What are your feelings about people parking in handicap spots with a permit? (restaurants, stores)

[JenLee]

My hubby has a handicapped sticker for his M.S.; sometimes he looks good and sometimes it's very obvious that he needs to use it. Either way, once he's been in a store for even a short time, he will need to use his cane and or the shopping cart to make it back out to the car. There are times when he (or I) forget to put it up, though and are very releived to find we didn't get ticketed for not putting it up. We once came out of a store and an officer had just arrived and looked like he was writing a ticket and we were able to show him we had a sticker and had forgotten to hang it.

I refused to take a handicapped sticker when the doctor offered it to me; there are days now that I regret it because I need the sticker too. I refuse to use hubby's though; I figure I would be the one who gets caught doing it!

There are a good number of handicapped people who don't *look* handicapped; but due to lung or heart disease they really DO need to park close to where they are going. The people who hang the sticker and then get out of their vehicle and run across the lot to the store are suspect to me at least.

I find it especially annoying (when driving) to have to dodge shopping carts that able-bodied people leave in the handicapped spaces. I have seen a handicapped person leave their cart in between 2 spaces because they use the cart for balance; but when you see 2 carts in the middle of a handicapped space, it usually wasn't put there by someone who is handicapped. I once told an able-bodied woman who was pushing her cart into the handicapped space rather than taking it to the cart space just 5 spots away that if my hubby could walk his cart to the right place, she could too. She ended up shoving her cart into the side of my car and running to her SUV and gunning it and driving off. She probably needs the handicapped spot for her lack of "social skills"!

[Plymn]

My mother has a handicapped card due to her poor knees that we bring with us when I driver her. I almost never use it as I prefer to drop her off and pick her up at the front door. Leave the handicapped spots for the drivers who really need the spots.

[marmac]

people parking in a handicap zone without a sticker ?


TOW THE CAR AWAY (that is the only way some people will learn)

[judlee]

Originally Posted by Luke55113

It bothers me, but I would like to say that it also bothers me to see many people who have handicapped stickers that do not appear to need them. I know this sounds judgemental but I remember a news review on the abuses in the issue and ussage of handicapped parking decals. For example several people have obtained them for being as little as 30lbs overweight. I think it is almost as bad for a person without a sticker to use this service as it is for a person to obtain one who does not really need it. Also it ticks me off when I see the 16 year old son of a handicapped person use the tag for his own advantage.

I agree that there are many abuses of the stickers/tags. However, it is not always possible to judge by appearance who does and does not need one. I have one because of a lung condition that would not be visible to anyone. My cousin has one because of a heart condition that is not visible.

[santos]

Originally Posted by icequeen2008

I have worked all my life with people with disabilities. It does bother me when the handicap spaces are used for people who do not have a permit. Why would this be a heated topic? Shouldnt be.

I did nothing to indicate a "heated" topic, you did. Fact is I am handicapped myself. I have a handicapped sticker and appreciate when I find an open space. If there isn't one I wait until there is, or manage with a non-handicapped spot.

What I meant by picking my battles is that I don't get steamed up about it. Ditto with the handicapped toilet stall.

oconnorcm3, if bathrooming your child is a problem you may want to look into a Depends for the trip. There is no shame in this, persons with bladder problems use them consistently. The Depends would solve the problem if another person is in the stall when your child has to use it to. Just a solution to a problem.

[oconnorcm3]

Well, Santos, I would agree that Depends might do the trick for some but, sadly, with mental retardation it doesn't always work that way. It took us 16-years to get our son to finally use a toilet at the proper time - with our help. He just doesn't understand the concept of, "This time you can go in a diaper, but next time, you can't." He doesn't 'feel' the diaper like a normal person would. For him it's all about performance. We can't change anything in his routine or it doesn't work.

And there's also the issue of reaching in to the diaper, when it's dirty or wet. I don't ever want to go back there again! At night, he does wear a diaper and a straight-jacket, that doesn't allow his hands anywhere near the diaper!

And, actually, it doesn't bother me THAT much if the handicapped toilet is being used (but you asked, so I answered). I can always stand in the doorway of a normal stall, aiming him in the right direction.

One has to pick and chose their battles and that is one that just doesn't do it for me. But, staring at my son, open-mouthed, now that does bother me. If it goes on too long, I invite them to take a photo, to make the experience last longer!

Mari (who just loves these smiley things, and thinks that life is grand!)

[MNNative]

I get really annoyed when I see a car that has no sticker/hanging thing in the window and they're parked in a handicapped spot. It's just so disrespectful. Bathrooms are slightly different. If there's a line then all stalls are in play because it's necessary to keep the line moving. But I make sure to choose a normal-sized stall for other times and ask my daughter to leave the larger stall available as well. If there's a line but a handicapped person comes in to the bathroom I sort of think they should get to butt in line once the larger stall becomes available. "Regular" folk were borrowing it to move the line along. No one is constantly monitoring a parking spot and ready to move their car if a vehicle comes along that is authorized to park there. It boils down to common-sense and common-courtesy I think.

[santos]

Well put, MN Native.

[newcastle]

At a local college in town, the person in charge of working with students needing special services actually assigned a handicapped sticker for personal use for over one year. No one did anything about it. Disgusting behavior.

[santos]

Some years ago, a knew of a Minneapolis woman who was missing a lower limb, from the knee down, I think. Neither here nor there, I guess but the chatter was she lost the leg from injury in a one-vehicle accident. The woman watched her weight so she didn't overtax the leg joining, and she ran marathons.

One year the Minneapolis Tribune sent a photographer to take her photo as she ran in the race. The paper printed the photo at about a 5x7 size--decent, right? She had it framed and sitting on her desk. There was a nice write-up about overcoming her disability, her bravery, blah blah.

No mention was made of the fact that at her work she claimed the sole "Disabled" handicap spot in the parking lot. The sole spot, 5 days a week she parked in the sole "Handicapped" spot for the building. And standing next to her automobile she would proudly tell you all about having just run a 3-mile foot race.

I thought this woman took the cake. Guts, eh?