Disabled parking has struck a hit at my normal general apathy to contribute
to this list.
It is an issue.
It is an abuse.
John
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, May 26, 2001 2:38 AM
Subject: Use of Disabled Parking
> Recently my paraplegic wife and I were sitting in the parking lot of a
large
> shopping mall and thought that we would carry out an informal survey in
> Denver of the use of parking bays reserved for the disabled. We were so
> shocked that we separately or jointly repeated our little study at a few
> other shopping malls and this is what we found over a period of three
months:
>
> Out of 91 people putting up legitimate disabled parking permits inside
their
> vehicles at three shopping malls, not one person using them used a
wheelchair
> for locomotion or showed any signs of pronounced mobility impairment. The
> remainder were:
>
> 1. Using walking sticks or other walking aids, amputees: 11
> 2. Obese: 24
> 3. Looked older than about 60 years: 31
> 4. Middle aged mothers with several children: 10
> 5. Teenagers with no obvious disability: 7
> 6. Miscellaneous others with no obvious disability: 8
>
> This does not include 14 middle aged or young women and one man who did
not
> display any form of disabled authorisation at all, all of whom without
> exception, when politely asked "what your disability is", replied that
they
> "were only going inside for a few minutes" or became openly even more
> hostile. In two cases, my wife had to call the local sheriff on her cell
> phone because of exceptionally threatening behaviour of women without
parking
> permits. We have been most disappointed to note that the illegal use of
> disabled parking is displayed predominantly by women drivers and have been
> wondering why this is so.
>
> Lest some criticism be levelled at us for judging disability by the mere
> appearance of someone walking with no obvious difficulty, we do appreciate
> that some organic disorders do not always manifest themselves in mobility
> impairment, such as cardiac disease or severe diabetes. However, as a
> cardiac patient who lost over 60 percent of my left ventricular function,
I
> discovered that I am also eligible for a disabled parking permit. To me,
> that is outrageous, since the less physical movement I do, the less likely
I
> am to improve my cardiac function. I would be disgusted with myself for
even
> considering the illegal or legal use of disabled parking for myself.
>
> Legally, divisions of motor vehicles in different States issue disabled
> parking permits only to "persons who are certified by an authorized health
> care specialist as having a permanent or temporary disability that limits
or
> impairs their ability to walk." So, it appears as if we have a situation
> which:
>
> 1. involves the illegal use of disabled parking permits
> 2. is being abused with the collaboration of many medical professionals
> 3. our informal survey has misinterpreted
>
> Whatever reason is correct, it is apparent that some official survey needs
to
> be regularly carried out by the authorities and security staff at shopping
> malls, restaurants and other public places. It is bad enough being
severely
> disabled without being deprived of parking by some very selfish and
> inconsiderate individuals.
>
> So, why on earth do the vast majority of people using legitimate disabled
> parking stickers not appear to be mobility impaired? What qualifies
someone
> for the issue of disability parking? Judging from what we have recorded,
it
> appears as if the majority who obtain these stickers are obese or old. If
> this is correct and these folk are not simply borrowing disabled
> authorisation, then something is very wrong with the standards of
> qualification. Non-pathological obesity and advanced years generally are
no
> reason whatsoever to qualify for disability parking. After all, some
regular
> daily exercise is well known medically to offer health and quality of life
> benefits to the old aged and obese.
>
> It would be most interesting to hear the comments of others about their
> observations regarding the use and misuse of disabled parking. Why is it
> that so few folk who qualify for disabled parking permits are wheelchair
> users? Maybe those who have to use wheelchairs should be issued with a
> special red disabled parking permit which allows them to use parking
closest
> to the shops. Maybe only the severely disabled should be granted
parking
> permits. What do you think?
>
> This situation often causes severe problems for many severely disabled
folk
> like my wife, so it really is unfair for those with relatively little
> mobility impairment to use disabled parking. As I stated earlier, I could
> easily obtain medical certification that would grant me a disabled parking
> permit as someone with profound cardiac damage - to me, it would be
> inconceivable to do that and deprive someone in real need of that parking.
>
> Dr Mel C Siff
> Denver, USA
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Supertraining/
>
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