pissed about disabled parking thread.....

[mopaul]

boy i got a lot of angry stories about handicapped parking and the people who violate it still.

one time i was instructed to go prove that i was disabled to ssi, and the doc's office was up 16 steps. ridiculous. doc had to help me up there.

another time i was applying for disability and was told that i was not disabled.

i pulled onto a disabled parking spot one time and before i could even put my placard on the mirror a lady ran up and started screaming at me about stealing a spot from a real disabled person.

then i drug my wheelchair out of the back seat and she just walked off without apologizing.

i got a million of em.

[merh]

1. When my mother was disabled due to a brain tumor in

1981, I realized how cruel it was for healthy people to park in handicap spaces. I will not to this day park in the handicap space and I am notorious for reporting those without the stickers for using the space or harassing them as they get out of their car.

[Courtesy Flush]

21. Please stop harassing them!

Didn't you read the OP? You cannot diagnose people on sight, so leave them alone and let the police deal with offenders.

My wife was recently diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor and does not look disabled, though she is weakened by chemo and received her first handicapped plate last week. I'd hate to think some jerk will harass her in a self-righteous rage.

I've been handicapped all my life and have never taken it upon myself to confront someone whose condition was not known to me. It doesn't make you a better person!!!

[Warpy]

2. I've had arthritis since I was 14

and sometimes I'm in so much pain that if I can't get a close parking spot, I'll bag the trip to the store and go home. However, I never park in a handicapped slot because I know there are people out there who are much worse off than I am and who need them.

My elderly father is one of them. He's 88 and sharp as a tack, but he's got osteoporosis and some residual weakness from a stroke about 10 years ago. He doesn't need a walker yet, but he does snag a grocery cart to use as one when he shops.

The last time I was in Florida, it was to care for my dying mother. Just as we got to hospice to take her home, the last handicapped parking space was filled. The car had a placard, but the driver looked to be about 25 and unimpaired. The other 3 spaces were filled by cars without placards. I was furious.

Because I know there are a lot of disabilities out there that don't show up, like my level of pain, I don't scream at people who park in those places if they don't present a walker or wheelchair immediately. However, healthy people who park in disabled slots really should be turned in immediately. I remember a store years ago that used to put notices on windshields about illegal parking, notices with a particularly tenacious glue that were miserable to remove. I wish more places would do this.

[mopaul]

4. I printed up my own realistic looking citations & i leave them on windows

they have the handicapped symbol, and the actual local city ordinance number, i sign and date them. they are not real, but i hope to scare few folks, or at least remind them of the laws and fines.

i believe there should be real parking citations that disabled folks can attach to offender's windshields that you could have a copy of that were legally binding.

[iverglas]

8. I've been known ...

... to ask the blatantly able-bodied young person hopping out of a car with no placard in a "handicapped" spot at a shopping centre whether his/her disability was mental, or just moral ...

Mind you, I was also once - once! - known to park in such a spot without a placard -- when I had broken my foot and really had to go to the bank in the mall. (At least, as much as any person with a long-term disability had to go anywhere.) I was very obviously not very mobile, and there was nowhere to park remotely close to the entrance, and I was alone. And I even shamefacedly pointed to my foot and mumbled about how I was going to be quick when a guy got out of a car with a real placard in the next space. He glared wordlessly at me. I didn't think I really deserved such scorn.

Being a person with no disability but being unspeakably clumsy and having a distressing tendency to break my lower limb bones, I actually do get a tiny glimpse into the reality of disabilities -- a tiny glimpse, I stress. For the short period when I'm out of commission after breaking a bone (well, actually it was three months in traction in hospital at the age of 8, the second time), I'm irritable and genuinely depressed, and pretty attuned to the obstacles that the world throws in one's way when one isn't operating the way the world expects, even apart from the badly designed curbs and driveways that I came to grief on in the first place. It's a useful object lesson in coping with disability and barriers, although I don't presume to say that it makes me any kind of expert. ;)

[Fovea]

11. I have a carbide tip end

of my walking stick.
I really works wonders on a
nice dark Lexus.

[ValhallaChaser]

26. I acn't beliee that someone would stoop so low

as to damage another person's property. I'm disabled and have
a placard. It irks me to no end when people abuse the
handicapped parking. If anything, I'll either contact the
store manager or call the cops. At least I'm not out damaging
private property.

[sakabatou]

27. I don't see that as a good thing

[China_cat]

18. The one good thing

the city of North Charleston has done is to allow those who are legitimately disabled to write REAL tickets to anyone they find parked in a handicap space without placard or tag. Fines are the normal for illegal parking with $50 tacked on for someone who needed the spot writing the citation.

[pop goes the weasel]

7. there isn't a hierarchy of suffering

that entitles you to use a space reserved for the disabled. If you need to shop so badly or be some place for some reason that you have forced yourself to get to the store or court house or whatever, despite having intense pain, you should use the disabled parking. Get a tag, and stop martyring yourself. At what point are you planning on being worthy of a little help? After you haven't been able to shop for groceries for a month? After you've fallen over in the parking lot? Are you planning to end up house-bound because "other people are much worse off"?

By the way, my daughter is 25 and looks unimpaired to other people. They don't know that her heart is frail. Looks are deceiving. If anyone were to give her grief about using her tags, I'd hit them with my cane.

So now will you start being nice to you? and make your dad get a walker, too. I see where the stubborn comes from in your family!

[happyslug]

24. I once had a boss who was blind, and insisted on NOT using such parking places

His attitude was simple, he could walk even through he was disabled do to his blindness. He then exited my car and grabbed my arm and walk beside me and a little to my rear holding onto my upper arm as a guide.

On the other hand when I was walking with him, he hated the new handicap usable sidewalks. The blind for years have been taught to feel for the edge of the curb for the edge of the road and use that as a point of reference. The wheel chair ramps caused my boss two problems, first he no longer could count on a flat sidewalk, it would start to sloop and that would cause him to mis judge his step (i.e. his food would go down four inches instead of two do to the sloop). Second, the sloop removed the edge that he used as a point of reference. He worked around both problems, but it shows the conflict between different types of disabilities.

[Patiod]

3. One of my girlfriends looks very healthy

especially when she's wearing pants, and you can't see that she has almost no muscles in her thighs (they haven't been able to figure out what has caused this wasting, I wonder if it's not MS). She looks great otherwise. But she can walk only on level ground - her husband has to carry her down the hill into my friend's backyard, and she uses a wheelchair at work, but doesn't want to bother with it for short trips to the store, etc.

In spite of her handicapped plates, people are constantly screaming and cursing at her for "abusing" the handicapped privilege.

My 35-year-old cousin looks good (a little pale, a little thin, but otherwise good) - unfortunately, he has a cardiomyopathy, and is on the list for a heart transplant. He has fainted several times in public places after walking too much. Again with the abuse because he doesn't "look" handicapped.

Yes, there are healthy jerks who park in handicapped places, but if they've got the plate/placard, and you're not the world's leading expert diagnostician, STFU.

<STFU not directed at anyone on this thread, just the "jump to conclusions" crew in general>

[WestHoustonDem]

6. Thank you

I have fibromyalgia. I rarely use my placard. When I do, I may look perfectly fine to others, but I am in a whole lot of pain.

[nofurylike]

5. kills me. i like your tickets. i gotta make some up. keep on. n/t

[undergroundpanther]

9. Guilty here

One time I had my leg held still in a cast/brace thingy because I was whapped by an agressive cab driver with no headlights on as I was crossing the street.The impact dislocated my hip, knee,ankle and I had fractures too.
I still have these stupid cyst things in my thigh muscle that cause pain and numbness and make my thigh look weird so I am seriously reluctant to wear shorts..Ib want to get them out someday..If I ever get insurance.. I had no card to park in handicap spots because I was told by time the card came through I would not be wearing the brace...

Soo my partner pulled into a handicap spot to let me out,less hobbling,for me because phys therapy appt was in a mall and I had to hobble through the mall a ways to get there already..Aftyer I got out he pulled out to find a real place to park ,but as he was pulling out he got tons of dirty looks. Go figure.
He was trying to be nice and risk it.

Also I have seen able bodied people with handicap tags and really expensive cars. Over a period of months I NEVER saw them appear disabled and they were in better physical condition than me! Can't explain that one, I also know lung problems and heart problems ,pain can make a person disabled too and it ain't readily visible .
I have seen really obese people with handicap tags too.
I know for some obese people it's a disorder and I know for some it's a result of thier psychology..but what about the people that are just manipulative or"connected" to the right govt.officials to get a tag they don't deserve??
What is there to stop them from taking advantage.

[nofurylike]

10. i don't know anyone who would begrudge you being let off

in a handicapped parking space. i know that the real disabled appreciate when someone is even there in the car to move it if need be.

you and your partner have consciences about it, and that is too rare in itself.

imho, pity those who abuse the spaces, and practice patience for the sake of those you acknowledge having invisible disabilities. better erring to the side of compassion, i think. it might somewhat compensate for those who have no compassion, or manners.


peace!

[REP]

12. Making Some ASSumptions There, Pardner

Also I have seen able bodied people with handicap tags and really expensive cars... I have seen really obese people with handicap tags too.
I know for some obese people it's a disorder and I know for some it's a result of thier psychology..but what about the people that are just manipulative or"connected" to the right govt.officials to get a tag they don't deserve??

You're making a whole passel of ASSumptions there. First, at least in the state in which I live, there are certain diseases/conditions for which permits are allowed, and a doctor must sign the that applicant meets that requirement. Very few doctors are going to risk their licenses by signing for a person who has none of the required conditions. Once the application is filled out properly and signed by a licensed doctor, the state issue the placard - they don't get to decide who's disabled and who isn't past he requirements on the form.

Second, are you a doctor? You may be able to diagnose obesity by looking at a person, but can you diagnose other diseases just by looking at a person? No? Maybe that person's doctor knows something you don't. Maybe, just maybe, a person can be fat *and* have a disability. Maybe some disabilities don't "show" in the way you'd like them to.

Third, one can qualify for a car loan and still have a disability. Not all disabled people are poor or unable to qualify for a line of credit.

[undergroundpanther]

14. Umm Not really

I am well aware of invisible disabilities and that disabilities can be very different and because of this appearances don't mean squat.I attempted to articulate that in my other post so I guess I did a crappy job,sorry.:)
I am also aware not all disabled people are poor too.

But I have heard about non-disabled people who are fine,but have an entitlement additude so they will use whatever goodwill there is (without even a twinge of consience ) when they don't need it.
I have heard of college atheletes having handicap passes (parking at colleges can be hell too)that are just a given,sure there are sports injuries that can occur..BUT those injuries aren't for an entire semester long by default.Atheletes get too much preferential treatment at campuses I think.

I have heard my aunt complaining before about certain kinds of manipulating,arrogant bullying people who play games,at her work ,they will hound case workers until they get what they want,they'll give them hell and wear them down,and they are not honest.They are like the accident victim who isn't really hurt but puts on a neck brace for show in court to wheedle money..These narcissistic jerkwads don't care if they use dirty tactics or if it deprives someone else of a pass who may need it,they think they are entitled to have a parking pass and nothing will get in thier way,they see it as a kinda power tripping game..a 'challenge'to win. And people who play mthis game really pisses my aunt off.There was one lady into this power trip shit who tried to get my aunt in trouble for not giving her what she wanted.My aunt'sboss looked at this woman's case history and knew right off this lady was trouble and bullshit... but the stress it caused gave my aunt alot of grief until it was resolved. Some people are indeed assholes.

I dunno how many asshole people are really in this dishonest category with parking passes.I feel most people who use parking passes are not like that at all.
But for me,I hear the anger in my aunts voice,the frustration ..and I know something ain't right with a few people taking advantage and it is these few obnoxious people I hear about that get me so disgusted...
I hope I have clarified exactly what I'm mad about here.

[Digit]

13. How about those spaces which are far away but close to a ramp?

Do they consider that not everyone who is handicapped is in a wheelchair?

[DemBones DemBones]

15. Apparently not. Sometimes the spaces are

farther from the building entrance than they need to be, IMO. I sometimes use a wheelchair but try to keep walking and just limit how much I do.

[happyslug]

25. The fight between different types of handicaps

The problem is not so much different types, how do you accommodate them? Above I mentioned by former boss (who was blind) and his objections to handicap ramps on sidewalks. It shows the dispute between people who are blind and people who are in wheelchairs.

One of the problem with the ADA was the various attempts to meet it goals. Lets look at some bad attempts (all from the 1990s):

1. A collage in the South wanted to make in Chapel wheel chair accessible. The Collage hired an Architect who designed a beautiful marble ramps for the Chapel. The problem was the Ramp, being marble was a death trap for anyone in a Wheel Chair when it rain. Unlike Concrete, the marble provided no traction in the rain. It made it impossible to go up in the rain, and impossible to STOP going down in the rain.

2. Another Collage (Collages did some stupid things when the ADA first passed) built a handicap accessible restroom for its handicap students. When it was finished, the local handicap groups were contacted to look over the restroom. The problem was no one in a Wheelchair could get to the Rest room, for it was in a non-accessible part of the building. The Dean had the honor of telling the handicap how good this restroom was for the handicap after he had learned the handicap could NOT get to the Rest room.

3. The State of Pennsylvania in the 1990s built a new wing for the State Capital. Smooth, ramps everywhere and a beautiful deep underlay and thick Carpet laid everywhere. Great for walking, but I knew someone who went to the wing in a Wheelchair after it opened and could not propel his wheelchair for the carpet and underlay was so thick, the roll resistance was to much for him to push his wheel chair through the hallway. Worse his state representative was beside him and tried to help, and could NOT push the wheel chair.

4. Harvard University decided to make all of their elevators wheelchair accessible by moving the controls to the back of the Elevators and lowing them to waist level. Again no one asked the local handicap groups, but then invited them in to look over the changes. One of the first handicap person rolled his wheel chair in, like he was trained to do (as ALL wheel chair people are trained to do) backward and looked for the controls. He then asked the Dean where was the controls and was told they were behind him to make it easier for wheel chair people to use. He then told the dean that NO ONE IN A WHEELCHAIR GOES IN FRONTWARD, they all go in backward and thus the change made it IMPOSSIBLE for a person in a wheelchair to use the elevator.

Now, compared the above to the Sear Tower, who did what NONE of the above did. The Sears tower went to local handicap groups and asked them what would make the Sears tower easier for them to use. The various groups provided suggested which the Sears Tower adopted. Sears said it cost them about $1000 to make the Sears Tower 100% ADA compliant. Among the things the handicap groups mentioned was to provide wooden dials to the receptionists so people in Wheel Chair could ask for one (or be given one). The purpose of the dials was so the person in the Wheel Chair could reach the buttons in the Elevators. No need to lower the buttons, just set up a way so the handicap could use them.

In many ways, the ADA only requires "reasonable Accommodations". My Boss at that time was blind, but he worried about ADA requirements for he had no wheelchair usable restrooms in his office or on his floor. I told him that given the age of the building, the ADA did NOT require a retrofire (But since I work for an agency that get Federal Government we had to meet ADA requirements). As to those ADA requirements, two floors down was a wheel chair usable restroom. We had an elevator so that people can use that restroom so we were ADA compliant. When we moved the office a few years later we made sure we moved to a building whose restrooms where also ADA compliant (and this time on the same floor AND even in out own office).

The ADA requires "Reasonable Accommodations" not ideal accommodations for handicap people. Reasonable is up to a Jury to decide if the case is ever litigated, but it means something more then doing nothing but also does not mean spending money on marginal improvements. The ADA also means you must do more then just meet some sort of Spec, accommodations means input from the local handicap community, Sears did it best and ended up paying the least of the five example above. The reason was Sear sought and obtain input from the local handicap groups and what they saw what was needed NOT trying to meet some sort of specification.

As to the ramps away from the entrance. Most of the cases where I see that is in older buildings (i.e pre-1990) that some how tried to meet ADA requirements by providing some sort of handicap ramp. By definition the Ramp had to be close to the handicap parking spaces. Now it is possible that some handicap people can climb stairs (or just a step), but in most such cases no one even thought of such handicap people, they thought of term of wheelchair users. Buildings built since 1990 tend to design handicap accommodations right into the design, so it is rarely a problem in such post 1990 designs. The problem is the pre-1990 designs and how to make them handicap usable at the least costs. Ramps and Spaces away from entrances are often the cheapest solution.

Remember, if you have a space in front of the building reserved for the Handicap BUT the Handicap ramp is somewhere else, you have a good possibility of someone in a wheel chair going to a spot marked "Handicap" and find out he has to go to the end of the sidewalk and then back to use the ramp. When he used the ramp he then has to go by where his or her car is and pass it to enter the store. On the way out he or she had to go by it again, go to the ramp and return to his or her car. Many handicap people would complain of such a spot. The solution is to make sure the Ramp and Handicap spot is by the entrance, but that is NOT always possible. The key is what is reasonable, most juries will NOT view a spot away from the Ramp as reasonable, but would view a spot next to a ramp reasonable even for someone who does NOT need to use a ramp.

The best solution is a spot and ramp near the entrance, but sometime such a retrofit is impossible. In such cases we have to work with such locations and help them do the best solution possible at the lowest cost that does help the most.

[Digit]

28. No these are the new regulations for businesses in my town

All you have to provide is a ramp from the handicapped spot (and damned those bumps on the ramp with my knee issues) and all of the new businesses are putting their handicapped spots farther away than normal.

In fact, Harris Teeter provides "Mother" spots or some such drivel in the front of stores. When I spoke with Customer Service there, they said many disabled people had complained. They told me to park in the Motherhood spots and I refuse. I am obviously too old to be a mother and I should not have to.
I did write a letter to Harris Teeter which was ignored.

All of these businesses are less than 10 years old, some less than 5. It is the "new" rule.

[masshole1979]

16. people who forge placards...

...a couple years ago, there was a news story about state employees pulling strings to forge the placards (they didn't actually register them, they were the same as the others but not legal).

Maybe people think that?

Then there are the people who still believe you need the thing on your licence plate.

Maybe it's me, but I don't see the spaces being stolen so much. Almost always one left...of course, only my grandmother uses them.

[Sgent]

17. Handicapped

I suffer from a congenitial bilatteral dislocating patella (kneecap). I've already had 4 reconstructive surgeries on both knees, and have worn away over 1/2 the kneecap on both sides.

That being said, I look fairly normal, and unless you are really observent, I walk "ok". I have had a handicapped tag on my car since college, but only use it on days when the knees or are especially painful. Currently, I have to use crutches about 2 months out of the year. Finally I drive a sportscar.

As a relatively young (29) year old, I have gotten evil looks everytime I do use a handicapped tag (usually just at a mall). I am very sensitive to others, and only have used it when the distance was too great and my knees were acting up.

One thing to note, at least in my state, they don't care what the disability is. The doctor has to certify that you are permanently unable to walk without assitance, or you cannot walk more than 200yards without stopping for 5 or more minutes.

[Sugarbleus]

19. My hubby is a member and activist in the ADA...

In our community he, along with other mobility impaired and elderly people, has been very effective in getting the curb cuts and bus routes and handicapped accessible buses purchased/up and running/installed in this town.

My hubby is a left-side hemiplegic. He displays the same symptoms as a stroke victim and then some. He uses an electric wheelchair and rides the city buses all over the place. I learned from him the ins and outs of the American's with Disabilities Act, it's laws, regulations, pros and cons.

I watched him fight for the equal rights of the disabled and elderly for years. THEN I became partially disabled with Osteo Arthritis. I didn't ask for anything for myself until the condition worsened. Then I asked my doctor to sign for a Placard for my vehicle. If a person has a temporary condition, they too can get a "red" placard for that temporary condition and park in the blue zones like other disabled persons.

As to the "invisible" handicaps..it's true. There are all sorts of frailties that are not visible to the naked eye. I don't automatically bark at another person for using a reserved parking slot because they aren't on a cane..I wait and watch their body language and "perk" factor. If they are faking something, it comes across pretty quickly. That's when I become the handicapped parking police myself...LOL

If I'm not having a very painful day, I'll gladly park in a regular but close space instead of a blue zone...leaving it for someone else. If I'm driving but someone else is going into the store...I WILL NOT USE THAT DISABLED PARKING SPACE. I am NOT SUPPOSE to use it anyway under those situations. I try to be mindful of the "van accessible" spaces as well. Those folk that have to unload a wheelchair from their vans NEED that space to do so.

It's funny how it didn't occur to me how much all of this meant until I started with my own problems. Now I'm highly attuned to the needs of the disabled community and get pretty upset when fakers abuse the utilities set up for US. I have yet to actually yell at someone else for abusing the parking spaces, but I've given another the cold, hard stare down at least once. :evilgrin: I VERY MUCH like the idea someone posted about civilian parking tickets to issue to those who abuse the priviledges afforded the disabled. Well done!

The upside to having a parking placard is: Not having to pay parking meters on the street or pay high/full price at state and national parks, among other perks :)

One of my other pet peeves is the issue of those elec carts that some stores offer for shopping. I don't know about your area, but mine has very very few in our stores. So far, I've only seen one per store. Well, that's just NOT ENOUGH! Hell, this is a retirement community as well as a tourist community...we NEED more elec shopping go-carts. (I best make a list of people to have a little chat with eh?)

So, for those of you with differing disabilities, especially those with mobility related types AND the elderly, get to bawling out your city counsil and planning depts if they don't have enough curb cuts for you or "kneeling" city buses with wheelchair access. YOU HAVE RIGHTS. Even women with babies in carriages benefit from curb cuts and accessible city buses.

Additionally (I'm on a roll here)if you are mobility impaired: elderly on a cane or walker, disabled on a cane or in a wheelchair, temporarily hurt with broken leg...you can and should ask the store clerks to ASSIST you in your shopping. It is a service they are suppose to provide and most do so willingly.

My very best to you all as you go about you daily life. Peace~

[marcicj]

20. unreal

people's mouths work much more quickly then their minds

[Odin2005]

22. people are assholes!

:grr:

[cutlassmama]

23. The young and healthy that park in handicapped spots when it's raining!

"Oh, I'll only be a second and it's raining". Like getting wet is a disability!!!

[NoDangerHere]

29. The states don't always do much to help with that

In Virginia and New York, you can get a handicap permit if you have a mental disability. Maybe it's just because I haven't gotten my permit yet, but most of the time I don't think mental disabilities affect walking across the parking lot to the grocery store.

[RosesAreRed]

30. Handicap overuse in CA

There just aren't enough handicap spots in CA - they're always used by somebody who has a placard, obvious disability or not. The thing that irks me is that some spots have a wide area next to them to facilitate loading and unloading - those spots are really intended to be used by people with a wheelchair van or people whom absolutely need that space... the other handicap spots without a big space open are too narrow for me to get in and out of the car at times. The door needs to be swung all the way open - and I have a 2-door coupe with long doors. Without the big space next to the car, I can't get out.

Call it a pet peeve of mine, but sometimes I'll wait around and stalk the spaces, waiting for one of them to leave - and invariably, whenever I am waiting for one of those spots, somebody just walks up to the car, gets in, and leaves. Gets me really steamed up at times, but what can we do? A Handicap placard is the last real perk that the non-elite class has available to them in this system of governance and living.