Category: Let's talk
So I was scanning my fAcebook feed, and came across a story about a man
who was banned from starbucks because he was confronting, and they claim
harassing, non-disabled customers who parked in handicapped spots. I looked
at the comments on this article, and many of them were from disabled people
who said that they were in a scooter, or electric wheelchair, and how they hated
when non-disabled people took one of their spots. That raised a question in my
mind.
Are there disabled people who don't need to use the handicap parking spots?
My answer is yes. For example, I do not want or need to use those spots, even
if I have a ride. There is absolutely nothing preventing me from walking an
extra thirty feet. I also feel that people using scooters or powered wheelchairs
don't need those spots either. At that point your disability, as far as mobility
goes, is negated. You have a machine that does that work for you. Its no harder
on you to drive yourself thirty feet than it is to drive yourself five. The machine
does it. I feel the people who truly need those spots are people in nonpowered
wheelchairs, or people using canes, walking canes not white canes, people in
walkers and that sort of thing. I am of the opinion that, once you make the
choice to switch from using your own power, to using the power of a machine,
or if there is nothing wrong with your legs at all, you should surrender your
claim to the handicapped parking and let people who actually need it park there.
What are the opinions of my fellow zoners on this? Would you give up your
handicap sticker? Do you feel that its a right you're entitled to? What are your
thoughts?
I agree on most of your post.
I don’t even have a sticker even though I’m eligible to have one.
It is difficult to know if a person needs the parking, or just uses it because the states says they can.
You talk about people in powered chairs. Some vans, or whatever, are side discharge. They really need the extra room a handicap spot gives them to get out of the vehicle.
Some powered chairs aren’t equipped for long distance going. They don’t have the power, or wheels so these need to be close to the ramps and such.
In that faces, they should be allowed.
Next, some people have heart issues, or motor issues that aren’t visible, such as bad knees, feet. They can’t walk far even though they don’t use a walking aid
I’d say these stickers should only be given to people that actually drive, have a license, and can prove need.
People that are handicapped, but don’t qualify in this section really don’t need a sticker, unless they can prove they are driven by an assistant and have the above issues preventing them from walking or traveling far.
I'll add that the majority of special cars/vans, will discharge from the side, not the back.
It is easier to make work, and safer.
I love to walk so I won't need to use it. If my feet hurt real bad I still won't use it because there are people who will be needing it more than me.
I'm curious how many people in wheelchairs drive those specially designed
vans with the ramps and whatnot. I know there is a mechanism that makes any
car drivable with hand levers. So I wonder.
I agree on the majority of Cody's first post, with the exception of saying people in powerchairs and scooters don't need to use them.
Disabled parking spaces are much bigger, if you use a powerchair or scooter you may be in an adapted vehicle, with a lift for example. Or you simply need the space to get the equipment out of the car. The disabled spots account for the space required to do so.
A bunch of people in powerchairs won't be driving, because they don't have the physical strength or range of movement. So they will be with someone, but still in an adapted vehicle for the chair.
I do agree that blind individuals, for example, do not need these spots. It irritates me when parents of blind children make use of them just because they can, and come up with a reason as to why the blind child simply can't manage to walk. Unless they have aditional disabilities they can.
An interesting question.
Most of the people I knew that could drive, but were in wheelchairs who required a powered one drove a modified vehicle.
Even if you use a manual chair, you still need room to get it out and unfold it.
If you can find a parking spot that doesn’t have another car right next to it, that work for getting out, but you aren’t promised that space will still be empty when you get back.
Even if you are able to walk just fine sometimes, People Park so close it makes it difficult to get in the car, so I can imagine how frustrated a person in a manual chair would be when they got back.
You simply can’t get in, so you’ve got to find the person to get them to move, or have someone you don’t know pull your car out of the space for you.
Good point Holly. I wonder if there is a way to gullwing the car or something
to make it easier to get the chair out, but that is something for someone with a
much different skill set than I.
I have a friend who became paralysed as a result of a car accident. She uses a power chair and drives a modified vehicle. The stories she tells about access difficulties make my hair stand on end.
My sister is primary caregiver for her niece who has a form of MD. She uses a manual chair and my sister has to push her. However, getting her in and out of the car takes a bit of work. The disabled parking spaces provide this extra room. Even though my niece doesn't drive, they still have need of the space when she is with them.
Personally, I won't get a sticker even though everyone wants me to do so. There's nothing wrong with my legs. If I can walk around Walmart for 3 hours, surely I can walk the distance to and from the car. lol
I don't need it, and am not too comfortable when the person driving me insists on taking these parking spots because they assume I need it, or believe they have a right, since they're driving for a disabled person. I would have no problem explaining and even bickering over this, if the driver were a close friend or relative of mine, but I don't try with a stranger. How do the rest of you handle that situation?
A lot of people use modified cars and vans. More than you think. The number is going up as access and wheelchair users slowly become more integrated into society. I have no sympathy for folks who use handicapped parking spots (out need. Ticket em, tow them, shame them. All fine in my book.
I didn't know we had a so-called right to such things. However, the best antidote to someone using those spots who doesn't need them? Get to know someone whose life is very difficult and can't walk well, uses a walker or a cane or two canes, etc. Where it gets gray I guess are the people who have those hidden conditions like chronic pain / chronic fatigue / fibromyalgia and the like. I know such people and have seen them be disbelieved by despicable souls. It's obvious to me they're suffering and I can't even see them.
To be clear, I'm not saying we should all police the parking spots. I'm saying
people like us, the ones who are just blind and nothing else, should voluntarily
not use the parking spots even though, legally, we could get the sticker.
Exactly. We can’t police them, but we surely don’t need to add to the problem.
I got in to a domestic argument with my sighted wife over this issue.
She felt I should use the benefit because I was blind/disabled, so had the right. I refused to get the sticker, so that was that.
To VioletBlue, if it is a stranger, I simply explain, if they don’t have a sticker and use that space, they might get towed.
I tell them my being blind won’t help, because I don’t have a sticker, and leave it up to them.
It cost a couple hundred dollars to get your car back, so usually that takes care of that.
I won’t be responsible for the ticket, nor cost of them parking there.
I honestly can’t remember a stranger, or someone I didn’t know well wanting to use the space without the sticker.
Most people know, if you don’t have that sticker, you aren’t allowed the space no matter what you say, or who’s with you.
I have a couple blind friends that have the thing you hang on the mirror, and I tell them they should be shamed of themselves.
Last September I got a couple of handicap parking tags, and my thought is, they're there for us to use, so why not do so? I mean, we aren't demanding special treatment; we are simply using something that is available to us as people who are disabled.
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I'll give you three reasons chelsea. First, lets say you're out with your
mom/friend/love interest and you tell them to park in the handicap spot. Often,
especially in small towns, there is only one handicapped spot, and there are
never very many even in big towns. So you've just taken up what very well
might be the only one for something you don't need. Though with your balance
issues, its entirely possible you do need them, I don't know. So what if someone
else comes along who has no legs, or was in a tragic circus accident and has no
use of anything from the neck down? Now they don't have a parking spot which
they genuinely need, simply because you felt the desire to use something you
were tangentially entitled too. Two, it feeds the public opinion that blindness
and helplessness are the same thing. People will be much more likely to treat
you as someone who needs help doing simple tasks, if you set yourself up in a
light which makes it seem as if you actually do need that help. after all, how
could you possibly know where the stairs are and successfully navigate them, if
you can't even walk across a flat parking lot? and third, pride. You should have
more pride in yourself than that. You should have enough self-respect to only
take the entitlements you need, rather than the ones you simply want. Feel free
to disagree with me however.
Yeah, mention of a hefty fine should take care of it. *grin* I wouldn't pay it because some pushy sighted person thought I couldn't walk across a parking lot, and I certainly don't have and have never thought of obtaining one of those stickers. I love to walk.
pace, for me.
Cody, you are being quite extreme--most places have multiple handicap parking spots for that very reason, so whoever needs them can use them.
My balance issues are a non-issue, since I've had my leg braces. However, as I said, I'll happily use what is offered us if I have the chance.
Just to give another example of something that's offered us that I use: AT&T, and probably other companies, offer the ability to get free 411 if you're disabled. If it is there, why not use it? I am not asking for anything special; I am simply using what is readily available.
They offer that because phone books are inaccessible Chelsea. Its there for a
reason, though an outdated one these days. You don't need to use the parking
spot. You're not that kind of disabled, so its not for you.
I always think of other people. I love to walk and even if I'm as tired as ever I will never use the handicapped spot because I know I won't need it. In some cases if things are available to you to use you could use it but there are somethings that you could give up. Its like when I'm in the bank and I'm standing in a long line. A man asked if I wanted to go up in front of him so that I would be close to the teller and I said no its fine nothing is wrong with me I could wait. I've given up my chairs for old people and I feel good about it because they need it more than I do.
I see no point in utilizing a handicap parking spot or ticket for my own use. There are people who would benefit from such spots. I do not get a benefit from them. The same thing applies to housing. My uncle and I got in to an extremely heated argument about this over the weekend. He believes it is inappropriate for me to live in a dwelling that is not on the first floor of a building. He says it is a fire hazzard and leaves me vulnerable. This is discriminatory and unacceptable, but no matter how you explain it to him, he definitely doesn't get it. We have actually argued about it for years, and I became fed up this time and told him that my living arrangements are not for him to decide, because he is discriminatory and irrational. He was not very pleased with me and can't wait for me to move out. The point is certain accomodations are made for certain people, and should only be left for those people whom it would absolutely benefit. It is unfair to use them and leave someone else at a disadvantage, and it is also unfair to confine a person to a place because another setting would be inappropriate in someone else's opinion.
Agree with last poster! Right on!
Actually no Chelsea. Most places might have 2 special parking places tops.
They feel it is a waste of parking, and in a sense, that is true.
How many chair users, or such are going to be at a store all at one time.
So, if you, and person that can walk just fine takes up that one space, and another person comes that needs the space and takes up the second that is it.
If the place only has one, and most times, that is all, you cause someone to have to wait until you decide to come out of the store, so they can shop.
Suppose a store says, we’re only going to allow one bag person a day to help anyone that comes in whose blind, and only if she, or he’s not busy at the time.
It doesn’t matter if we’ve got several other bag persons free, only Sid, or Sarah, can do it.
You know they’ve got several people that can help you free, but you are forced to wait 45 minutes until Sid or Sarah finishes stocking, or whatever job they are doing when you arrive.
The first thing you’re going to do is complain, because it is unreasonable to make you wait. Sid or Sarah’s job can surely be finished by pulling them off the task to help you, right?
411, and other services don’t caused anyone to do without while you use them, or get them free.
You cause no loss of money, or anything else. In fact, you actually help companies like A T and T gain some tax breaks and such for offering the service.
I’m all for taking advantage of services available, because if you weren’t disabled, you’d not need them.
But, putting another disabled person on hold, or out of a service you don’t need, just because you can, seems selfish don’t you agree?
I agree, Wayne. If an able-bodied person can break their ankle, bending it, cracking it at the wrong angle, how much easier is it for someone with less control of their legs, or less control of balance to bust something more than a move, in a parking lot? That is kind of selfish. If someone like Chelsea stole a spot from someone who couldn't even walk, that would be wrong. Or, if this older person comes trying to struggle up to the store in a walker, while Chelsea gets the last handicapped parking spot? I'd lose a lot of respect for you, Chelsea. Not that I really agree or support your attitude, anyway. But, I thought you'd have some respect. Guess, those of who hoped, don't have much hope, now.
God Bless,
Sarah
Well, for me it isn't a respect thing.
Lots of others agree with her.
I know a few with the stickers.
It is a difference of what I'd do and what they do.