With all the people who are on “disability” these days, I’m surprised 90% of parking spaces aren’t reserved for “the handicapped.”
How about this? Get rid of handicapped spaces. How did we cope prior to their advent? They are simply another government enforced spoils system that further erodes private property rights and degrades the spirit of individual acts of charity. Will those of you handicapped or with handicapped loved ones vote for politicians who give you the best spots?
I remember my parents lecturing me to never take the close in spots at stores or church so that old and crippled people could use them. Government enforced charity (an oxymoron if ever there was one) has again displaced private charity will causing hatred and resentment.
My wife and I have a handicap parking placard on our van. I can walk but she can’t. She hasn’t don so in the past 28 years and baring Divine intervention here on this earth she won’t walk another step. Generally when paralyzes hits due to spinal cord issues the first use regained in the six-eight months to follow determine about 90% of the recovery of use of limbs. Many persons don’t know that.
True we do have better medical knowledge than in 1960. But many persons are also surviving illnesses and accidents today that most did not in 1960. Twenty Eight years ago the spinal/stroke rehab center my wife spent three months in was about 20 rooms in a hospital. Today it is an entire floor. When she suddenly could not walk or even move her arms and hands the doctors were at a loss. Our city had yet to get a MRI at any of the hospitals. 18 months later came the diagnoses after one was installed. During that time her hand and arm function were somewhat restored. But she is a quad. Before that she was a Certified Nursing Assistant working in a nursing home. Her 4’10” 90 pound body would left grown men.
About nine years after that I was hit with a mystery disorder that they could not diagnose. I could walk OK though. But I developed a severe overreaction to certain sounds and visual events. The reaction I learned four years later is seizures. I have one of the more common diagnoses likely seen in disability cases called General Anxiety Disorder. I am non phobic, I don’t have panic attacks, and no traumatic event caused it. It was some issues I had since birth that due to my body aging became more acute to finally the point of disability. BTW I tried several times to return to work. The last time I did it left me unable to do anything but answer yes and no questions for two days. I lost my ability to concentrate as well.
It was the Social Security Disability examiners who just finally flat out told me I could no longer work. Before that I was working about 50 plus hours a week and being a full time caregiver to my wife at home. Thankfully I still can manage to do that. I’ve been on disability for 18 years and not one doctor has even hinted I could ever work again.
Now about two years after my wife went quad they did place her in a retraining program. Their idea of rehabilitation and retraining was to be a telemarketer in a boiler room operation. It would have also meant loss of all medical coverage and we had already been bankrupt from her hospital bills when she got canceled three months into her six month hospital stay.
I have a cousin who has a handicap parking placard. He can walk but not far. He has CHF and it can’t be fixed. He’s outlived his estimated time left by about two years. It took him nearly two years and a lawyer to get disability and that was about 3-4 years ago. It took me an appeal the best I remember and about nine months. My wife was even turned down first time. Our total SSDI income is $1500 a month. From that $1500 a significant portion goes toward her needed Asthma medications {she is on Medicare A-B-D and Medicaid. We don’t qualify for SSI and as for Food Stamps? LOL $42 a month.
Now I know some persons do draw a lot more. We don’t. My sister draws more $5000 a month more than us combined but her deceased husband was an engineer and made good money. Sis is disabled with Dementia caused by several previous strokes among other things. She‘s 60. My point is things happen to persons they don’t ask for. If I had a magic wand my wife would walk, Sis would have her mind back, and I’d be back at work. But that’s not reality. However for the Bean Counters thinking everyone is getting ripped off here is something to consider. My wife needs skilled care. A nursing home when I had to retire 18 years ago was about $&% a day just for room and board not counting other things. $75 X 365 is $27, 375 a year. Our combined income is $18K a year. Which is cheaper?