I recently posted a rant in one of my journals about my perception of handicap permits for automobiles. While I did get some negative feedback about people that really needed these permits, I still feel there are way too many permits out there to people who don't deserve them or are just plain lazy. I also have a concern about some of the medical conditions that are used to justify permits. Should these people really be driving? My rant was the result of a run in with a volunteer organization in a nearby town. This town is know for shopping centers and shopping. A group of elderly volunteers organized there and runs around checking cars parked in handicapped spaces for permits. They have a choice of issuing parking tickets or calling the police. What upset me is the number of people that just park in the driveways blocking traffic while waiting for a handicap space to open. That day, I got caught behind one and then had an old geezer come knocking on my window complaining that I had two occupied handicap spaces blocked. He did not want to hear that I was trapped behind this old lady parked in the middle of everything and threatened to call the Police. At that point, I told him to go F*ck off which is not characteristic of me.
Is the issuing of handicap permits out of control?
i agree with you 200%. i've seen normal people who has the handicapped permit/tags and just abuse it. then again i have seen some people with the permits that should not be driving at all. people are ignorant bastards who just wants to park an extra 30 feet so they won't walk their fat @$$ that extra 30 feet. i like to think i'm a nice but when i see people who just take advantage of it...i just want to make them handicapped.
Hoo boy, get ready for some interesting responses.
I generally live and operate in places with a very small population of handicapped people, and some of those folks would kick your ass for even suggesting that they are somehow disabled. I used to see a double leg amputee out running on his prosthetics when I was back at Benning. It was truly humbling to pass him on the road and call out good morning.
If that guy can get out and run, then a good portion of the people I see with handicap plates and stickers on their vehicles ought to be ashamed of themselves. Being fat and out of shape isn't a handicap, yet that seems to account for a good deal of the people I see parking in those spaces. I don't know if the issuing of permits is out of control, but the complete lack of shame in our entitlement society definitely is.
I remember seeing a bright red Corvette parked in handicap spot with one of those temporary handicap tags. The juxtaposition made me laugh and the cynic in me immediately believed it was some guy taking advantage of a system. I have no idea if he really needed it or not.
As with every type of social system their are people that don't really need it but take advantage anyway and it's unfortunate because they take away from the people that genuinely are in need. I think the people that are taking advantage do so more with the temporary handicap then the actual handicap plates. I've known a few people that have had a family member who had a surgery and got the temporary tag from them and then used it to park in handicap spots. This is very useful when going to crowded places like the mall, movies or sporting events.
If you can physically walk without tremendous pain, even if you have a temporary permit with more time left on it, you shouldn't be parking in the handicap space.
On the flip side if you do have tremendous pain from using your feet, should you really be operating a car? Again, not talking about people that park in a spot and have to take somebody riding with them out in a wheelchair. This person is obviously in need and it's why we have the spots in the first place. However, if you really suffer from pain and still operating a car, it seems like because you use your legs so much in driving wouldn't that be causing you pain as well?
Really it comes down to an honor system... if you don't really need it, don't use it.
heeeeell yea man, and whats sad enough is I've seen people who are just too damn fat to walk any distance given them. No physical disorder, no injury, they just can't stop eating and weigh a few hundred pounds so they get handicap parking permits. they should be forced to walk FARTHER, not less.
and of course I've seen people who are fine but had an injury at one point and can somehow just renew them, it's a completely abused system.
I realize that some folks actually need a little help. I can not imagine having to live with a handicap and having to deal with the self image/esteem issues because of it. What is being abused is the USE of the handicap tags. You know. You're at Grandma's house and everybody needs something from the mall. It's so much easier to take Granny's van, with the handicap tag. You're only going to be in there for a second! Meanwhile, my boss's mother, who fell and shattered her hip, has to walk from the other end of the parking lot, because all the handicap spaces are taken. That's what pisses me off! Seeing the people who really need the electric carts, having to wait for one because Mr. Greeter gave them to Fatass Frieda and Wideload Willie. I realize some do have conditions that aren't visible. But when you see these same people 30 minutes later or at the mall, walking without assistance, it bugs the shit out of me.
When's the last time you went to Toys R Us? You can't even park at the front of the store at ours. They handicap spaces, pregnant mother spaces, and women who may get pregnant one day spaces. I think they even have a birthday boy/girl space. If we shop there, I have to walk halfway around the store to get to the door. We call that 'the woman thats so ugly she will never get pregnant spaces'...Sorry for such a long post but you picked one of my pet peeves...
FAT IS NOT A HANDICAP. There should be handicap sections close to a place, then normal spaces, and then fat spaces farther away from place.
My sister uses a handicap because of her run with cancer, years ago. sure we use it as a family some times, but only when we are with her. People who use handicaps with no disability or condition, or are fat asses; should get their thing revoked.
Pretty much everyone in here seems to have the same opionion on this, and I'm no different.
Except if I see someone abusing their Handicap tag, I confront them about it. I like to use words like "Worthless, Lazy piece of fucking garbage scum," especially when they have young children.
One of the local grocery stores here put up signs at the far end of the parking lot, "reserved for our healthy customers." I sometimes wonder about the pregnant women parking deal. My ex wife used to park away from the door for exercise. She said the short walk made her feel better. I also agree that being obese is not a reason for hogging the electric carts or parking next to the front door.
I have nothing against those truly in need, but too many abuse it and that is my pet peeve also.
We have one guy who is so obese he can't use a car, so he has a specially made electric cart that hauls him down to the grocery store to buy himself milky ways and ice cream.
Man, thats almost as bad as a recent story about a guy in Mexico, I think it was, that was hauled around in his bed on the back of a flatbed truck. I know you also occasionally read of a fire department taking the side out of a building to get some over weight person out. Makes you have to ask how people can get themselves into that sort of situation. All I can say is damn.
Count me in on the "NO FAT ASSES" bandwagon...it is getting more and more frequent.
We have a similar situation where I work....
The parts manager says he needs a golf cart in the shop because he can't walk to the front of the building to get one when he needs to run to the body shop across the street. Funny how when it's time for the cashier to go home he can walk her to the front of the building every night with no trouble at all. What a flat faced butt sniffer.
I went and got one of our old handicapped parking signs and set it up in front of the cart in the shop, what lazy bastards ppl are turning into.
Yes, abused heavily. Even worse, the gubmint mandates for the number is spaces reserved for the handicapped is frightening. Shouldn't a business be free to chose to offer as many or few spaces as they WANT. Also, I think passing "police powers" to issue tickets to local busybodies would piss me off to the extreme. Thee tyranny of the handicapped continues unabated. Now you've got fatasses claiming handicapped status too!
I agree. Very abused. fat people suck. I remember when I first asked my doctor for a handicap permit. it was funny. it took me a lot of convincing myself that I was going to end up breaking the damn leg again. so, I finally broke down and got one. my doctor laughed at me and said "you're just getting this now? I would have had this a year ago!" wtf?? why not wait until you feel a bit more than bearable pain? not that I can ever get a handicap spot at wal-mart any fucking way, which is where I need it cuz I do a lot of walking in there (the fucking scooters are all gone for some STRANGE reason). bastards. anyway, I am handicapped, not very excited about it, but it can be really nice on those days when I can't put weight on the fucking thing but my asshole mother/father/sister need something at the store and can't get the shit themselves. oh well. at least I have a valid reason for it.
haha...I used to be really crazy and still walk miles and run with my injury. until I realized that I was making it worse beyond all badness. I could have lost my leg, which I kind of wanted, but then they told me they'd take the whole leg and it would be pretty much a lost cause for me becuase of other health problems. I know most military people don't like to accept it, which is why I got my handicap permit right before I got out, but some of these guys should become more aware of their disability/disadvantage. although these new prosthetics for partial (knee-down) prosthetics are fantastic. I want one. but they wouldn't take my leg off because I'd bleed to death. oh well.
they finally added an actual handicap spot to the main gas station I go to (for the longest time, the owner would just regularly paint the lines blue with spray paint, and had a sign on the side of the station in front of the spot) well they finally made a handicap spot that was van accessible with the loading area on the side- and we parked beside it in the work van the other day and this old lady parks in the yellow lines (loading area for handicap vans) goes inside buys some cigarettes and a fountain drink comes out and is about to leave and I snag this picture trying to be sneaky with my phone- and I realized like 5 minutes ago that she saw me take the picture of her...
Here's a real dandy. An elderly woman pulled her car into one of those covered shopping cart corrals at the local store. Then she went to the manager to bitch about the "covered parking" being too tight to get out of her car and being too far from the handicap parking spaces. My question is should this person even be driving?
My younger brother is handicapped and it really pisses me off when I see fat people using handicap spaces. My younger brother (At the age of 10) has a disease that has taken his ability to walk, he's losing the ability to talk, losing the ability to chew/swallow his own food, losing the ability to see (He's already legally blind), and losing fine control of most of his muscles. When I see some fat bastard take up a handicap spot because he's too lazy to walk the extra distance, taking a spot from someone with a LEGITIMATE medical disease (Not some weight-loss inclined disorder bullshit). I personally feel as supermarkets need more handicap spots, spots for the elderly, as well as pregnant mother spots, in that order.
Something that is very interesting, and happened the last hour ago:
I am here at a college, going to the F building which has a small parking lot infront of it. It is further away from the campus then any other building.
I see my professor, able bodied and no handicap sticker, park right into a handicapped space. I asked the cop I was talking to (for several reasons I don't feel like going into) that if he would do anything. he said simply that "Staff are free to park where they want".
I go to my car to pick up some shit I left in there, and I see a kid, parked in the middle of normal spaces, having trouble getting out, because he has a broken leg. He had a plaque, but parked in a normal space because all the others were full.
If that isn't abuse of the Handicap spaces, i don't know what is.
my grandmother (63?) has a handi cap permit due to her heart disease. she doesnt use it because it is healthier to walk to the store or whatever than to just park right next to it. superguy, im sorry about your brothers condition ( i wanna say... ALS?) but thats a legitimate reason to have a handicapped permit. having a weight problem should mean that you should have to park in the rear of the parking lot of a store, forcing you to walk. the scary part is that the old people who are driving. my grandpa on the other side of my family had his license taken away for being a hazard to other drivers. what happens when an old person dies at the wheel with their foot on the gas at a busy intersection?
My grandmother (81 today) doesn't have a drivers liscense OR a car OR a fucking handicap but does get a tag. That is a grade A abuse of being an old person.
A few points: - Disability plates/placards are issued by the state with confirmation from a state-certified doctor. They are not "easy" to fake. - Some disabilities are "invisible." And no, you do not get to determine which people should have them and which should not. -If your relative has not told you about their disability, you can see the reason in this thread. This is bigotry. -The fat hatred here is amazing. I say that as a wheelchair user also at her ideal spot on the BMI (which is crap, anyway). This is discrimination. Never mind that it is not your business anyway - or that numerous conditions and a ton of medicines cause weight gain. Sigh. This is discrimination. -Ageism much? Oh, oh, can you tell me a funny "old people should never have sex joke" too please?
You get the whole rest of the damn world - leave us the wildly insufficient blue parking spaces. The disabled are one of the fastest growing demographics on the planet. Pray you do not get old or fat or crippled and have to deal with someone like you were thirty years ago.
What a flat faced butt sniffer.
