the comments on my last post led in a whole different direction than i anticipated. not one that i haven't thought a lot about, mind you. so now i HAVE TO write about that aspect of the handicapped parking thing.
first of all. i'm talking ONLY about those people parked in a handicapped spot who DON'T HAVE A PLACARD - WHETHER THEY LOOK HANDICAPPED OR NOT.
if you're handicapped and don't use a placard, SHAME ON YOU. get one. use it. big deal. and don't get all self righteous if people are annoyed that you've parked illegally if you don't have yours out (of your glove box). how do YOU feel when you pull in some place and the handicapped spots are "used" illegally?
never, NEVER assume that someone who looks non-handicapped BUT HAS A PLACARD DISPLAYED is parked illegally. just don't do it. there are many appropriate reasons for this. not every handicapped person LOOKS handicapped. that's a biggie. the next big one is that the handicapped person is already in the store or restaurant or whatever, and a non-handicapped person is accompanying him or her. don't jump all over the non-handicapped person, assuming they're using a placard illegally.
yeah, yeah, i know this happens every single day. it's my personal belief that at least a quarter of the handicapped placards you see in parking lots every day are being used by the non-disabled relative. you know, for convenience sake. it sucks. but you still can't bust somebody, assuming that they're that kind of schmuck.
bill and i have a kind of a nasty game that we play. yes, yes, it's nasty, i know. the little white beetle with the who sticker ALWAYS appropriately displays the handicapped placard. always. so here we come. two not really old people zipping into a handicapped spot. and bill JUMPS out, all healthy and ready for business. me - i'm a little slower. for the game, you know. and the old couple getting into their car next to or in front of us start with the glaring and murmuring to each other. the more annoyed they are, the friskier bill is and the slower i am to get out of the car. just want them to work up a head of steam. just when ther're ready to attack bill, i get out. me and my cane. and obvious handicap.
it IS nasty. but maybe, just maybe that's the last time they'll make THAT particular assumption. {did you see how i turned that little bit of nasty fun into a public service? did you SEE that? impressed, aren't you?}
in a related note: bill keeps jumping all over me that "handicapped" is not the preferred nomenclature, dude. that i should be saying "disabled." yuck. i, myself, i speak for only myself, prefer handicapped. or better yet: i have a handicap. to me that means that one or maybe more parts don't work properly. to ME, "disabled" means that i'm like turned off, inactivated, non-working in the altogether kind of sense. do you, you know, kind of. get it? that's MY take on it. i mean no offense when i say "handicapped." i'm talking about ME.
Posted by Stacey at August 19, 2004 12:36 PMI don't like the word disabled either. Billy, you are out-voted on this one.
Posted by: Kathy Howe at August 19, 2004 03:32 PMI'm going to cut right to the meat of this post -- that you made a lebowski reference.
And that's why I love you.
Posted by: matt at August 19, 2004 04:11 PMYou have a cane and a husband. If need be, lean on the husband and whack the miscreants with the cane. The husband's also an attorney, which should help with the assault charges, but you'll have gotten your point across.
I like handicapped better, too. It makes me think of a golf handicap- (practically)everyone's got one, it's just that some handicaps are worse than others.
Posted by: lucy at August 19, 2004 07:20 PMI have question for you that's a little off topic...handicapped bathroom stalls...I'm not handicapped and normally don't use them, however when I have my 3 year old with me I use them so that there is room in the stall to have her with me, also she is potty training so I use them when she needs to go as well, again so we can both go in the stall...I was just wondering what your take on that would be? Is it ok to use it in that situation? Thanks!
Posted by: Sabrina at August 20, 2004 01:10 PMMy best friend has a six year old with a number of disorders, disabilities, handicaps, whatever. When she gets out of their van, she has been cussed out a number of times--when she pulls out her daughter's wheelchair and puts the little girl in it, no one, not once, has ever apologized. She just ignores it now, but it has always seemed to me like adding insult to injury.
Posted by: TW at August 21, 2004 11:52 AMWow, what great posts! This is such a sore subject with me, though I must admit to earlier days of youth and ignorance when I would question someone's integrity seeing them, appearing to have no disability at all getting into or out of a properly marked vehicle parked in a handicapped space.
Thankfully I can say I have now grown up and have learned. I don’t care if someone jumps out of a vehicle doing cartwheels, if the have the placard they have the right to park there. Shame on those friends and family members that abuse the right.
After driving my ill grandmother around in her last few years, (everyone in our county should be thankful that I did) I dealt with stares and glares when getting back into the car alone when she just couldn’t walk anymore and I needed to drive to the front of the store to pick her up.
Now I watch as my boyfriend, who unless heavily medicated cannot walk more than five minutes without being drenched in sweat due to pain, refuses to get a placard because there are people out there that are more handicapped than he and he’d feel guilty using one. Besides, he has to deal with enough discrimination with his health. People look at him and see a big strong looking man that usually looks as healthy as a horse – except for his color may be a bit off. If only he’d be willing to strip they’d see more scars than they’d thought possible on one person’s body.
Handicapped? Am I? I had a 90 pound roll of roofing paper fall two floors 12 years ago and got hit in the head. At the time, it wiped out about 20 years of memory, smushed the discs in my neck and back. Had to go 4 miles to therapy every day, but would get two miles down the road and couldn't remember where I was going, when I did, couldn't remember how to get there. Had to buy a tape recorder to sort things out. I have had days where my legs just collapsed under me, and I have days, where I can get out on the dance floor and dance the ass off ya. Because of the bad days, the doctor gave me a handicapped card. If I feel not quite up to par, I use it. One morning, having left the card hanging on my mirror from the day before, I pulled into a non handicapped spot. This guy bitched me out for taking his spot and not parking where "I belonged". So, I guess there are all kinds, I just told him to "Stick it" in so many words.
I think a lot of the handicapped ones are the ones who make comments to you in the lots.
Posted by: Pat McCarron at August 31, 2004 03:18 PM