Parking in Handicap Space

[FloridaLizardQueen]

It's not only rude to park in a handicap spot without the permit, but it's flat out ILLEGAL. As for you parking in the spot with your grandmother (who might have needed to get out for a minute or two), I don't think you're the sucky one, and you didn't do anything wrong. The guy who yelled at you is a creep who should mind his own business in this case.

Also those elderly people who have those permits and don't look physically handicapped might have something else wrong with them that warrants the tag. They might have a heart condition or they may have had a stroke and they can't park too far away from the store anymore.

[Dips]

Just for the record, I read the regulations which came with my mother's placard. Apparently, you cannot legally use it to park in a handicapped spot unless the handicapped person actually exits the vehicle for the entire time it is parked there.

I have no opinion about whether the OP was sucky or not (I actually think the idiot who blocked him in and berated him was the suckier one), but what he did could have resulted in a fine. I'm posting this in the hopes that I can help him and other CSers who have relatives with placards avoid any future problems.

[Erin]

Just for the record, I read the regulations which came with my mother's placard. Apparently, you cannot legally use it to park in a handicapped spot unless the handicapped person actually exits the vehicle for the entire time it is parked there.

I was about to make the same comment, but decided to read thru the entire thread before posting. Good thing I did.

My mom has a handicapped permit that we keep in my car. (mom doesnt drive) We use it when we go to the store, but sometimes if there's an open spot that is close to the handicapped spaces and the store is really busy, I'll park in the non-handicapped space instead. Because my mom can walk, and it's only a few extra feet or two for her to walk (which she can do). When I see a place that's so busy that almost all the handicapped spaces are taken, I'll let the truly handicapped people take those spots.

I just got diagnosed with a chronic lifelong disease that's probably going to make me become disabled. (probably quicker than I'm planning to, the way things are going right now) My problem is one of those "invisible" diseases, you cant see it unless it does something to make me have a physical handicap (which it hasnt done yet...well, except for making me blind in one eye for a month and a half last fall)

I am totally amazed at how badly some handicapped people are treated in this world. When my mom's knees were bad enough that she HAD to have a wheelchair to get around in the stores, people would actually PUSH her out of their way so they could get to something quicker...wouldnt say "excuse me", they'd just grab the chair and push her out of the way. (these are the people that I "accidentally" ran into with her chair or shopping cart if I'm pushing one)

And handicapped accessible bathrooms...that's a laugh. Try pushing a wheelchair thru a door that opens into a little atrium that has another door that opens out. It's a handicap trap. Then, if you successfully get thru that, you find that the handicapped accessible bathroom is just a stall that's a few inches wider than the others, and doesnt have rails to hold onto...and the stall door opens in, instead of out.

And then some brainiac has installed the toilet paper dispenser so low that even the "normal" people will fall off the toilet trying to reach down to get a wad of paper. (and these are new buildings that should have been built to code according to the ADA)

I hope my newly diagnosed disease never makes me truly handicapped, because I will be one of those people that will key any car that's parked in the handicapped spaces without a permit. Not only will I key it, I'll carry a nice big Sharpie marker with me, and I'll leave a note that says "my car was vandalized because I was an asshat and parked in a handicapped spot without a permit".