Disabled rant and plea.

In our household, we have three disabled people and we have the license plates that allow us to park in the "handicapped" (I really don't care for that term) spaces. The times we have had someone who takes one of those spaces because 'I'm only gonna be a minute' are too many to count. For us, if the parking lot is full and the disabled spaces are full, we simply cannot shop there. I can walk less than a block before my legs start to give out. Even when we can find a 'normal' space, it is close enough that we cannot get the wheelchair to the door. The spaces are too small.

One other thing, the extra area next to the disabled spots are there for a reason. They are not made for someone to squeeze their compact into. I have actually seen this happen several times. Once when it happened to us, my late mother was with us and she couldn't take more than a step or two. We ended up having to carefully pull out of the space and help her into the van while in the driving lane. People got mad because they had to wait, but there was nothing else we could do. The fire lane in front of the store was also parked full. (This was during the Christmas rush BTW)

I also want to take a dig at those drivers who borrow their parent's or grandparent's placard so they can get the good spaces. Besides being arrogant, it is also illegal (in my state anyway) and the person who was issued the placard could end up losing the privilege and pay a fine.

So with the Christmas season coming up, I want to ask people to help with this problem. I figure most of us Dems have a sense of justice about things like this and wouldn't do this personally. (The majority of the offenders, if they have a political sticker at all, it is Republican) If you see things like this happening, please alert the store, or call the proper agency. Those caught without a placard in a disabled space here get a ticket for at least $50.00.

It would make it a darn sight easier on folks like us, and maybe we could go out of the house more.

libraries, banks, credit unions, grocery stores, often RIGHT ON TOP OF yellow or red lines clearly saying 'FIRE LANE - DO NOT PARK', or 'DO NOT PARK', or whatever. I always want to say 'wow, how nice for you that rules don't apply to you - you must be Very Important'. And as to the handicapped spots, yeah, I usually do a second look if I see someone get out of a car that doesn't appear to be handicapped. However, you've got to be careful: my dad had one for the last few years he drove, because he had emphysema, which wasn't as 'obvious' of a reason as some others who have a handicapped sticker/placard... and I know there are other examples as well.

but it pisses me off - when I see some-one pull up (in disabled spaces) - and jumps out faster then I could (mid thirties) and sprints into the store? and skips back...I mean WTF

So ether there lying? or? (bought on ebay/etc...) the sticker/placards and just don't need it...Big fines is all I got to say!

and can hop out of a car sometimes but after I walk a small bit my legs give out or sometimes I am walking slow and out of the blue the same thing happens. I have no way of knowing when it will happen so it is not easy to tell by looking at someone whether they need the space or not. I can walk in looking fine and end up limping out needing my hubby's arm.The further away I am from the entrance though I may as well not bother trying to walk the distance.

Our company did a comprehensive research study on accessibility for the city council this year. What struck me most at the focus groups was that most of the disabled people found building access tolerable but the main problem was THEY HAD TO GET THERE FIRST!

This included, for those that drove cars, the ability to park close enough and have space for disability aids, wheelchairs etc.

I doubt whether able bodied people can understand the amount of planning and preparation that goes into something as simple as a shopping trip for a disabled person. Many of them put off trips anywhere because of the difficulties involved.

All I can say to those who use disabled spots just because it is more convenient for them, YOU SELFISH BASTARDS.

got from MVD was a god send. We were fortunate that we did not have the problems you have had.

I was getting out of my car one day to see a young man with a placard park in a blue spot next to me then run into the store. I know not all handicaps are visibly obvious but how many handicapped people can run? I have all I can do to walk.

letting the bad citizen know what effect his or her action has had on you and put it under their windshield wiper.

If you are feeling particularly aggrieved, you could print your message on 4" x 6" labels and apply them to the windshield of the offending car.

It might educate someone who needs it, and it might make you feel better, too.

When the one handicapped spot had a vehicle that didn't have a plate or placard.

I have heard many people gripe about the HC spaces being close to the store. They are there for a reason. As wheelchair users wheel across the parking lot, they can not been seen by most drivers. It is a safety precaution my heart knows well.

There once was a web site that offered the following at their site:



I've used them on ocassion. (And usually stay around to check out the drivers' faces.

like to get a job in a parking lot just busting the mofos who park in the handicapped spaces and hand them a $500 ticket!! ($50 ain't enough!). My late husband had emphysema and copd, and we had one of those thingies you hang on the rear view mirror, but I never parked in a "blue" spot - I'd drive him to the door and then park in a regular spot, since I was walking just fine...

Anyway - I doubt anyone on DU would be stealin' those spaces, cuz people here are kind and considerate and thoughtful, but boy, I sure hear what you're sayin'!! (grrrrrrrrrr!)

My late husband had congestive heart failure. He could only walk so far. He was a great, big, healthy-looking very tall man. A lot of times, he might be able to make it into a building from the "regular" parking area, but often, he could not make the walk back. H/C parking was a gawd send that allowed him to budget his breath and abilities so that he could maintain some independence as long as possible.

You will never know how hard it was for me to not go over and smack some asshole who made a remark about this "healthy" big guy with a H/C parking sticker.

So...please...make sure if you are griping about some who does not look handicapped that you are real sure that they are not. Some disabilities are not readily apparent.

Thanks...:hi:

some people have invisible disabilities that are not apparent to others.

Just because someone does not appear to have a problem does not mean they do not have a very serious problem.

:dem:

about anyone who has a sticker and just looks young. You probably wouldn't know I'm disabled (nerve degeneration doesn't show unless you see me try and walk)until I got out of the car. I've had a couple people say something to me about it if I'm just sitting in the car. They shut up though when I get out with the cane and can barely stand.

I'm not sure why it seems to be a problem here, but there always seems to be one or two without the placards using the spaces, or have a placard and getting out and all but running in the store. Then you have the women who have 4 or 5 kids who park there because it is easier to corral that many if you don't have to walk across the lot.

I have been known to walk up and ask what kind of disability they have. Most are eager to talk about it, and if they get really nasty, chances are it is someone else's placard.

BTW, we just got back from my birthday dinner and stopping to pick up some OTC meds for our son at Wally World (the only place open). It's really depressing when your 84 yo MIL can outlast you in a store. I left her and our daughter in there and the wife and I went to the car.

I had a good friend who was deaf. She was entitled to handicapped parking, and I'm sure to someone who was watching her from across a parking lot, she probably looked like she was abusing the parking.

campus to teach, I often see a young, obviously able-bodied young person (a student) park in the last available handicapped spot and then hop blithely out of a car or SUV. Oh, sure, he (in my experience, it's always a yougn man) has the palcard, but it's quite obvious that the placard is not meant for him

I am aggressive enough that I will call to the person and tell him that I will report the license plate and cause the disabled person to lose the palcard if the car isn't moved. I have been ignored, cursed, and flipped off, but never has the young person offered to move his car so I can have the spot. (I do always make a note of the license plate and call it in.) I don't know how many disabled people have lost placards because of me, and I actually feel kind of bad about it, but I just get so angry when I can't park close enough to my work because some able-bodied young fool has such an extraordinary sense of entitlement that he can't imagine there is anything wrong with usurping parking spaces intended for disabled people.

...ex-Sig other was in a wheelchair- I drove his van for him.
Sometimes we couldn't get a handicapped van-accessible spot and I'd end up letting him out near the door.
Sounds easy, right?
Yup...I get out of the car, open the side door of the van, deploy the ramp, twist-and-jink XSO and chair out of the van and down the ramp (wasn't a perfect fit...he was a very big guy and his legs needed to be straight out in front)...make sure he's out of traffic and on his way inside, then pull the ramp back up, close the door, get back in and go find a parking spot.

Had it down to a science...we could do this in about 4 minutes.
This is a long time to hold up traffic in front of a store...which is usually where the inlet of the curb was.
Parking in a 'regular' spot was not always an option...we needed side-door access for the ramp and manuevering.

I actually confront the offenders--leaning on my cane and calling them out. I know this is possibly dangerous to confront the a-holes who would have the nerve to do this, but I can't help it. I never question those with a placard who don't appear handicapped because sometimes I look like a normal person too. The ones that get to me are the ones with absolutely NO placard who park there anyway. The worst was a woman in a brand new Mercedes coupe who parked across TWO handicapped spaces to talk on her cell phone!

Also, let's add to this those who use the handicap john when they have no need to. There are no placards here, but common sense and courtesy should prevail. I know the spaces are bigger (because we need the space) and the toilets taller (again, we need it) but that doesn't mean it's your personal little space to do with what you will. I once saw a woman take up residence in the h/c stall and proceed to answer all her voice mails from that morning on her cell phone. People with disabilities often need to use the bathroom in a hurry--don't people know this? I guess some people just don't care.

about young-looking or healthy-looking people with handicapped tags.

My one girlfriend has a bizarre condition where her thigh muscles have deteriorated almost to nothing. She uses a wheelchair at work, and has a walker in her small ranch house. My SO has to CARRY her in to parties at the houses of our friends who DON'T have ranch houses, because she can't use stairs (at all). But when she parks in a handicapped spot, old people scream abuse at her because these presumptuous assholes can't see her deformed legs and have christened themselves Handicapped Parking Police. Well screw them - she doesn't need to justify herself to anyone but her doctor.

I also have a young (30 something) cousin with cardiomyopathy, who is living life as best he can while he awaits a transplant. Also with a handicapped placard, also the target of abuse.

Sometime I will park my dad's car in a handicapped spot if he's with me after I've dropped him at the door of church or the market because he'd prefer to walk to the car when he's ready to leave rather than wait for me while I run and go get it (also if he can't breathe, he likes the car to be nearby so he can leave my mother and I and just go outside alone and sit in the car). I just cite it as another example of why a healthy-looking (or in my case, actually healthy) relatively young person might be parking a car with a handicapped placard.

Heathen - my dad (who has severe emphysema) has had good luck over the years parking illegally without getting a ticket (he calls it "making his own handicapped spot") when the handicapped spots are full. It always kills me that places where a lot of older people gather (hotels and restaurants, for instance) never have enough spots, but places where you rarely see a handicapped person (the gym, for instance) always seem to have too many! Good luck to you.

(edit: noticed that some other folks have already addressed the invisible handicap issue upthread)

Surprisingly, it's pretty rare that people do here. At least in the little town I grew up in, Caribou Maine (where I'm living now the only store we have is a very small one 15 miles away, I don't think they've ever had a space for HC parking). We've got our share of jerks just like every other place, but I think they're all scared of their friends or their parents. Our police are no more capable or less capable than anyone else's... maybe because we're smaller it's harder for people to get away with it.

I've never seen someone abuse that before, and if I do see someone do it without an HC sticker, I'll definitely complain to someone. Confrontations aren't my thing... too much social anxiety, I'd stammer and stutter and eventually babble my way into insulting them, but by that time I'd be growing a long beard.

It just burns my butt when people park in handicapped parking - and they don't even have placards.

People who are not disabled, or do not have a disabled member of their family, have NO idea how important handicapped parking spaces are.

And another gripe - since we're griping - are the automatic door openers in stores and buildings that don't work.
At my daughter's school, she travels by wheelchair, they actually turn them off. Why? Because the nurse complained that people walk by kept pressing the button, even tho they weren't coming in.
Holding open a door while you are in a wheelchair is virtually impossible.
Yeah, I've complained. Still the same. I really do need to take it higher.

He sees no reason to go and fight to get a parking space.

It's a bitch, ain't it? When I was first disabled back in 1980 I was surprised at people's attitudes toward handicapped parking spaces. I spent years getting enraged at the usage of these spaces by the non-disabled.

Now I'm mellow about it. What changed? Me. There are always going to be those who wrongly use the spaces (which are oh, so tempting being empty and close to the store).

I've always thought that they should put handicapped parking spaces in a less desirable spot some distance away from the store. But that wouldn't be fair to those who aren't able to push their wheelchairs a long distance (like I can).

The holidays are the worst time to go; all of the spaces are always taken, typically by those who really don't need them. Some doctors "reward" their patients with temporary permits, for instance.

There's no point in confronting them or attempting to educate them; unfortunately there are an infinite supply of others who will take their places next time around.

Thank the gods for online shopping!