Pissed of handicapped parker

[wolfie]

My understanding is that if a placard is abused by an able-bodied person, it is confiscated EVEN IF THE PERSON TO WHOM IT IS ISSUED IS LEGITIMATELY ELIGIBLE TO HAVE A PLACARD. In this example, if Grandma were a non-driver who relied on family members to drive her around in her own car, the placard can only be used WHEN GRANDMA IS BEING DRIVEN ON ERRANDS. If Scofflaw Grandkid borrows the car for their own purposes, parks in a handicap space because it's convenient, and gets caught, Grandma loses the placard and can't get a new one for a set period of time. In the case of one user here (able-bodied parent with one or more disabled children), they're eligible to get a placard for use when they're transporting the disabled child, but UNLESS THE DISABLED CHILD IS BEING PICKED UP / DROPPED OFF at a given stop, the parent is not permitted to park in the handicap space, and can lose the permit for doing so.

[Slave to the Phone]

That makes sense, wolfie. Grandma certainly wouldn't want to lose her handicapped plates because her grandkid was a jerk. Maybe that was why the young able-bodied person was threatened with death by a walker beating. Or perhaps Grandma wanted to instill some consideration into a young person. Personally, I would never park in a handicapped spot because that's how my Mom raised me. If there really was no other place for me to park, I'd think that maybe my task/event just wasn't that important and leave.

[mathnerd]

That's exactly how it's supposed to work, wolfie. I'm allowed to park in a handicapped spot as long as I have the appropriate child with me or I'm picking them up. For example, if I pick one of them up from school I can use the permit, because said child will be coming out of the building with me. My dilemma is making sure I hang the right placard. The only difference is the serial number, so if I only have one of the boys, I have to hang the one that belongs to him. Though if I ever messed that one up, I'd probably get forgiven since both placards are generally in the car.

And yes, the handicapped person can lose the placard if others abuse it, though that rarely happens in practice. There would have to be severe and systematic (and documented) abuse before some official is going to take the heat from revoking permits from grannies.

[dalesys]

"Kid, I love you dearly. Abuse my handicap sticker and you plus my walker will be a handsome macrame wall hanging."

[gerund]

My neighbour has a wife in a wheelchair. She cannot walk even one step so he has the placard that shows the wheelchair symbol.

He was taking her to an appointment at the hospital and dropped her at the front door, then went into the parking station and preparing for when he was going to bring her out, parked in a handicapped spot.

Some interfering woman accosted him as he got out.

IW: You don't look handicapped! What do you think you are doing?
N: Don't be silly, I'm blind.
IW: Oh! Sorry!

(shades of Rutger Hauer in Blind Fury)

[mathnerd]

People are stupid. I had an old woman verbally berate me for parking in a handicapped spot because I was obviously not handicapped, as evidenced by the fact that I was perfectly capable of lifting my son's wheelchair out of my van. Yes, she actually said that.

[Slave to the Phone]

Good gawd. Seriously, I have no words for this. Well, I do have a lot of words, but I don't want to get banned for saying them. Can I just say this instead? I'm so sorry that happened to you and I commend you for taking such good care of your children. I'm sure that they are wonderful little people who will grow up to be wonderful big people.

I NEVER judge someone using a handicapped parking spot. There are so many hidden disabilities. Just because someone looks young and healthy doesn't mean that they are. It just means that they LOOK young and healthy.

My mother, who has a legit handicapped license tag will only park in the handicapped spot when she's having a bad day. She once had someone yell at her because she got a prime parking spot in the regular spaces because she shouldn't take those away from "normal" people.

Some people are just jerks.

[mathnerd]

Thanks sttp. My kids are pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. Though they aren't so little anymore. I'm two short months away from the little one becoming a teenager. The middle kid (the one not affected by the bone disease) towers over me (I'm five foot eight) and the oldest, while shorter than the middle kid, is wise beyond his not quite 16 years. The adults at the gym where he works as an equipment cleaner (when he can...the owners are awesome about working around his bad days) call him the young rabbi, though we aren't jewish, because they think he's wise beyond his years. I'm pretty damned proud of them.

As for the parking nonsense, it just never ends. I'm on my phone so it's tricky to copy/paste a link, but if you look up "Not all nights are in shining armor", on notalwaysright, that's me too.

[greensinestro]

Was there some reason she couldn't park in a non-handicapped spot?

Yes, because she's special and has to flaunt that to everyone else.

[greensinestro]

When I was a kid, maybe about thirty-five years ago, I recall the handicapped parking spots, and you normally found perhaps one or two of these at a shopping center. Not to discriminate against handicapped people, but it just seems like more and more people fight over these permits and spots than ever before, and many who use them illegally.

For example, Cracker Barrel restaurants have these spots all in the front row, and you sometimes see people like this fighting with someone else for grabbing "their spot". Places like this just didn't have this problem back then as they do today.

Maybe parking lots need to be redone with wider spots to accommodate everyone, especially people like what's described in this thread.

[mhkohne]

When I was a kid, maybe about thirty-five years ago, I recall the handicapped parking spots, and you normally found perhaps one or two of these at a shopping center. Not to discriminate against handicapped people, but it just seems like more and more people fight over these permits and spots than ever before, and many who use them illegally.

For example, Cracker Barrel restaurants have these spots all in the front row, and you sometimes see people like this fighting with someone else for grabbing "their spot". Places like this just didn't have this problem back then as they do today.

Maybe parking lots need to be redone with wider spots to accommodate everyone, especially people like what's described in this thread.

Interestingly, I think you'll find this is mostly due to advances in assistive technology. People can get around with problems that used to leave them homebound.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

Interestingly, I think you'll find this is mostly due to advances in assistive technology. People can get around with problems that used to leave them homebound.

Another factor is that now, the Baby Boomers are advancing in years now and with that advancement comes more health issues. As they are the largest segment of the US population (generation wise) they are finding they are more issues w/mobility than ever before.

Throw in the advancements made in assistance technology and you have more people out and about.

[dalesys]

... Throw in the advancements made in assistance technology and you have more ...

wobblies throwing wobblies ...

(a few of them)

[notalwaysright]

Another factor is that now, the Baby Boomers are advancing in years now and with that advancement comes more health issues. As they are the largest segment of the US population (generation wise) they are finding they are more issues w/mobility than ever before.

Throw in the advancements made in assistance technology and you have more people out and about.

Interesting, I hadn't thought of the first part, about the Baby Boomers, but that totally makes sense. I just thought of the fact that scooters have become more widely available.

Since I have no issues, I tend to park FAR away, even if there are closer spots. I hate the stress of fighting for a "good" spot. I also dislike when people sit behind me with their blinker on waiting for me to back out. Once, at a warehouse store parking lot, a person actually honked at me for not being fast enough! My car was on, but I didn't have it in reverse yet. I promptly turned the car off and just sat there until he left. Anyway, when I was driving my mom around before and after her hip surgery she had disabled tags. It was extremely nice for her, as for a while she was using a walker. We were almost always able to park in a handicapped spot, which I suppose is unusual and we appreciated it a lot.

[mathnerd]

In addition to the things mentioned above, medical technology is also allowing people who would have died just a few generations ago to survive. For example, babies born very early were given minimal medical support and just allowed to fight it out on their own until relatively recently. It's only been in the last few decades that preemies started surviving at decent rates, and younger and younger preemies even stood a chance. While this is a good thing, the flip side is that the rate of various medical issues and disabilities in these children is higher (sometimes substantially so), than children born at full term. (And before anybody gets out the pitchforks, this is actually a cause near and dear to me. My own children were born at 36, 32 and 24 weeks). The result is more disabled children than there would have been a few generations ago, because the same cohort of children then would have died. Additionally, children and adults with various physical and intellectual disabilities were frequently hidden away in institutions, and were never brought out in public.

The end result is that the percentage of the people going about their lives in public places that have disabilities is significantly higher than it was when the laws regarding the ratio of handicapped/regular parking spots is woefully outdated, since the combination of an aging population, assertive technology and better medical care have substantially increased the number of people with a legitimate need for them.

And none of that even begins to discuss able bodied people abusing the spots.