announcements I would expect 

on my thirty minute trip were made by the enunciator. “Accessibility is an
afterthought for HART!” 

HART seems to offer lip service to their commitment to equitable treatment
of the disabled but 

words without action are empty. Individuals who are blind or have low vision
have challenges locating 

bus stops, as their shape and size resemble other forms of traffic signs. In
downtown Tampa there is a 

distance of approximately seven blocks between stops on the Route 8, despite
the fact that there is a 

stop approximately midway that does NOT (emphasis added) include the Route
8. This route has a one-

hour frequency. I was once doing business in downtown Tampa, wasn’t sure
where the Route 8 bus 

stop was located, and no one around to offer directions. Knowing the bus
would be arriving soon and 

not wanting to miss an hourly route, I stood on the side of the curb with my
guide dog sitting beside 

me at a distance I knew would provide a safe stopping distance for a bus,
prominently holding my bus 

pass. As I thought I heard a bus approaching, I raised my hand obviously
holding my bus pass. Since I 

was not at a bus stop, Route 8 passed me by. Shortly afterward a mail
carrier came by and helped me 

find a bus stop. This was the aforementioned bus stop along the Route 8 that
– I found the hard way - 

does not include that route. I again stood prominently as before, this time
directly under a bus stop 

sign the mail carrier helped me locate, raised my hand to signal a stop
request, and again was passed 

by the route 8. Frustrated that I have wasted two hours on a very busy work
day, I went to the board of 

county commissioners’ office and shared my experience with my commissioner’s
assistant. 

During the holidays the management of the Brandon Mall allowed HART buses to
approach the 

bus stop only once each run. Understandably, HART buses did not approach the
stop to drop-off 

patrons but required them to disembark at their staging area. My wife – who
is also blind -- and I 

disembarked from the Route 8 at the staging area, found the Route 38 WITH
which we were 

connecting directly in front of us, and the operator was on a break. When
the driver returned, we 

approached the bus to board and we were told we could not board and must
walk fifty yards across 

the parking lot to the designated bus stop. We confirmed this statement with
HART officials. Walking 

across a busy parking lot can be very dangerous for pedestrians and crash
statistics support this fact. 

Imagine how busy this mall’s parking lot was two days before Christmas! A
blind person who cannot 

see a car backing out of a parking space or a person who uses a wheelchair
who has a very low profile 

increases the risks. In addition, the drop-off location required patrons
traverse about twenty feet of 

sloping grass, also not a very safe proposition for someone using a
wheelchair, scooter, or walker, not 

to mention the lack of an accessible route to the mall entrance. HART’s
policy of not allowing 

passengers to board at the staging area under these circumstances has no
other explanation other 

than little consideration for the safety and accessibility of their patrons.
“Accessibility is an 

afterthought for HART.” 

Even those whose professional titles include customer service seem to lack a
fundamental 

understanding of what this really means. For several months the introductory
recording patrons heard 

from HART first advised all callers that the customer service lines close at
9;00 p.m. on weekdays and 

8:00 p.m. on the weekends; patrons were told they “should call back before
those times.” Would it 

have been too much to share what time they opened? The recording then went
on to advise HART Plus 

patrons who have an emergency to refer to the number in their rider
handbook. Again, is it too much 

to give us that number? If I am at work and have an emergency, chances are I
will not have my rider 

handbook. When I brought this to the attention of HART staff, the reaction
was, “I wrote that. What’s 

wrong with it?” Really? When I explained it might be good customer service
to let callers know what 

time customer service lines were open and share the number or offer a
transfer option in case of an 

emergency, I was told that would create a lot of unnecessary calls from
those who were not para 

transit patrons. We certainly would not want to inconvenience someone if we
have an emergency! 

“And we do tell you to put the number in your contacts!” was the final
suggestion shared with me. 

Thanks for listening! Customer service is an afterthought, as well! 

The culture of poor customer service is fairly pervasive throughout HART and
filters down to 

the grassroots operators and their attitudes toward customers, in general,
and disabled customers, in 

particular. In order to allow passengers boarding clearance through the
front door, HART frequently 

makes announcements on their vehicles that patrons should exit through the
rear door. In addition, 

whenever a patron makes a stop request, the vehicle announces, “Please exit
through the rear door.” 

On a recent trip, my wife and I sat in front of the rear door. When we stood
up and attempted to exit, 

the operator refused to open the back door because of our blindness and she
stated as much. “I 

cannot let you out! There’s grass and you might trip on it!” Thanks for
telling a bus load of people that 

blind people cannot walk on grass. We stood our ground and refused to exit
until she opened the back 

door for us. To the amazement of everyone on that bus, we walked across the
grass safely! HART 

claims to provide “sensitivity training” the terminology alone is ableist)
but who provides this training 

and what is being said about “them”? “Nothing about us without us!” 

Merry Schoch is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker employed by a contractor
with the 

Department of Juvenile Justice. Ms. Schoch is also a blind para transit
patron who works about fifteen 

minutes from her home. Over a two week period during the summer, Ms. Schoch
was late for work five 

times – one day by 1.5 hours! 

Ms. Schoch has also had the opportunity to experience a bit about how those
who use 

wheelchairs are treated by HART staff. On January 29, Merry had hip surgery
causing her to be non-

weightbearing, thus requiring the use of a wheelchair. Merry has shared with
me accounts of operators 

who are impatient, rude, or engage in very unsafe practices. As an example,
within a few days of using 

her wheelchair at work, a para transit operator demanded Ms. Schoch navigate
her wheelchair off the 

sidewalk through a mulched area, a practice unsafe for even a very
experienced wheelchair user. When 

she advised the operator that she is blind, a very new wheelchair user, and
requested she move the 

vehicle so she could safely maneuver down the sidewalk to the lift, the
operator told her she did not 

have the time to move the vehicle. When Ms. Schoch finally arrived home, the
operator put the lift in 

place and reached into the vehicle from the outside, pulling the wheelchair
by its footrests onto the 

lift. One day before leaving for work, Merry commented in an exhausted
voice, “I hope I get someone 

nice today!” We should never need to utter such a prayer! 

HART’s willingness to exploit the fear and sympathy toward the already
marginalized disabled 

community speaks volumes about THEIR propensity TO TELL A FALSE NARRATIVE IN
ORDER TO SHIFT 

PUBLIC PERCEPTION. The fact that they did not even consult with their own
advisory board THEY HAVE 

empaneled to, well, advise on disability matters illustrates, in no
uncertain terms, that they do not 

intend for us to give advice, only unwittingly participate in the
subjugation of others in our community. 

In another culture, this is called “Uncle Tom”! I intend to give voice to
those whose voice others ignore. 

This is my purpose for the path of service I have chosen and my motive for
service on this committee. 

HART’s current approach is to do “just enough” or make something “good
enough”, but these 

half-hearted efforts are only minimum placations graphically illustrating
how HART minimizes an 

already unfairly marginalized social group. The disabled community knows
that when we are told 

something is “good enough”, it generally means, “It’s not good and it’s not
enough, but it is the best 

you are going to get from us!” We have learned from our challenges; HART has
not! HART is in a state 

of transition and it is my goal for that transition to truly include
everyone, including the disabled 

community. “Nothing about us without us!” 

Until HART decides that effectiveness is defined by more than objective
statistical outcomes 

and must necessarily include subjective intangibles such as reliability,
trust, and equity, HART will never 

be effective in the minds of the consumers. In addition, those of us working
to remove the barriers of 

fear and misconception about our value and potential as disabled individuals
will not allow HART to 

exploit us in such blatantly ableist ways by reinforcing public fears and
misconceptions in order to 

enhance public perception and convince us of the false narrative. “Nothing
about us without us!” 

Individuals who are disabled are taxpayers who support HART through property
and income 

tax, as HART operations rely upon local, state, and federal grants; fare
revenue is a very small piece of 

overall income. Disabled individuals are unemployed at a higher rate than
their nondisabled peers, not 

because we lack the skills, talents, or education but because of the
misunderstandings and 

misconceptions that create artificial barriers to our full participation in
society on terms of equality. 

HART’s exploitation of those fears and misconceptions only served HART’s
need for some positive news 

during a time when the news cycle was not very positive toward HART. . An
unchallenged lie can easily 

become truth. “Nothing about us without us!” 

The next meeting of the HART ADA Advisory Committee will be held on
Thursday, February 15, 

2024 beginning at 1:30 p.m. in the HART Board Room, located at 1201 E. 7th
Avenue on the third floor. 

Members of the Tampa Bay Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind
will be in attendance 

wearing their bright yellow shirts in solidarity with these comments; I will
wear my yellow shirt to 

demonstrate my commitment to them. Please wear a yellow shirt to demonstrate
your solidarity with 

us! 

In service, 

Marion Gwizdala 

Marion.Gwizdala at verizon.net <mailto:Marion.Gwizdala at verizon.net> 

813-421-3555

 

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