Finally P.O.ed me enough to write about it.
Posted: Tue Jul 29, 2008 11:52 pm
I sent this in to the Lake County Record Bee and hope they'll publish it. She actually defends the actions of people who don't need disabled parking, parking in those spots.
Referring to Cynthia Parkhill's editorial of Friday, July 25 in the Record Bee titled, Invisible disabilities are real to those that have them.
She asks, "Have you ever seen people park their vehicle in a handicapped parking space and even though the vehicle has a qualifying placard, the person who gets out seems perfectly able to get around?"
Well, yes, matter of fact I have. Ever since I moved to California in 1982 I've been noticing it more and more. But I didn't notice it so much in Minnesota where people left them for people who deserve them. Now more and more I see people who somehow have a need for the closest spot to the door get out and walk in like nothing is wrong, make 4 laps around the supermarket, reach and grab stuff off the highest shelves with ease at walk back to their vehicle no more tired than when they got out. I've seen them stick a placard on their mirror, get out and RUN into the store.
Meanwhile, me, who's been in a wheelchair for 37 years and has torn rotator cuffs so bad in my shoulders I can barely get in and out of my car anymore has to drive around looking for a spot wide enough to get my door open to get my chair out.
Cynthia also asks, "Did you ever look at that person skeptically as if they didn't deserve that parking space?"
Well, how about this Cynthia, I look at them with utter disdain and wonder how their parents raised them that they would have so little self respect and such indifference to their fellow humans who really need the parking spots. People with visible disabilities.
I was around in chair in 1972 when there were no such thing as ramped curbs, handicapped parking and accessible bathroom. i fought for those features in our society. YES FOUGHT. I was involved in the National Paraplegic Foundation, The United Handicapped Federation, I ran a handicapped and Senior Citizens Transportation Company. I currently sit on the Board of Directors for a housing organization that responsible for building apartment buildings that have over 3,000 units that are clean, safe and barrier free and available to very low income disable people. I picketed streets and carried signs and attended Senate Hearing to get these things. I worked closely with Normandale College to make it the most accessible college in the state of Minnesota
Cynthia writes, "Being inside a person's head however, might paint a different picture than the one in front of you. Perhaps that seeming capability of movement is depleting his or her strength more quickly than you are aware."
Oh BOO HOO. Wait until you really need it. Perhaps you mean like while I was waiting for my wife the other day at Lucerne Harbor Park while she dropped off some art. I try not to park in handicapped parking myself because I still have some pride so I found a spot where no-one could block my door and got out. A couple pulled into the handicapped spot. I wondered if they were handicapped. The driver put his sticker in the window, then got out and started walking around to the other side. I thought, "Oh good, he getting a walker or wheelchair out of the car." Nope, he opened the door, she got out unassisted and grabbed he camera and purse and they walked out onto the rough surface of the seawall at a brisk pace all the way to the end. They stood there for ten minutes, talked, took photos then walked back and drove away. I just shook my head. I couldn't even get to where they had gone by myself.
These spots weren't made for people with head problems and people who cant push themselves away from the table. They were made ten feet wide so people who have assistive devices have room to get their doors open. I know, I put in the original request. If you want to solve the state budget problem, start ticketing people who park in these spots that don't need them.
I really loved your use of, "I use the metaphor of and electrical circuit with a different appliance attached." Good Grief! Me? I use the word, "Entitled." For some reason there are a lot of people out there who feel entitled to benefits they haven't earned or deserve. I see it all the time and it sickens me. Get a spine you people.
Referring to Cynthia Parkhill's editorial of Friday, July 25 in the Record Bee titled, Invisible disabilities are real to those that have them.
She asks, "Have you ever seen people park their vehicle in a handicapped parking space and even though the vehicle has a qualifying placard, the person who gets out seems perfectly able to get around?"
Well, yes, matter of fact I have. Ever since I moved to California in 1982 I've been noticing it more and more. But I didn't notice it so much in Minnesota where people left them for people who deserve them. Now more and more I see people who somehow have a need for the closest spot to the door get out and walk in like nothing is wrong, make 4 laps around the supermarket, reach and grab stuff off the highest shelves with ease at walk back to their vehicle no more tired than when they got out. I've seen them stick a placard on their mirror, get out and RUN into the store.
Meanwhile, me, who's been in a wheelchair for 37 years and has torn rotator cuffs so bad in my shoulders I can barely get in and out of my car anymore has to drive around looking for a spot wide enough to get my door open to get my chair out.
Cynthia also asks, "Did you ever look at that person skeptically as if they didn't deserve that parking space?"
Well, how about this Cynthia, I look at them with utter disdain and wonder how their parents raised them that they would have so little self respect and such indifference to their fellow humans who really need the parking spots. People with visible disabilities.
I was around in chair in 1972 when there were no such thing as ramped curbs, handicapped parking and accessible bathroom. i fought for those features in our society. YES FOUGHT. I was involved in the National Paraplegic Foundation, The United Handicapped Federation, I ran a handicapped and Senior Citizens Transportation Company. I currently sit on the Board of Directors for a housing organization that responsible for building apartment buildings that have over 3,000 units that are clean, safe and barrier free and available to very low income disable people. I picketed streets and carried signs and attended Senate Hearing to get these things. I worked closely with Normandale College to make it the most accessible college in the state of Minnesota
Cynthia writes, "Being inside a person's head however, might paint a different picture than the one in front of you. Perhaps that seeming capability of movement is depleting his or her strength more quickly than you are aware."
Oh BOO HOO. Wait until you really need it. Perhaps you mean like while I was waiting for my wife the other day at Lucerne Harbor Park while she dropped off some art. I try not to park in handicapped parking myself because I still have some pride so I found a spot where no-one could block my door and got out. A couple pulled into the handicapped spot. I wondered if they were handicapped. The driver put his sticker in the window, then got out and started walking around to the other side. I thought, "Oh good, he getting a walker or wheelchair out of the car." Nope, he opened the door, she got out unassisted and grabbed he camera and purse and they walked out onto the rough surface of the seawall at a brisk pace all the way to the end. They stood there for ten minutes, talked, took photos then walked back and drove away. I just shook my head. I couldn't even get to where they had gone by myself.
These spots weren't made for people with head problems and people who cant push themselves away from the table. They were made ten feet wide so people who have assistive devices have room to get their doors open. I know, I put in the original request. If you want to solve the state budget problem, start ticketing people who park in these spots that don't need them.
I really loved your use of, "I use the metaphor of and electrical circuit with a different appliance attached." Good Grief! Me? I use the word, "Entitled." For some reason there are a lot of people out there who feel entitled to benefits they haven't earned or deserve. I see it all the time and it sickens me. Get a spine you people.