Handicapped Parking Abuse (how much, property, to, story)

[Sampaguita]

I am someone who is guilty of immediately jumping to conclusions about people who do not look disabled parking in handicap spots. I have more of an awareness since seeing posts like these on different message boards. However, it doesn't negate the fact that there is an awful lot of abuse of the system.

There's nothing more maddening than seeing a Hummer pull into the only wheelchair accessible parking spot in a lot & seeing teenagers jump out. No placard. Just the only parking spot that would fit the monster vehicle.

Only one thing to do...dial SDPD & report the license plate. I think I called SDPD 3 times that day. I got the same dispatcher every time and she expressed how ridiculous it was that people thought it was "ok" to park in a handicap spot without a placard.

I am pretty pro-active about calling SDPD who will either send out an available squad car or during the day, send out the parking enforcement people. I do always make sure to walk around the car to make sure there's no placard sitting on the dash or seat - forgotten by accident.

One woman parked in a handicap spot & saw me looking in disbelief. She yelled, "What are you looking at?"

I responded, "Nothing," and started walking away. But SHE persisted.

"I'm just picking up a catering order."

I said, "You can't just park there...that's for people with handicaps. Do you have a placard?"

Her response yelled loudly: "MIND YOUR OWN G*D-DA*MNED BUSINESS!"



Then my husband rolled out in his wheelchair; we'd spent a good 10 minutes looking for somehwhere to park because 2 nimrods w/out placards had been occupying the handicap spot & ramp grid prior to this woman. Most of the time, he tells me to let it go but with the frustration of driving around to let down a ramp & her yelling at me, he didn't let this one go.

My husband said, "That's not a loading zone...if someone needs that spot, they can't use it because you're in it."

Her companion yelled out, "You people are meddlers!"

I pulled out my cell (knowing full well they'd be gone before I could get the license plate relayed) and the driver yelled, "YOU B*TCH! YOU'RE GOING TO CALL THE POLICE? YOU ARE SOOO STUPID! My father uses a wheelchair. I know all about being handicapped."



My husband quietly said, "Then you should be ashamed of yourself."

We walked to our table & sat down. She kept yelling out in foul language defending herself. Her money sure got her some nice things: her Escalade, her perfectly coiffed bleached hair and designer duds but her manners? She must have gone to a bargain basement discounter for those.

People seated around us were either rolling their eyes at her or giving us the thumbs up.

You know - I have no problems with people who park there & when confronted have the grace to be embarrassed and immediately move out. But when you're faced with someone who gets mouthy & defensive? I don't have patience for that.

************

There's a lot of abuse of the system. A friend today told me that they found out her mother-in-law had just received a placard in the mail. For her deceased husband. My friend's sister-in-law (able-bodied & healthy) bragged to them about how cool it was to use especially when she goes to Target.

All that stupidity aside, how is it that placards are renewed w/out verification that the recipient still needs the placard or is even alive?!?

Also, maybe it would deter serial offenders if the fines were posted. In SD County, depending on the city you live in, fines range from $300-500.

Placard abuse (lending our your placard or using the placard of someone who no longer is alive) can be up to a 3k fine.

I don't have the guts (there...I admit it) to report my good friend's MIL but perhaps if I or others who know of placard abuse did exactly that, there might be less unnecessary placards floating around.

I can only hope that karma will catch up them.

Last question, I also heard that you can park in metered parking without payment in certain counties.

I don't know about Denver but in SD, as long as you display a placard, you can park in metered parking without paying. You can also park in green "limited" time zones without worrying about the 15/30min limit.

One thing that bothers me about the parking up close to stores, is Wally World. They have "Parking for expectant mothers" closer to the entrance than the handicapped parking. WTH is that??? Last I knew being pregnant was a choice. Being handicapped wasn't.

I suppose some difficult pregnancies warrant a temporary placard but what I can't believe are the number of women on one of my local boards who believes that ALL pregnant women should receive placards for the duration of their pregnancies. A bunch have told me (and I'm the WRONG person to tell this to) that they DESERVE those cards since they are bringing such precious gifts into the world. Yes...babies are precious gifts but please...how LAME is that?

Sorry for the long rant. This is a big pet-peeve of mine.

[LuLu108]

I get dirty looks sometimes from people who see me get out of my van with a handicap tag. My 6 year old daughter had a brain tumor when she was 3, and due to a traumatic brain injury because of it was left with mobility and other disabilities. When you look at her, you would never know anything was wrong unless you pay close attention. I have to help her walk, at all times. She can lose her balance and fall at any time. She doesn't have the reflexes to guard herself if in fact she does fall down. I get a little annoyed at people who look at me so judgemental. I think it's disgusting that people can put a "face" on handicaps! A group of young adolecent boys one day riding their bikes, yelled out at me as I was driving down the block, "You don't look so "handicapped" to me!" I turned my van around, got out and got my daughter out of the car and said, "She doesn't look handicapped either, does she?" The boy said no, and then I preceded to tell him her story. He cried and said he was sorry. I bet he'll think twice before just "assuming" things are a certain way. Which I'm sure he had drawn his own conclusions by what he's been taught in life. I think that some people tend to "assume" and are quick to pass judgement upon others without even acknowledging the fact that they've never walked in that persons shoes and know absolutely nothing about that person and their life. In my opinion, and I practice it daily now, it's really nobody elses business why I have a handicap tag in my car! If anyone ever walks up to me and says something, I believe I'd give them an ear-full! I think the people who have no problem with parking in these spaces and don't have a tag should be getting all the scorn. They park there because they just "assume" that there couldn't possibly be that many handicap people in the world. Grrrr!!!!

[LuLu108]

Sampaguita,
I was just reading your post! WOW! This is what gets me angry! People like that, who just with no conscience whatsoever think they can do that as if no one will come around actually NEEDING that spot! These people are the kind that makes people like me get all the dirty looks because my daughter is not in a wheelchair! How is it that people are getting these placards in the mail???!!! I was told when it comes time to renew ours, we'd need the doctor's report the same as when we filed for it in the first place. This is new to me. I know they said to make sure my car is locked all the time because some people steal them. This mailing placards thing I believe should not be an option! I live in NY, so maybe the laws are more strict here??? Anyways, I'm sorry you had to deal with someone like that! They are just evil in my eyes!

[LuLu108]

Originally Posted by Yorkie_Mom

I went to pick up my daughter after school today, I have a placard, it is for fibromyaliga and RA. This woman who is big on the bottom side, was parked in the handicapped parking area, I could not park because of her, she has done this numerous times.
I parked right behind her, and then went up to her window, I asked her if she was handicapped, she said well no, I said will excuse me but this is for handicapped parking only, she said yeah, like so what.
I told her then not to back up because I was parked behind her, she never offered to move, so I got back into my car, and I called the police and reported her. I told them she has done this numerous times, and she needs a ticket. They took down the lic. and type of vec. so I guess I will see if she decides to do that again.
When she came out of the school with her daughter, she looked at me like, well are you going to move???? If I wasn't in pain and was as big as she was, I think I would have decked her right there. But I am tiny and she would have knocked me into the next world. Thanks for the rant. Yorkie

This has happened to me numerous times! Picking up my daughter at school, there are only two handicaps and always, always parents are in such a "rush" they park there and go in to get their kids. It takes so long to walk to the parking lot from the school and my daughter can't walk quickly. It takes forever to get to the car if I can't park in the handicap. It's not a huge school, and most everyone knows about my daughter and the parents who park in the handicap spaces see my daughter and all the assistance she needs when her aide brings her to me and she's wearing braces on her legs(she wears them at school only) and she transitions from her aides hand right to my hand and we slowly walk out together. Then when we're slowly walking to the car, here come the parents with their non-handicapped kids passes right by us and gets in their car and then looks at me and drives off. How sad is that?! I can't understand why they continue to park there knowing that we could better use that spot.

[Sampaguita]

LuLu - I'm sorry for what you've had to go through as well. It's hard enough dealing with all the challenges of having a disabled loved one. But when you get disdainful comments from ignorant people it's annoying and it's hurful.

I also get dirty looks when I've parked in a handicap spot & I get out...to go fetch my husband at a doctor's appointment. Sometimes I use the van & will park in his office lot to pick him up. I never park in handicap unless he's with me and/or getting in or out (that is, even if he's with me but isn't getting out of the van, I won't park in handicap spot). The looks I get are amazingly angry.

But...at the same time, I guess I'm ok with it because I know those people will give the true offender a piece of their mind too. I do feel good knowing that there ARE people aware of the fact that those spots are for people with disabilities.

LOL - we should all have pre-printed cards with our "stories" as a handout any time someone glares at us.

As for mailing the placards? DH received his renewal one in the mail last week! He didn't have to fill out any paperwork. It's automatic. I just don't get that.

I just remembered another story (oh...boy...am I full of them ):

DH goes to a trainer who has a client that has a metal plate in his head from an auto accident several years ago. By his own admission, the client has no physical problems and bench presses a gazillion lbs with no problem.

When DH was still able to walk using his walker (w/great difficulty but he fought until the bitter end before resigning himself to the wheelchair), he arrived at his session completely exhausted & on the verge of shutting down.

With DH's MS, over-exertion and getting over-heated means shutting down - meaning he turns into a limp noodle.

The only handicap spot was taken by Mr. Metal Plate so what for Mr. MP would have been a quick sprint across the parking lot was 20 minutes for my DH using his walker.

When DH asked his trainer to talk to Mr. MP about leaving that spot open at certain times (there were plenty other parking spaces but none right next to the elevator entrance like the handicap spot is), Mr. MP refused and said, "Society owes me."

Um. Granted, we KNOW you can never guarantee that a disabled spot will always be open but what kind of attitude is that when you're asked to do something in consideration of someone who can't walk? You KNOW that an acquaintance has to struggle to move his feet in a shuffle yet you, who can walk, decide to "punish" him too because society owes you?

Ugh. Again, all I can say is KARMA.

YORKIE MOM - OMG. Well, good for you reporting her license plate. Maybe she'll think twice (although when people react that way you have to wonder if they EVER think twice about anything!) about parking there again!

I really don't understand how people have the gaul to do that.

I guess what we lack of in society these days is respect. If we could just respect one another...respect ourselves, I really believe that everything else would fall into place.

But I guess that would be Utopia which doesn't exist.

[Dick D]

I agree there may some abuse for this however many people dont understand that there are many legal reasons to have a disabled person lic plate that may not be visible to someone else - for instance their are four (4) reasons dealing with heart problems alone - so just because someone doesnt have a cane or isnt missing a leg isnt the only reason for such a plate - Dick D

[Dick D]

Does anyone have info as to how these plates from Calif can be used without getting a ticket while parked in Mexico - I realize there are handicap parking places in the largest supermarkets but what about out on the street where there are thousands of businesses that claim the spot in front of their business is for their customers only or you will be towed,which leaves virtually no where to park on an ordinary street??

[Dick D]

I had to laugh when I read that "getting pregnant was by choice" perhaps the formula for "before hand stuff" was by choice but I bet If you asked the majority of people they would say that getting pregnant was a complete suprise and sometime an unforseen nightmare.

[southernlady5464]

I have a handicapped license plate and a hang tag. So I don't NEED to use my hang tag when in my OWN vehicle.

I have several invisible disabilities. Fibro and spinal degeneration among them.

Anyway, I was pulling into a handicapped spot and got a very dirty look by this guy for not having a hang tag (he could not see my license plate from his angle). Once I was in and got out of the vehicle, cane in hand, he pulled forward to block my car and just started ranting at me about not having a hang tag and how I wasn't allowed to park in a handicapped spot without one. I pointed to my plate and said, I AM allowed. He said but I still had to have a hang tag.

My husband then said, I will be glad to call the police and let them decide...the guy drove off, just fuming.

Anyway, a good site for those who need it about Invisible Disabilities. Liz

[Torn2pieces]

How about those "expecting mom" parking spots - It irks me to no end seeing a truck full of men park there - no woman, no mom.......