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.
I have no information about your condition, nor do I want or deserve any. I have addressed your questions in my various posts - go read ‘em.
Half the wheelchairs are motorized now and can run me off the sidewalk. Why would a motorized wheelchair need a parking space in front? It seems like technology is a cheaper and more cost efficient solution to much of this.
10 percent of the people that work in San Francisco are handicapped and need these placards, and get free downtown parking in the best spots. It's pretty amazing.
The fine for parking in a red zone is usually much less than a blue zone so if you need to cheat drive right up on the sidewalk to the front door and park there.
Simple - for the additional room on either side of the vehicle to get the chair/person in and out.
Not everyone has a motorized chair. We had a family friend we visited often. She was in a nursing home and wheelchair bound due to age (90s) and arthritis. We would pick her up there and all go out to dinner. Her movement into and out of the car (front seat of a large sedan) was difficult, requiring the front door to be completely open and the help of extra hands.
Because of the extra area afforded by HC spaces we never had to get her in and out w/ the door raking up and down against the side of the car next to us, but if she was still alive I would be glad to pull in next to yours to see how well it would all work out.
Why yes, I did see that you mentioned a motorized wheelchair... Well now, that's different! Tell me, what happens when the van with the lift out of the side parks in the far corner of the lot as you propose and when they come back out there is a car parked in the space right next to them? Or how about when they try to keep that from happening and someone keys their van (again) because they were so inconsiderate as to park using two spaces?
I tell you what, if there were money to be made in keeping husbands awake, I would be a bazillionaire.
Why am I reminded of the speeding excuse: "I have to get home quick officer, before all those beers hit me"?
Interesting how you acknowledge that it is not civil to quiz someone but maintain your "right" to do so. Fair enough. Have you stopped beating your spouse yet? ;>)
Have a great day - I must go.
And, how many husbands do YOU keep awake??? :-) Sorry, just had to ask. Hahahaha!
Its very hard to accept that we all have limits, be it physically or mentally. Sounds like you have more of a ‘can do’ attitude instead of ‘cannot’ in life, which is just the way to be. It’s not for the squeamish to be able to adapt and move forward in the face of adversity. Some of the most creative people I’ve met are one’s that have become limited in their mobility. The amount of decision making to just get into a building and accomplish a task is sometimes very daunting. Keep up the good fight :)
As for the few who have posted negatively on this thread, unfortunately, they too will someday face a challenge they weren’t prepared to face. Hopefully we will be more understanding to them on that day. Take care, Cate
Something can be a right and still be odious. Sometimes, choosing not to exercise a right is a triumph of manners.
I thought my reply had made it clear that while I will always maintain my right to do so, I would never consider doing so.
Mine is the only one who’s complained, but the guy who lives next door is starting to give me dirty looks in the morning. ;)
Just saw this insanity yesterday, two HC spots at the start of the hike up Makapuu in Hawaii. A hot, steep hike to the summit, not a darn thing around but the trail. I will damn sure never see a wheelchair whizzing up that trail, but I am sure some bureaucrat somewhere gets the warm fuzzies because he cared!
Wow, he needs a permit for his fake leg? That's a tough town you live in!
=80
” I would do anything to give back this parking perk that I use on a rare occasion.”
Then don’t use it. Evidently the handicap here is in reasoning.
That is an excellent idea. As I stated earlier here in Texas they put our initials and the first 4 of our TDL on them but a photograph could be recognized so easily
“Me? I would have said Phuket.’
I did. Then he showed me why the called it Bangkok. Never again.
*snort*
Maybe you didn't mean it, but this sounds so callous. Power chairs don't transport very well unless you have heavy-duty equipment to move them with - a lift into a modified van for example.
And a lot of the elderly don't have the reflexes, vision, or ability to learn new skills to use a power chair.
I was extremely grateful for my parents' handicapped plaquards when I took them here or there to doctor's offices and the like. Both of them could walk if I had hold on one arm but weren't safe otherwise. Their endurance was 100-200 feet at a shot, just enough to get to the nearest chair inside the doc's office.
You can't tell that my buddy has any sort of physical problem. He's really quite nimble for a guy who lost his leg to a mine in the 'Nam...
I usually have no opinion on these things for that reason - and the fact that I generally park very far away for the solitude and exercise.
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