Handicap Stickers
My peeve probably relates one way or the other to some of you that are reading this.
I am handicapped and have a handicap sticker for my auto. All year long, but especially this time of the year, it seems a majority of handicap parking spaces are taken by people that are using mom’s, or grandmother’s or dear Aunt Sadie’s sticker so they can park near the door of the store and not have to walk 50 yards to the store, my own observations of this show that most violators are “people” between the ages of about 17 and 40 years old.
I see these perfectly health people park in these spots and “scoot” into the store like they don’t want anyone to see them. Another group that does this is county and state cars because they know they won’t get ticketed. (I do not mean transportation vehicles for the handicapped.)
I would gladly give up my sticker in exchange for the use of my legs again. I suppose it speaks ill of me but when I see these people, I wish they had to spend a week in my shoes, maybe then they would get a clue. It should be the law that anyone using a handicap sticker should at least have the handicap person with them or pay a fine of about $1000.00 for the first offense.
When I go to the store, if there is a spot that is maybe 2 or 3 spots from the handicapped spots, I park there and leave the spots for others that may be more needy than me.
- Lippincott
Tags: first offense, grandmother, handicap parking spaces, handicap sticker, handicap stickers, peeve, state cars, transportation vehicles, violators
I royally agree with Lippencott. I fume when I see perfectly
healthy people park in handicapped areas. I yell at them across
the entire parking lot that Stupidity isn’t a handicap!
I agree with lippicott I also have a handicapped sticker and need
it. My peeve is the parking lot plowers who pile all the snow in
the handicapped stalls.
Dear Lippincott,
I am the mother of a 9 year old child with a terminal disease, Cystic Fibrosis. She can not be exposed to weather elements. Due to lung failure, she’s not able to walk distances. She’s attached to a feeding pump at different times of the day. Extreme heat is detrimental to her lungs, extreme moisture causes pneumonia. While she looks extremely healthy, internally, she’s a ticking time bomb. Many times when we park in a handicap spot, we receive snide looks, nasty comments & people pointing at us. My 9 year old doesn’t understand these reactions, nor does she have to. Many times my 16 year old takes her her 9 year old sister shopping with her & receives numerous comments & snide remarks. She’s not breaking any laws. She’s trying to maintain a standard of health for her sister. I’m sure your obvious physical defection allows you opportunities my daughter will never receive. Given the inability to use your legs, I’m sure many strangers hold doors for you or reach something off a high shelf for you. Nobody holds a door for my daughter, or slows down to walk when showing us to a table, yet she doesn’t have the strength to pull a door open or keep up with adults… But God love her, she gives it her best shot because all she wants to be is NORMAL.
Ignorance likes yours Lippincott, causes extreme hurt to individuals who are neither breaking any laws nor deserve any further anguish. I suggest next time you choose to lambaste an individual for parking in a handicap spot, you stop & think about what’s going on with them internally, not just externally. Just because they don’t limp doesn’t mean they can breath like you & I… Everyone is needy in their own way. You do not have use of your legs, my daughter does not have use of her lungs… I am not a “handicap spot abuser” because I can walk, I am a handicap spot user because my daughter can’t breath. Perhaps those 17 - 40 year olds you so freely complain about can’t breath either, even though they have the use of their legs… I suggest you worry more about yourself than judging the actions of others you know nothing about. Those “people” you’re complaining about are people with feelings, afflictions & rights, just as much as you are.
In response to your peeve about apparently healthy people using handicapped stickers. I used to agree with you - until I developed Multiple Sclerosis and a heart condition. I am only 40 years old and I have a hard time some days walking long distances. On those days, I use my sticker if there are no spaces close to the store. I am one of those people who seem healthy, but believe me, just because I’m not in a wheelchair it doesn’t mean that I am not entitled to use the handicapped spaces. I have seen people look at me when I get out of my car and I want to turn to them and let them know that I would gladly trade places with them just to be able to run, dance, hop - all the things I used to be able to do, but will not do for the rest of my life. I, too, try not to use the handicapped space unnecessarily, but there are times when it is unavoidable. ! ;Please don’t assume that the people you see that seem healthy are using someone else’s sticker or are just lazy. Not all handicaps are obvious. I just wanted to put in my two cents.
I agree with the person who wrote in about other people using
handicap stickers. I have seen this done many times. but also
please know that some people do not LOOK handicaped. They may have a heart problem, or respitory, or may be on chemo.
A person’s handicap may not always show.
This is the type of thing that irritates me very much. I understand that you have problems and need to have access to closer spots than others, however to make judgments on who uses the spots and determine based on how they walk or behave or their age and then compare their appearance to yours is just wrong. My best friend has a handicap sticker, and nothing is wrong with her except that she has a bone disease in her feet and it makes it hard for her to walk and very painful. Is she less deserving of a handicap sticker than you? If I use her car or go along with her, should she drop me off in the back of the lot and have me walk because I am less hurt than her? Who are you to judge who needs the sticker and who doesn’t? That is a job for doctors and for the Department of Motor vehicles. And yes, I am sure there are people who abuse it, but you are just as bad because you judge the people you claim are in the same boat as you. Handicap spaces are not limited to just people without the use of legs. Maybe some have breathing problems. I know I have broken the law and parked there once and again due to the fact that I did not want to carry my two year old son in the freezing cold from the back of the lot to get a gallon of milk. I broke the law. I deserve the ticket. But no one judges me. So why do you get to?
Lippencott,
I too have a Handicap sign, but not because my disability is obvious. On some days , yes, I limp or use my cane or both because I have Fibromyalgia. That is a condition of chronic pain in all, or at times, parts of my body accompanied with fatigue. I also use a lot of drugs causing me to be very unsteady on my feet. But I agree with many of the others who wrote in that I feel foolish when people stare at me on those “better” days when I don’t use my cane. I feel like I need to shout to them that they cannot feel my pain that EVERY step brings me. I have many times limped on purpose or used my cane even on a good day, or even used a stall next to the handicap one, just so people will stop wondering. The fatigue and danger of falling are always there even when the pain is a little less. So why do these self appointed judges have that power? Perhaps because we all like to think that there are others worse off then us. But NEVER judge someone by sight alone. Walk a mile in their shoes, or ride their wheelchair, or use their cane, or shut your mouth and don’t breathe until your face is blue. Then decide who is and who isn’t handicapped.
By the way, stupidity is a handicap, it just doesn’t deserve any privilages.
Kirsten, what makes it okay for you to park illegally in a handicapped space? Just because you admit you do it and admit that it’s wrong? You’re setting an early bad example for that two-year-old, when in fact you should be extremely thankful you CAN walk from the back of the parking lot. No, handicaps are not always obvious or visible–but the doctor-recommended handicapped decals and cards ARE. Lippincott has good intentions, and is only looking out for a minority that already has more of a battle than most of us. It’s people like you, who definitely and obviously have no right to abuse the handicapped parking, that are the real problem. You think no one else judges you? Think again. Every considerate person who passes you as you ably get out of your car, and every person who notices your parked car without the requisite handicapped I.D. are not only judging you, but thinking what a sorry person you are. Hmm–judgement? No, more like an observation. Tell us, Kirsten, what do you do for the handicapped in exchange for their parking privileges? If you really did anything and cared, you would be more understanding and always grateful to walk from the back of lot.
Lippincott, let’s start first with the ignoramuses who don’t care if they’re in a handicapped parking place where they don’t belong, especially without handicapped I.D.; they’re easier to spot, and a glaring part of the problem.
My mother is in her 80’s. She has a hard time walking. If she stands up too long she gets dizzy. My husband and I take her to the store so she can do her grocery shopping. I always go in with her. My husband stays in the car until she’ s ready to go. Then he comes in and helps carry the groceries out and helps my Mom into the car. My Mom has a handicapped sticker to display in the car for whoever takes her shopping. I have two other sisters who also take her. What gets me angry are the people who stare at my husband who is waiting patiently in the car. One of these people had the nerve to tell my husband that he looked pretty healthy to him and what was he doing parked in a handicapped parking place. I feel that it is nobody else’s business and people judge other people until they get all the facts.