Posted on 08/20/2007 7:41:24 AM PDT by Between the Lines
OPINION, August 20 /Christian Newswire/ -- "Do you know the fine for using someone else's handicapped parking permit is $300?" "That parking spot is saved for the disabled! You should be ashamed of yourself!" Nearly everyone with an invisible illness has been told, "You don't look disabled to me!" One of my friends replied, "Well, you don't look stupid to me." I just bite my lip to try to prevent the tears from forming, broken-hearted that I appear to be deceptive, when I would do anything to give back this parking perk that I use on a rare occasion.
As I circle the parking lot a fourth time on this day I hope for a spot to open up within two-hundred yards of the store, but there is nothing remotely close at this bustling superstore where I need to buy my prescriptions and milk for my toddler. My rheumatoid arthritis is flaring badly, causing extra fluid in my knees to dislocate pieces of loose bones. Every step is painful and unpredictable.
Finally I sigh in resignation and pull into the farthest "blue parking spot." I reach for the placard--the one that has a bold white symbol of a wheelchair--and no, I don't have a wheelchair--yet. So after fifteen years of having this "privilege" at my disposal I still warily scan the area before reluctantly dangling the placard from the rear view mirror. Is there anyone watching, wondering, or waiting, ready to confront me?
I've had scathing notes left on my windshield and many people, empowered by television exposés, have approached me with their opinions. Judgmental expressions and whispers sting just as much. My husband and I adopted a baby and when I would get my child of the car I would avoid eye contact with onlookers because I could hear their whispers of, "She's not disabled! Or--if she is--she has no right to have a child!"
Nearly 1 in 2 Americans (133 million) live with a chronic illness. It could be diabetes, cancer, cystic fibrosis, fibromyalgia or even chronic back pain. Many illnesses make walking long distances impossible because of limited lung capacity, physical pain, or unpredictable numbness in the legs. According to statistics provided by the U.S. Census Bureau, about 96% of these illnesses are invisible. There is no sign of the illness existing, nor the use of an assistive device like a cane or a wheelchair.
I began National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week in 2002, which is held this year Sept 10-16, 2007, after witnessing thousands of people who had frustrations, fears, loneliness, and bitterness, about feeling invalidated. One's illness, age, diagnosis, or level of disease degeneration, doesn't change the emotional pain.
Strangers and loved ones alike doubt the severity of our illness or even the diagnosis. We've heard, "You look so good! You must be feeling better." But we don't feel better. We just bought some fake tan in a bottle and pasted on a smile.
National Invisible Chronic Illness Awareness Week is a time to acknowledge that invisible illness is more prevalent than we'd imagine and everyone--both those who are healthy and ill--can make a difference by encouraging someone with an invisible illness, rather than tearing someone down.
Are those parking spots painted blue because they give so many people the blues? That small area of square footage is a breeding ground for many frustrations as we are forced to defend our illness and character to total strangers. I'd gladly trade in my placard indefinitely for just a week of having my old body back when I could run, sit on the floor, or even hold a fork without tendons popping out of place.
I anticipate the day when a nationally designated system is formed. Texas law states that blue placards are for those who use assistive devices; red permits are for people with a "condition that impairs mobility." In other states, red symbolizes six months of disability and blue is permanent. It's confusing! And for one with invisible illness, the wheelchair symbol discredits both our physical pain and--in the eyes of others--our reputation. Until then, we rely on Invisible Illness Week bumper stickers.
The next time you see a healthy looking man loading groceries into his car--parked in the "blue spot"--don't glare. Stop and offer to help him, or just smile nicely, giving him the benefit of the doubt. Seventy percent of suicides have uncontrollable physical pain as a factor. Your smile may save his life. At the least, it will astonish him, perhaps providing him with genuine encouragement he hasn't felt for months.
Very simple....we print the card tags with the disabilty on them.
My wife has JLS when she sleeps. Can she get a sticker?
Heck, I don’t mind the disabled using some of the otherwise unused spaces right beside the building. Someone should!
So should 1 in 2 Americans have handicapped parking stickers?
So half the spaces in the lot should be handicapped?
At that rate, we’ll need to make half of all parking lots handicap accessible only spots.
I’m sorry, but the majority of these problems ironically come from the lack of exercise and poor eating habits.
Perhaps we ought to put everyone’s handicap place, save for those who have an actual cane or chair, on the outskirts of the parking lot.
You beat me by 12 seconds.
Unfortunately there are many who abuse the handicap system which makes it more difficult for those who truly need it.
I have arthritis and after sitting in the car a while my joints get still. I use the farther walk in the parking lot to get everything working again.
Of course I could use a handicap sticker and park in a blue spot but I try and let the people “WHO REALLY NEED IT” use it.
Is 20 pound for the weight like 30 pounds if a guy lifts?
seems like everybody has a story about seeing some “healthy” person using the handicapped spaces. I say “rubbish!”
Unless you’re a doctor, you don’t know. I look fine much of the time, yet my condition is virtually incurable, and when it flares up, it FLARES up.
But the only time I have ever been acosted sicne 1978-ish when I got the first permit, was when I had the motorcycle. The acuser apparently was ignorant of the fact that handicapped people can and often do ride motorcycles.
But my real beef is that people expect disabled folk to be poor and destitute. I get more bad looks parking my 07 GT Mustang, than ever because I customized it, and everybody knows that handicapped people have to be poor, needy, onthe dole, adn incapable of succeeding in the world...
Alcoholism is a delibitating disease and when drunk, a driver should park their car. But, do they get a blue sticker? Nooooooooo!
Ahhhhhhh,the hell with it. If I’ve got to park farther away from a building and walk,maybe the excercise will keep me from actually getting handicapped !!!
A lot of people use placards that don’t belong to them. I worked with a person who was handicapped and she had a parking place right by the door.
I began to notice students and others parking in the spot and bounding down the street. One person was a football player, another was going to the gym. I would take the license plate number and the permit number and check with the registry to see if they matched. Out of ten that I checked not one of them matched. Mostly it was a permit of a dead grandparent or a mother who had bunion surgery and never returned the permit.
Thailand?
1/4 of the US population is mentally ill. We don’t have enough spaces for them.
source (SPOOA) statistics pulled out of...
Add paranoid to her list.
When you consider all the weight they carry around, it’s a wonder that fat people aren’t fit and trim.
(Ponder that for a while)
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