Visiting my local Costco in Vancouver the other day, I happened upon several drivers & passengers who were either walking to or walking away from cars with handicapped parking passes hanging from their rearview mirrors. Of this select group that I observed, every single one of them seemed spry, with no slowness or awkwardness to their gait. I realize that a key tenet of Leftism is to never judge but since I don’t belong to that cult, it doesn’t apply to me. It just seemed “curious” as to why seemingly able-bodied people were parking in spots designated for truly handicapped people. One wonders if a person in a wheelchair or on crutches drove up and had to park further away, would any of these other folks feel bad for taking the closer spaces.
Turns out that I’m not the only one thinking that some fraud might be occurring. Yet another government program infested with abuse. Shocking!
It’s not uncommon for families with one disabled member, like a grandparent, to just leave the placard on the family car all the time and use it whether Oma’s in the back seat or not. I’ve known (and chastised) people who do this.
On the other hand, a friend of mine with cerebral palsy and permanent knee injury (walks with a cane with difficulty) has been chastised by people for not being disabled “enough” to use the disabled spaces.
The passes are for handicapped PEOPLE.
When the cars are driven by anyone else, the pass does not give them rights to take up a spot reserved for handicapped PEOPLE
My mother has had lupus for almost 40 years. Another good friend was injured in a severe car wreck some years ago. Both suffer from serious pain that is exacerbated by such simple things as taking the stairs and walking, even relatively short distances. Many days the pain can be constant. It is debilitating. Yet, if you observe them walking across the parking lot, you would see no visible evidence of this. In fact, both of these ladies are very self-sufficient and keep their pain to themselves. They are not prone to whining. But they both appreciate very much that they are able to park close up when shopping, so as to avoid a long and painful trek across a loaded parking lot on a hot summer day.
There are several disabling diseases, such as fibromyalgia, that are not visibly obvious from simply looking at a person. Yet they are very real and very crippling. My wife has fibro and can only work part-time. We had to give up an overseas job because of it. She is in constant pain. I wish she could get a handicap sticker for her car.
I’m practically a libertarian, and not at all sympathetic to the victim culture of leftism. However, we need to be careful not to be critical of those with legitimate needs. It only plays into the leftist’s hands by confirming that we really are as heartless as he thinks we are.
Problem is these signs, while they do display a wheelchair are actually designation for limited mobility. The qualification is that the vehicle with the pass attached to it should be primarily used to transport a person or persons that have mobility issues. The catch is that the individual with limited mobility doesnt neccessarily have to be the owner of the vehicle or the driver, they just have to demonstrate that their vehicle is used to transport someone that is.
The difficulty is that if the regulations are changed, it would only invite the state to grow the bureaucracy without any thought to actually resolving the problem. A reasonable government would act in a way that the designation would be restricted to vehicles specifically designed to transport the folks in need.
The handicapped pass should have the name of the person it was issued too on it.
When the bylaw enforcement office see someone who doesn’t appear handicapped, the person should be able to prove it was issued to them.
Perhaps the people who you observed were mentally handicapped?
It always amuses me to see “handicapped” plates on motorcycles and Porsches !
I have a disabled parking pass until May of 2015 – do I need it – no! But I did before I had my knee replacement surgeries and in the months following the surgeries. When I requested the pass I indicated that I would only need it until the spring of 2013, but they are only issued in 3 year periods and permanent.
I don’t use it, but it is tempting from time to time as I circle the parking lot and see 5 or 6 empty handicapped spaces!
Alan, I assume that I’m one of those you’re labeling as “heartless”. Never in my original post did I remotely suggest that handicapped parking passes should be taken away. I was simply complaining about their rampant abuse. The fact that you chose to chastise me makes me conclude that you’re fine with such abuse. I find THAT loathsome.
i abused that privilege once. on a motorcycle. no placard. no guilt.
no judgement.
I have a disability pass at present which is issued on a yearly renewal basis. True that you see people who appear not to need them and also true that one sees lots of handicapped parking stalls where the parked car doesn’t display one at all.
A few years back I was hit by a wandering semi and was fortunate to come out alive. I have a multiple of physical problems which allow me the use of a pass.
Funny how it works but being an independent soul, I do mow my own grass and do all the housework etc.(My lovely wife works full time, so I accept the extra-curricular house chores as my duty.)
There are days when pain is worse than others and on those days I use the parking pass. Also I should note that I eat a whole lot more pain killers than is healthy but don’t like the side effects and try to cut back when I plan to use the vehicle…hence more pain…so the parking pass is appreciated.
There are times I need a cane to walk and others when I can reasonably get by though limp.
My point being that yes there is flagrant abuse out there but it is difficult to separate the wheat from the chaff.
My pass has my name on it and I have to get my Dr’s OK to renew it on a yearly basis.
Hopefully when I can get thru all the dicking around with our glorious gov’t medical and our equally bizzare and ruthless gov’t insurance then I just may get fixed enough to not require a parking pass.
I look forward to that day.
Simon
Are you even allowed to say handicapped anymore? Oops……
If you’re eating pain killers what the hell are you doing operating a motor vehicle?
When the bylaw enforcement office see someone who doesn’t appear handicapped, the person should be able to prove it was issued to them
doowleb…here in AB,u get your handicapped placard with its own separate registration,which you produce in your name or the person you are driving…oorrrrrr…500 clams.I have parked behind many a non-disabled person in a handicapped spot,called by-law,and sat back.It’s lots of fun!
Of course, handicaps can always be arranged, retrospectively.
doowleb: The Handicap cards in Ontario are issued to individuals and their name and a serial number are on them. I applaud you folks who are essentially sticking up for those of us who legitimately need close access to building entrances. I can not count the number of times that I have had to return from a shopping trip without any goods because the four Handicap spots, in a parking lot for a thousand cars, were full. If you need this priviledge you better get your Xmas shopping done in November because as the parking lots get full I can tell you from experience that the number of people who will abuse this system grows and they get very angry at anyone who calls them out on their selfishness.
I must caution however that if someone has a sticker and parks in the handicap spot, that is enough for me. I do not have hard numbers but I would say that the largest number of folks using these stickers are what is known as “Cardiac Cripples”. I know, I am one of them. In the early days of my affliction I could step out upon arrival at my local grocer and, pride being what it was, I would do my best to appear “normal”. Catch me coming out of the store, after walking a couple of hundred yards up and down the aisles and I am clinging to a shopping cart like grim death. Taking one agonising step after another and ready to fall into my car seat and just sit still until I can recover enough to drive home.
You really cannot tell just by someone’s “youthful or vigorous appearance”, they may be OK for the first 50 yards or are working like hell to keep up the appearance of relatively good health.
Cheaters, in my experience, are easy to spot. They bounce out of their car and as soon as they see me giving them the evil eye they develop a limp worthy of Chester of Gunsmoke fame. (Old people reference I guess).
Anyway, thanks for helping out, the best answer is high fines and vigorous parking control enforcement. I live in Markham Ontario and it costs $300 and they cruise my local grocery lot on a fairly regular basis. If Doctors could be a little bit more rigorous in applying the appropriate criteria it would also help a great deal.
Happy Trails
I have one for my handicapped son. The permit here in Ontario has his name on it. He has to be in the car when we use a handicapped spot. The permit can be used in any vehicle in which he is the passenger. There have been a few times where I have parked with him, taken him to an appointment and then he was picked up by another family member. So, my car would have still been in the disabled spot-but without him on the return. In those rare instances, I keep a record of the doctor’s appointment with me-just in case I need to “prove” that it was used for him at that date and time. You can call the local parking authority to flag someone who may be gaming the system. I think generally “cheaters” can be easily identified, but really-it’s the doctor who is to blame if he or she signs a permit application for someone who is a faker. The other thing is that there are a lot of conditions that are debilitating, but we don’t have x-ray vision. I think the Star did an “expose” some years ago, and “caught” someone who looked healthy, using a pass-and they had liver cancer and died a few weeks later, so it’s hard to judge this type of thing.
I like to see the handicapped get some joy out of their motoring, too, if they can.
Ah yes – the miseries of private transportation. It’s like inviting 200 street people into your SUV.
“…but really-it’s the doctor who is to blame if he or she signs a permit application for someone who is a faker…”
True, except that (speaking for Ontario) serial abusers can make life hell for a doctor who questions anything to do with their alleged disabilities.
There are more publicly-funded avenues than you can shake a stick at for a POS to make a doctor’s life miserable. A lot of doctors learn their lesson and just take the path of least resistance and sign the forms – it’s simply not worth the time, effort and grief to expose yourself to the barrage of complaints processes.
“I realize that a key tenet of Leftism is to never judge but since I don’t belong to that cult, it doesn’t apply to me.”
I’m digging that phrase. I going to shamelessly steal it for my own use going fwd. Thanks Robert.
How is this a left vs right thing?
I’m left and I’m all for these people being caught. Most people on the left would likely agree.
JP
Amen to that. I have fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis, sciatica and wear orthotics for a bad foot which affects my knee, hip, and balance. Also bronchial asthma which can be better some days than not.
On a good day, I expect people have seen me and thought the same thing. One thing about a handicapped spot, it is closer to a store or bank door, and that’s the secret. My husband would drop me off, but now I have to be independent.
Saying all that, I also have seen people with no visual sign of any disability use the spot, but worse are those who don’t have the disability permit at all and yet still park in a disability spot.
Those are the ones to kill with a dirty look.
As every has said, the pass is for the person regardless of whose vehicle they are driving in.
Sorry John, but a KEY TENET of a True Leftist is not to judge … ever. That’s not me saying this but the high priests & priestesses of the Cult of Leftism saying it.
For example, Multiculturalism is a good litmus test for how Left you actually are. A True Leftist adheres to the Full Understanding of Multiculturalism which states:
1. All cultures are EQUAL.
2. Therefore, a person in one culture cannot judge a person in another culture … about ANYTHING.
In fairness to you, not all conservatives (aka Folks on the Right) subscribe to all of the same tenets either. There are different degrees on different topics.
As a fun point, the parking pass only applies to the person who it’s given to. In Ontario is upto a $5k fine, and can be automatic seizure/destruction of the permit. Screwy enough, I’m still fighting the government to get one, even after my doctor cleared it, and my neurologist cleared it. And I’ve got a broken back, walk partially hunched over, and on very good days I can walk at about 60-70% of my old speed. On bad days, I’m ambling along with a cane…and I’m 34. On the upside, my MPP got involved, and said there should be a resolution “quickly.”
This is a big non-issue for me, as much as it may disappoint the bus-lovers in the crowd. I usually aim to park further away from the door of the building, because time and fuel wasted trying to find the closest parking spot is time and fuel wasted, period.
And if some sleazeballs are abusing the privilege of handicap parking spaces, then it’s up to the genuinely handicapped, and their caregivers to deal with the problem.
Eli, just curious, in Ontario how is a non-owner of the parking pass ever caught? Is it only a police officer who can stop them and fine them?
Handicap spots are just another example of special interest groups demanding special treatment from the state. No different than front-row parking spots being set aside for those who carpool while shafting everyone else. No different than those who kick up a huge fuss in a restaurant if half the menu isn’t gluten free. No different than telling every child in class they will be thrown out of school if they bring in a peanut butter sandwich because one kid is allergic to nuts.
My mother is nearly 80, both knees shot and replaced, arthritis up and down her legs and she *refuses* to get a handicap parking spot. But then she is built of very different stock than all the whiners and complainers out there today.
I know that all handicap persons are not destitute,
but does anyone else notice how many $40-$50 thousand dollar cars are parked in those spaces?
If I were a car thief,
many of those cars parked in Handicapped Parking would be on my wish list..
Fearless I was going to make the very same observation!
Notice too how many “handicapped” people demand to be 20 feet from the front of the grocery store entrance, and then spend an hour walking up and down the aisles.
Sometimes disabilities are not obvious to a casual observer.
You’re definitely correct, Linda. But some abuse must be going on.
One related thing that Adam Carolla frequently rants about is the growing number of “Comfort Animals” brought onto planes. This generally means a dog. To qualify, one just needs to get a doctor to sign a note stating that the patient has anxiety and feels better with their pet there. Clearly there’s more than a little fraud going on! Carolla predicts that this is quickly going to get out of control and I suspect it will.
I don’t have a problem with people with disabilities having preferential access to the most convenient parking spots. I do have an objection to an automatic exemption from paying the metered costs of the parking spots if the non-disabled spots also carry a metered cost. Old and/or disabled do not automatically equal poor.
Because a person does not have obvious disabilities has no bearing on the Handicap tag.
I have brain implants for a horrible body motion disorder and have a serious cardiac problems for which I have had surgery..
People here in B.C. have spit at me, had a great laugh while pointing at me and swore at me for being to slow.
For those many who have been helpful I am extremely grateful…For those who have the time to find or hunt for fault I can only hope they never have to face what I have.
One day my wife was driving me to the ER here in Kelowna as my heart was in rough shape. A young fellow cut us off and then stopped in front of us while he spit at us and was abusive. He couldn’t have known what we faced nor did he care. It was his “right” and screw everyone else. I barely survived. Have we slunk so low we have to hunt for reasons to criticize folks who have a DR signed tag?
Couldn’t agree with you more Mel. My bestest friend in the whole wide world rolls around in a chair and refuses to use the handispots. Not sure if he even has a pass. He really doesn’t need one anyway. And at the same time there’s folks like you and others on this thread without outwardly visible immediately obvious reasons for wanting to park close to entrances. Or maybe it’s just a guy who pulled his back or twisted an ankle and doesn’t have a pass. If someone takes a handispot I’m gonna assume they have a reason for needing it. At the same time if it’s 20 minutes to closing at a big box store and pouring rain, I may just decide to take one of the dozen empty handispots without feeling the least bit guilty about depriving someone needy from this spot, and shouldn’t have to fear some social justice meter maid from writing me a $5000 ticket for my selfish indiscretion.
A wise man described all this stuff to me once as “the jerk factor”. It can never be completely fixed. Basically decent and reasonable public behavior, or good manners even, aren’t governed by rules and passes and fines. At least that was the way of the old world. Jerks will be jerks and bitchy whiners will bitch and whine.
Mel, how dare you spin around 180 degrees my sincere concern to root about abusers of the disabled parking permits! My heart’s in the right place and so is that of most of the other commenters here on SDA.
Stalin’s heart was in the right place too 😛
The mean streets of Point Grey take their toll on even the hardiest of souls…
the one that really gets me is
THIS SPACE RESERVED FOR PREGNANT WOMEN
I park in those as they are always close to the doors also……….what will they come up with next
SPACE RESERVED FOR THOSE IN A REAL HURRY????
Back in the day, my Mum – who was legally blind – qualified for a pass. When she was still very spry, we didn’t use it except during winter when the parking lot was treacherous and a fall would have been a disaster (Mum also had serious osteoporosis). Since Mum did not have a vehicle – for obvious reasons – the placard hung in our car but we never used it unless with Mum.
Some years on, the government in it’s wisdom decided that mere blindness was not an adequate reason to grant a disabled permit. Fortunately, Mum had renewed hers just before this particular idiocy: imagine having to drop a blindish 90-something Mum at an entrance to the local mall and then hoping you could find a parking space and get back to Mum in real time. Imagine also how Mum felt: alone, in a strange space, and surrounded by strangers who might or might not be friendly.
Golfnut: may you find yourself so blocked in that you cannot open your car door wide enough to squeeze in. Reality is, a seriously pregnant woman needs extra room to open the door. And, if she has a prior child, she has to get same into a car seat as well. Back in the day, some idiot parked really close to our little two-door car. So pregnant moi had to perform serious contortions to insert elder offpring through minimally-opened door and into car seat in rear of vehicle. I could SO have used a wider-than-normal parking spot at that time.
Fibromyalgia is common faux complaint amongst layabouts. However, it is a direct sequelae of Lupus. So no worries, but everyone else I meet with fibro, have never had lupus.
BC: “Notice too how many “handicapped” people demand to be 20 feet from the front of the grocery store entrance, and then spend an hour walking up and down the aisles.”
You obviously don’t have a handicap. Try negotiating your way across an icy parking lot with a cane and artificial limb sometime. I think you would appreciate being a wee bit closer to the door if possible. As for walking up and down the aisles after you got in the store – what’s your point?
Hear! Hear!
Some parking lots you drive into seem to have more spaces for “handicapped” parking than for regular spots. Some have spots reserved for pregnant women WTF!!!!!
Terry you should have read the comment. Maybe re-read it now. Don’t you understand the comment. I’ll interpret for you. People use the handicap parking spot to get closer to the entrance and the walk around a 10,000 square foot store for hours shopping. If they can walk that far inside……they can walk that far outside too!!!!
You need to wake up and smell the coffee. It’s in aisle 6!
I was on two crutches for about 3 weeks due to damaged sciatic nerves making it very difficult to walk. I used handicap spots at my office building without having a special card. I simply left a message on the dash explaining my situation along with my business card. Another incident totally unrelated occurred in the parking lot of a supermarket. A car was parked in the Handicap spot with no card showing on the mirror. I was ready to give the driver a telling off. When the driver appeared he was hobbling along on two crutches, was I ever chagrined.
Sporty, I’ll speak slower this time. People such as myself, with an artificial limb (remember I mentioned that)find it very difficult and even dangerous to try to walk on icy parking lots in the winter. If we fall it can be difficult and sometimes even impossible to get up because you can’t get a purchase. Therefore we use handicapped parking spots to shorten the distances. Once inside the shopping center where it is clean and dry, I am able to walk up and down the aisles, though I can’t handle that Wal-Mart super store. Anyway, I found the coffee, I knew it was on aisle 6, but I’m not the one that needs to wake up.
Terry; You are truly handicapped. Someone who has a sore back isn’t and thus should not be given a pass to park in a spot in which someone such as yourself has a handicap and needs that convenience.
I’ve seen way too many people with handicap signs on their vehicles showing no apparent handicap whatsoever….other than they’re older than me.
I see the need for handicapped spots, although I see the abuse as well. The gentleman in me sees the need for spots for pregant women (may God help the fellow who asks a chubby if she’s expecting). Why are reserved spots showing up in Mississauga for hybrid vehicles?
Are their owners handicapped?
I hope they’re not breeding.
Than there is the
THIS SPACE RESERVED FOR HYBRIDS
I ignore and park there anyhow.
WRT parking etiquette I note that few in this thread have noted the inept / moronic parkers.
They are legion. Once owned a very rare 1979 Seville Elegante, a gorgeous luxury car. It was a magnet for inconsiderate parkers – even when parked at the mall as far as possible from other cars I’d find that some beater was parked right next to it.
Sadly it was brutally vandalized by someone with dysfunctional envy.
“Why are you parking there? What’s YOUR handicap?”
“Tourette’s, a**hole!”
MC