Handicap accessibility

[Dragonslayer]

At work I have been having an issue with perfectly healthy people parking in Handicap Parking space because they are too inconsiderate, lazy and/or stupid to not do so. Hopefully, today I was able to strike a blow against this problem. I was asked to submit an article for the quarterly newsletter. Here is what I wrote:

 

 

Facts about Handicap Parking

 

In excess of 53 million Americans have one or more physical disabilities. In the past, handicapped persons had no protection under the law. The legislation creating the protection of equal access under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) grew out of Title VIII of the Civil Rights Act of 1968. Title VIII prohibited discrimination in housing based on race, religion, national origin and gender laying the groundwork to include the right of equal access under the law for persons with disabilities. President George H.W. Bush signed the ADA into law on July 26, 1990.

The number of, location and design of handicap parking spaces are specifically defined by law, which is intended to provide the closest non-obstructed access to all buildings for persons with physical disabilities. On a personal note, I can attest to how inaccessible the world was back in the early seventies when I spent three years in a wheel chair during 1972-1975 due to a crippling motorcycle accident. Access to handicap parking is more than a convenience for the handicapped, it is the law.

The law provides that persons with legitimate disabilities are entitled to a handicap accessibility permit under specific requirements and restrictions. The law also provides for a fine of up to $500 for persons wrongfully using handicap spaces, making false statements, providing false documentation to acquire a permit or wrongfully using the permit of others. Follow this link for information on how to apply for a handicap permit: http://atlanta.about.com/od/transportation/ht/disabled-park.htm

 

Did you know that you can download a free app for your smart phone called “Parking Mobility” which automatically reports violators to the city/county? The great part is you can designate that 50% of the imposed fine goes to your favorite charity. Everyone wins: the handicapped, the city and the community. Check out this free app at the links below.

http://www.parkingmobility.com/

http://www.parkingmobility.com/how-it-works/

Thanks for the opportunity to vent. I feel much better now.

[wrenchrob]

People like that really burn my $$$ also.

[bongobobny]

Actually, what I am noticing is a lack of sufficient handicap parking spaces!! Many times I can't find a spot as all of them are filled with legitimately parked cars. I find this mostly at malls...

[cowpuc]

You touched on something there Bob.. IMHO, it is just to bad that some people have to be threatened with fines/jail time in order to get them to give their fellow man/woman/child a break.. There is an element out there that simply dont care about others, thankfully there are more of us than of them!!!

[CaptainJoe]

Around here people seem to be respecting those spaces.

 

Krogers, the local food store here in Ripley has ample handicapped parking.

 

However, after these spaces were marked with blue lines and signs, they they put in regular non-handicapped spaces at the end of the each row. (between the handicapped spaces and the store).

 

Been like this for at least two years and the have bee told about it...

[kevin-vic-b.c.]

I have spent a lot of time in Washington State in the last couple years riding the fantastic areas down there. I have not seen everything there but I have seen a lot of beauty.

I had noticed that there is a lot more "Handicap Parking" in the malls and hotels as well as on the streets than I see here at home and I have mentioned that to people I know when I return home.

The thought of anyone "able bodied" parking in a designated stall and making it in the door of the building shocks me. I have seen how people with disabilities, many or most somehow related to their service time, are treated so well in public, it just shocks me that anyone even tries it. I do know of only one person that mistakenly parked in a designated stall by accident, the Blue markings were very faded and it was dark and raining to his defense, I know how embarrassed he was when he realized what he had done.

 

I just could never believe people would do this

[Yammer Dan]

There are plenty of spaces if Jr or Missy didn't park there when using someones elses car with permit in it.

[djh3]

I think we have plenty of hadicap spots here. Cripes half the parking lots are blue spaces. But we have some folks that will run you over trying to get to one while your driving to a non-handicap spot. Heaven forbid someone gets it before them. There is one car in particular I have seen around here. Its a Jeep Wrangler, has Purple heart tags, a handicap tag and some 20 something driving it. And I have seen her park in the blue spots. That just makes me mad. Its probably in her dads name and hes prob a Vietnam vet and deserves it, but she sure as H dont.

[bongobobny]

You and Yammer have a good point I didn't think about! Haven't seen that myself but I'm sure it happens! I think the issue is more and more handicapped permits are being issued and for the most part to deserving individuals, but in some cases perhaps maybe not so much!

 

Myself I don't mind too much as whether I take 1 step or a thousand my feet feel the same but some people are a lot worse off i.e. wheelchairs, crutches, walkers, canes etc. and deserve special consideration. Maybe there should be two classes of handicap parking...

[friesman]

since we have switched to the passes with an expiry date our "blue spots" dont get used as often, it seems we used to have a system that just kept handing out passes and people kept using them. Now, if you are having surgery the doc will issue one to you for a 3 month period or whatever he thinks you will need. there are also permanent tags availble but require some documentation to get. Its too bad that we have to resort to this type of system to limit things, but its like everything else, if someone can take advantage of a loophole they will.

Brian

[Dragonslayer]

I'm not saying ....I'm just saying. Evidently, I'm not the only one who has considered this.

[Dragonslayer]

You touched on something there Bob.. IMHO, it is just to bad that some people have to be threatened with fines/jail time in order to get them to give their fellow man/woman/child a break.. There is an element out there that simply dont care about others, thankfully there are more of us than of them!!!

Hopefully... Amen

[pmelah]

i have my placard and i have my handi cap tag on the bike but i try to park it in the spriped area in some places as the bike does not take much room and leave a spot open for a cage with some one who really needs it not saying im capable of walking from left field but would need my cane to assist on the real bad days like today but there are times when i dont have that option and have to take the full spot. i have to laugh about it but one day i was at the local country store and parked in a blue spot a guy parked in the next one as he was walking in the store past me he was talking out loud thats not a parking place for a bike well while he was shopping a deputy came by got out looked at the bike i was still sitting at the table by the door watching the deputy pulled out his ticket book looked at the tag to start writing looked at me i smiled and said check the van that belongs to the gentalman that called yall about the bike he owns the van and has no placard hanging from the mirror or a handi tag the deputy smiled big and started writing for the van and placed the ticket on the windshield and left i then got on the bike and waited for the owner of the van to come out when he did he was laughing until he seen my tag and seen his windshield greeting boy was he pissed i did comment people should not call the police when they dont have proper placards on their vehicle i smiled and rode away

[Dragonslayer]

We have one woman at work that daily parks in the handicap space right at the front door. She has a permit but is consistant on putting the permit on the dash rather than hanging it from the rear view. She always places the permit holders name side down so that no one can see who the permit is issued to. I guess that in itself is legal enough but, my issue is that everyday at lunch, she puts on her jogging suit and jogs around the block , which this block is at least two miles.

 

I'm just saying that if she is healthy enough to jog around the block she is healthy enough to walk an additional ten feet to the non handicap space next to it. She is usually the first one in the building everyday and has the pick of 400 non handicap spaces.

 

She parks there because in that space she is protected from getting her doors bumped on her late model Altima.

 

Give me a break.

 

Little does she and others know, that I am the only one authorized in the organization to have abandoned and illegally parked vehicles towed. After the first of the year and the publication of the newsletter, if she doesn't change her ways, I'm gonna have the sucker towed. After a few $125.00 tow charges and $500 fines I bet she will get the point.

[etcswjoe]

We usally do not have an issue with people parking in the actuall spaces but we do have an issue with bikes parking in the blue stripped area that is supposed to be kept clear for van access. Did not know about the app will have to check it out, thanks.

 

In SC they are now putting your picture on the placard.

[mini-muffin]

I was at the store last week and two young girls came out got in a car parked in the handicapped spot with a tag, but they obviously weren't the ones it was intended for. Don't see many parking in those spots without tags, but does make you wonder how many are the person who applied for it.

 

Margaret

[Venturous Randy]

Years ago, I was parked next to a handicap spot with a Corvette parked there with a handicap tag. A blonde, which I actually knew from High school, walked out and started to get into the car. A police officer was watching her and pulled up behind her and questioned her parking there. All she kept saying was the car had a handicap tag on it. I also knew her husband, who the tag was for.

It really gets me when someone uses a handicap parking place because their family member, who is not with them, has a tag, knowing the difficulty that some have in getting around.

When my grandson Shane was recovering from his severe leg injury, even though he had a temporary card for Handicap parking, as soon as he could get around with crutches, he refused to park in a handicap spot. He said he needed the exercise.

RandyA

[icebrrg3rd]

My wife has one, but she only uses it on bad days. She feels guilty but on those bad days, a long walk thru the parking lot would do her in, let alone going thru the store. If I'm driving her, I'll drop her off at the door and park in a normal spot. The only time she uses it on a regular basis is at the college she goes to (adult student), since parking is at a premium and the only open spots usually are the handicap ones.

 

I will say this, since my wife got her tag, you start to realize that altho there are healthy & normal people using a family member's tag wrongly, there are those who might look able body but the reality is they are suffering but it doesn't show. Unless you are their Dr, you don't know what their ailment is and you shouldn't judge them.

 

I will get that app for those people who pull in those spots w/o tags/plates tho.

 

-Andrew

[Yammer Dan]

My wife has one, but she only uses it on bad days. She feels guilty but on those bad days, a long walk thru the parking lot would do her in, let alone going thru the store. If I'm driving her, I'll drop her off at the door and park in a normal spot. The only time she uses it on a regular basis is at the college she goes to (adult student), since parking is at a premium and the only open spots usually are the handicap ones.

 

I will say this, since my wife got her tag, you start to realize that altho there are healthy & normal people using a family member's tag wrongly, there are those who might look able body but the reality is they are suffering but it doesn't show. Unless you are their Dr, you don't know what their ailment is and you shouldn't judge them.

 

I will get that app for those people who pull in those spots w/o tags/plates tho.

 

-Andrew

 

That could be me. And I don't use mine all the time but if I have a long day on my legs it is nice. I once had a parking police check to make sure card was mine. I thanked him for doing so.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

If I were a business owner, and it became a problem, I would mount one of those security cameras on the building right in front of the space, mounted up high, with an additional sign, below the handicapped sign, that says all vehicles in this space are being recorded by video camera. Something to that effect, or a simple video camera icon on the sign.

 

The camera itself doesnt have to be a real camera, even fake cameras look real these days. The simulated ones cost about $30.

 

It might cut down on the interlopers.

 

 

 

[Dragonslayer]

Years ago, I was parked next to a handicap spot with a Corvette parked there with a handicap tag. A blonde, which I actually knew from High school, walked out and started to get into the car. A police officer was watching her and pulled up behind her and questioned her parking there. All she kept saying was the car had a handicap tag on it. I also knew her husband, who the tag was for.

It really gets me when someone uses a handicap parking place because their family member, who is not with them, has a tag, knowing the difficulty that some have in getting around.

When my grandson Shane was recovering from his severe leg injury, even though he had a temporary card for Handicap parking, as soon as he could get around with crutches, he refused to park in a handicap spot. He said he needed the exercise.

RandyA

Thanks exactly what I'm talking about. Good for your son.

[Dragonslayer]

My wife has one, but she only uses it on bad days. She feels guilty but on those bad days, a long walk thru the parking lot would do her in, let alone going thru the store. If I'm driving her, I'll drop her off at the door and park in a normal spot. The only time she uses it on a regular basis is at the college she goes to (adult student), since parking is at a premium and the only open spots usually are the handicap ones.

 

I will say this, since my wife got her tag, you start to realize that altho there are healthy & normal people using a family member's tag wrongly, there are those who might look able body but the reality is they are suffering but it doesn't show. Unless you are their Dr, you don't know what their ailment is and you shouldn't judge them.

 

I will get that app for those people who pull in those spots w/o tags/plates tho.

 

-Andrew

You are absolutely right and I'm not discounting the healthy looking people with unseen handicaps. I get it. The beauty of the app is that if someone is honestly entitled to the permit the ticket is not issued or forgiven.

 

But to jog everyday at lunch and park in the handicap space does not fall into that category as far as I'm concerned. If she was legit why does she consistantly cover up the permit holders name.

 

I hate liars, cheats and theves.

[GAWildKat]

I'm disabled as some of you know, and have the placard and tags on the cars and bikes. Depending on the day and how I feel I'll park in handicap or regular parking. As far as putting the placard name out I was told to not do that. Some very good copycats can make fake placards and will use someone's name and placard id number. I have had issues at my local gym with the weight lifters feeling entitled to park wherever they please. I'm not well liked there with those guys lol. I called the sherriff a while back on a jacked up hummer. Soneone was unhappy... I hate ppl who abuse handicap parking.

 

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[Dragonslayer]

As far as putting the placard name out I was told to not do that. Some very good copycats can make fake placards and will use someone's name and placard id number.

Good point Patricia, I had not considered that.

[dacheedah]

A little enforcement does wonders, we used to check to make sure that handicapped person was using the space. Can't park there unless they are present or "using" the space. drop off and pick up at the door doesn't count.