[glamisgirl]

This has happened to me twice in the past month. I have a truck with a crane that brings the chair to me. Two seperate occaisions while I was getting my chair out someone that was parked in a handicapped spot has asked me if I need any help getting the chair out of the back of my truck. Are you f....n kidding me, if you could lift my wheelchair out of the truck, what the hell are you doing in a handicapped spot? I just want to start punching people.

[Nichole]

glamisgirl, on Sep 19 2007, 09:41 PM, said:

This has happened to me twice in the past month. I have a truck with a crane that brings the chair to me. Two seperate occaisions while I was getting my chair out someone that was parked in a handicapped spot has asked me if I need any help getting the chair out of the back of my truck. Are you f....n kidding me, if you could lift my wheelchair out of the truck, what the hell are you doing in a handicapped spot? I just want to start punching people.

Wow, I realize that this is irritation to you, and I totally understand that a lot of people abuse these spots, but I think you're freaking out a bit too much. I mean first of all this person if offering you help, so they're trying to be nice. Also just because someone could pick the chair up doesn't mean they don't need that spot. They could have a million things wrong with them that you may not even be able to tell. Maybe they have a heart condition, and just aren't supposed to walk too far. That's just me though, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially someone who cares enough to offer you help.

[Cheshire]

I can pick up a fair amount of weight as long as I get my feet placed first and don't have to walk with it. Maybe it was someone like that?

[rkzenrage]

What drives me nuts is to see someone park in the spot, walk the whole store then walk back to their car.
WTF is disabled about them?

[glamisgirl]

Nichole, on Sep 19 2007, 09:56 PM, said:

glamisgirl, on Sep 19 2007, 09:41 PM, said:

This has happened to me twice in the past month. I have a truck with a crane that brings the chair to me. Two seperate occaisions while I was getting my chair out someone that was parked in a handicapped spot has asked me if I need any help getting the chair out of the back of my truck. Are you f....n kidding me, if you could lift my wheelchair out of the truck, what the hell are you doing in a handicapped spot? I just want to start punching people.

Wow, I realize that this is irritation to you, and I totally understand that a lot of people abuse these spots, but I think you're freaking out a bit too much. I mean first of all this person if offering you help, so they're trying to be nice. Also just because someone could pick the chair up doesn't mean they don't need that spot. They could have a million things wrong with them that you may not even be able to tell. Maybe they have a heart condition, and just aren't supposed to walk too far. That's just me though, I try to give people the benefit of the doubt, especially someone who cares enough to offer you help.

You could be right, maybe I am freaking out a bit too much. Your right you don't know what someone elses handicapp is for sure, but in both instances they were people whom appeared to be completely capable of walking through a parking lot, especially since I saw one of them chase there toddler down, heading into the school where my daughter goes, while they were there picking up another child. The other was a man driving a monster truck that he litterally jumped out of. Probably should have added that to my post.- seems odd.

[Lee]

Biggest problem is i find is that here in the UK they give nearly anyone a disabled badge. There should be stronger measures and 3 yearly check ups to see if your still entitiled to a permit. I think someone offering to help is just being kind. your right, some disabilities arnt always visable and maybe does have a heart condition but some people would offer to help even though it puts them at risk. Some people are just very kind, others just abuse the system which spoils it for genuine permit users.

[nomis]

I've stuck my foot in my mouth a few times (hey, that's pretty good for a para) when assuming someone is illegally using a disability park. So now I'm more likely to be very civil and polite when querying them if they are in the correct park spot. But I do make a point of asking people and maybe suggest they get an official disability card (as used in NZ). If they have no real excuse I suggest they let people who rely on the parks to use them. The nicer I am the redder they get.

[Rotarymotion]

" Maybe they have a heart condition, and just aren't supposed to walk too far. "


I was under the impression that mild walking exercise, such as you get walking across a car park and around shops, is recommended for people who are recovering from a Heart Attack. Similarly, I am under the impression that this sort of mild exercise is recommended for most Heart Conditions. So why would these people need to park in disabled parking bays? And how do they get blue badges? Perhaps they turn up at their doctor's with a (borrowed) walking stick.

Sorry, Rant over, I'm just having a bad day - wheelchair got puncture in tyre first thing this morning.

[Lee]

Rotarymotion, on Sep 20 2007, 12:52 PM, said:

" Maybe they have a heart condition, and just aren't supposed to walk too far. "




Sorry, Rant over, I'm just having a bad day - wheelchair got puncture in tyre first thing this morning.

Depends on the condition really. I got two punctures on my scooter yesterday, was rather cheesed off, lol.

[Texaswheelz]

Saw a story in the news here in the last few weeks, that had done a study/survey(guess they went around asking people in parking spots) that showed 45% of people parking in handicap parking spots were using some one elses placard and they didn't need it. My wife would never think to use mine with out me, but it seems that not every ones better half are that way, also a lot of them were using their parents or grand parents and then another large bunch of them were using temporary ones from when they had broke a leg or something in the past. Since the expiration date is so small and no one ever checks em anyway they just kept using it.

Don't know how many people they talked to or for how long they did the study, but if it correct then that is almost half the people taking those spots that don't need them and I can personally see that as being true from what I've seen.

[glamisgirl]

My retierd father-in-law just became a volunteer police officer (just writing tickets mostly) and he has made it his new mission in life to check everybody with handicap plates, he's getting writers cramp. Don't know what percent of people are using someone elses, but it's high. I'd say at least 50% of the people I see using them are over weight and last time I checked that's not disabled, park a little ways away and work some of those pounds off.

[Tinbasher]

Lee, on Sep 20 2007, 09:05 AM, said:

Biggest problem is i find is that here in the UK they give nearly anyone a disabled badge. There should be stronger measures and 3 yearly check ups to see if your still entitiled to a permit.

There are three yearly checks to see if someone still gets DLA (Automatic entitlement) or has a doctors certificate.

Tin

[Lee]

Tinbasher, on Sep 20 2007, 11:12 PM, said:

Lee, on Sep 20 2007, 09:05 AM, said:

Biggest problem is i find is that here in the UK they give nearly anyone a disabled badge. There should be stronger measures and 3 yearly check ups to see if your still entitiled to a permit.

There are three yearly checks to see if someone still gets DLA (Automatic entitlement) or has a doctors certificate.

Tin

Didnt realise they checked Tim. Thought if you just ticked the box, they believed you as saves paperwork and time. Do they physically check? Better idea.

[Nichole]

Rotarymotion, on Sep 20 2007, 11:52 AM, said:

" Maybe they have a heart condition, and just aren't supposed to walk too far. "


I was under the impression that mild walking exercise, such as you get walking across a car park and around shops, is recommended for people who are recovering from a Heart Attack. Similarly, I am under the impression that this sort of mild exercise is recommended for most Heart Conditions. So why would these people need to park in disabled parking bays? And how do they get blue badges? Perhaps they turn up at their doctor's with a (borrowed) walking stick.

Sorry, Rant over, I'm just having a bad day - wheelchair got puncture in tyre first thing this morning.

Well first of all every condition is different, and too much exercise may further aggravate their problem. I was just giving a hypothetical situation where some one's disability may not be as obvious as if they were in a wheelchair. All I'm saying is you never know what problem someone may have and they could have a serious need for that spot.

[silone74]

Hi all, I must admit that there seems to be alot of people in the UK with a disabled parking badge that could use a normal parking place but as said not knowing what is wrong with that person and seeing them walk around a store does not mean they have no disability it is the other people that have no permit and think they can park any where that really P***es me off and when people see me pull into a disabled spot and because i am pretty young and obviously cant see i need a wheelchair they look at me like they want to kill me and then when they see me getting my chair out they turn away like nothing has happened sometimes i feel like driving off again.


Silone74

[gsp23]

I know here in the US (MN anyways) most people end up with disabled parking permits MUCH longer than they needed them. When I first got out of rehab they were going to give me a 6 month certificate WTF! and then have me followup with my regular doc for a permanent one. I never even applied for a disabled parking permit till I got the ok to drive again cause I was told that when they see new conditions like mine then they can call you in for a test and if you are not able to pass their test you will lose your license (not suspend but have it revoked meaning starting over again with permit testing when ready and then road test for license again). So once I got the ok to drive is when I applied.

I asked one of my docs about people having these permits for much longer than they need them and I was told that its just easier to go with much longer than the person would need then to cut it too short and have them come back asking for another one... so there ya go!

I think the DOT (Department of Transportation) should actually do the same thing as the DNR (Department of Natural Resources) in that they REALLY limit the number of people that can get a permit to hunt from a motorized vehicle and they do an actual interview process mine took about 30 minutes to complete. They are extremely strict and when they changed their guidelines something like a couple years ago there were a lot of people who were upset because they no longer qualified for the permit. I was reading something by the MN/DNR and it said something like at any given time there are only about 100,000 people that have the permit to hunt from motorized vehicles.