Posted on 05/01/2013 6:13:04 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
First, there are huge numbers of “handicapped” whose major medical issue is laziness. Those people absolutely disgust me. Honorable people don’t compel decent Americans to support them simply because they can get away with it, and they don’t make those with a real disability walk further just for personal convenience.
Second, there are some disabled people who do not look disabled. A friend of mine who died of cancer used to dread going shopping for groceries or for anything else in the last few months of her life. She looked thin but okay, but she didn’t have the endurance to walk very far, even leaning on a shopping cart. She often couldn’t make it to the store, through the store, and back to the car with enough energy to drive home. Many times she couldn’t even make it to the store because some moron would yell at her for taking a handicapped spot when she was “obviously perfectly fine”, and she would go back to her car in tears.
Exactly. My parents don’t get the permanent. I don’t know why, unless there are higher standards. Neither of them is going to get better at their age. My dad also has mild heart disease, hardening in the lungs, and my mom has unknown lung spots and coughs ALOT, also for 15 years.
I have also seen small parking lots, like in front of shops, that have only one, handicapped slot left. Also, I went to a grocery store once in Houston, where the only spot left was for the handicapped. You could park 4 cars in that spot, yet it sat empty and I left. Who does that help? I went to a state park in Louisiana to picnic by the lake with my friends, but the only table left was for the handicapped. Some of these parks collect the fee before you enter, and are self pay, so you can't get your money back easily.
Finally, at our church, after the main service, there is always a line in the women's bathroom. Some of the women insist that only handicapped women can use the handicapped stall, so it sits vacant, while a line forms. I would be happy to let the handicapped person to the front of the line, so she can get the handicapped stall next, but does it have to sit idle, while a long line forms? (Don't tell me to use that stall, the peer pressure and judgement from church ladies is too much for me.)
She should’ve just yelled at the ignoramus, I’M DYING OF CANCER!
If someone can walk around a store, they can walk 80 feet to the store.
Me? I park well away from the store. Makes it easier to find a spot, easier to find the car afterward, and I’m less likely to get a dent. So I largely ignore handicap spots and who parks in them, unless the person springs out of the car like OJ Simpson sprinting thru the airport...
Can’t seem to find a link to it, but there used to be a public service announcement featuring a man in a wheelchair talking about how he confronted apparently healthy people who use the handicap parking by asking “What’s YOUR disability”, and their typical response. which was “Stupidity”.
Even though it might not be obvious, some folks who truly need handicapped parking, like elderly men and women.
Really bad thing at Walmart recently. An elderly woman tripped and did a face plant in the parking lot. It may look funny in the cartoons, but it is a mess in real life. I helped her, along with another man, until emergency services came and got her.
I don’t resent handicapped parking one bit. I just hope I’m dead before I need it.
Agreed! My wife is indeed physically handicapped and it is quite obvious when she exits our vehicle. My handicap
(due to a severe heart condition) is not obvious to the casual observer. While I agree there are those who abuse the opportunity of having the handicapped stickers, one should be a bit more cautious when “judging a book by it's cover”
Thanks, I know the day is coming that I will have to have oxygen and will then probably have to have a sticker. Not looking forward to it. People just need to get a grip. Bigger things in life to worry about than who is getting a close parking spot.
only handicapped women can use the handicapped stall, so it sits vacant, while a line forms
That’s just ridiculous. There is no Handicap Pass for bathrooms, so damned if I’m going to be so righteous! BTW, H stalls are great for having small kids alone with you. I still cannot leave my little boy outside the bathroom so he goes with me, and we try to get the H so there is more room. You’ll notice many H stalls have diaper change tables, so sometimes we HAD to do that for baby.
I used to resent it when I saw obciously non-disabled people parking in special spots. Then it occurred to me that I can’t park there whether or not it is empty or not and if a “cheater” is in that spot he is not in a spot for which i am eligible.
Yep..My son has Cerebral Palsy and uses a powerchair...we have a van with a ramp and hardly ever find a handicap space. They are usually all filled up. If I don’t have him with me I never use a handicap space even though we have plates.
My son’s Doc. refuses to write scripts for handicap placards unless truly needed. She says she feels like a drop in the bucket. If enough Doc’s like her would do the same....*sigh*
Are there scammers? Certainly.
Am I capable of telling at a glance who appears healthy but may actually have a terrible disability - and those who are scammers? No.
That is why I don't confront the handicapped parkers.
People are stupid about parking anyway. They will circle the lot for 5 minutes or more to get a good parking space to avoid a walk - AT THE GYM!
She tried that a few times, but many of the morons were skeptical - accepting her word would mean accepting that they were horrible people, and that is difficult for some people, especially for horrible people. I was there for a couple of those do-gooders, and I could put them in tears, but it's a rough task for someone who is hoping to stay alert for a half hour or so on her feet.
Never happens at Home Depot or Lowes...they have about the first 100 spaces designated as disability spots, and they’re never full. Usually a couple of cars.
As a child, I seemed to remember her having many "boyfriends," and even a husband at one point. She later divorced, and hooked up with a guy named "Dave." Dave apparently was in the Army during the 1960's--for maybe a total of four months. Then, he became "disabled" and left.
No one is quite sure of what his diability is, and I suppose in polite conversation, no one presses too hard to find out. But Dave has been collecting disability checks from Uncle Sam for the better part of 40+ years. To my knowledge, he's never had a job in which he wakes up, and goes off to work. He has dabbled in "art" of various kinds: rock gardens, "sculptures," and maybe some painting. but nothing where he would see any commercial success--nothing that would ever appear in a gallery, or even in a weekend flea market. Anything like that would take some initiative, and most of his initiative is likely dulled by the fact that he grows and smokes his own marijuana. I suspect that he sells some of it to supplement his income.
I've often considered "reporting" him to authorities, but quite frankly, I don't know how much good it would do. I'm really not close to my aunt, and even less close to him. I just despise his gaming of the system. He's done it so long, that he knows nothing else. He is a miserable person, and when he nears death and looks back on his life, surely he will be terribly disappointed and shameful in his waste.
I have been glared at when I exit my car after parking in a handicapped spot and hanging my permit on the rearview mirror.
You cannot see the COPD that keeps me from walking 200 ft. without resting.
You cannot see the advanced degenerative arthritis in my spine, or my knee.
You cannot see my still healing hip replacement.
What you see is a reasonably healthy 67 year old grandmother with a few curves who can walk without pain for perhaps ten minutes on a good day.
There are many conditions that cannot be seen that fall within the guidelines governing the issuance of a handicapped parking permit.
And those cars you see in handicapped spots without a visible permit? It’s probable still in the driver’s side visor. People my age can be forgetful. ;)
There are those who have a disabled or elderly family member who drive them to doctors or where ever else they need to need to go that legitimately need the handi-cap access to load and un-load the patient. Most of their driving or errands don’t involve the handicapped individual but they still park in the handi-cap space because they have the tag, these are the a$$h0!#$.
The ignorance expressed in this article astounds me. NR has really gone downhill.
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