I’m going to do my best to make this as short and sweet as possible but it needs to be out there. There seems to be a lot of heavy opinions about handicapped parking spots and who should & who shouldn’t park in them, despite what is visible to the eye.
The first problem is that there is only one kind of handicapped parking spot: wide and close to the door.
There are three types of people that need the handicapped parking.
- Those that need to be close because of something not visible or with a standing disability like a broken foot, hip replacement, etc..
- Thos in a wheelchair like me who either have a ramp on their van or need the extra width between cars for their chair to fit.
- Those that need both.
I fall heavily into the second category but with young kids the 3rd category is more accurate.
Most parking lots are set up so you have to walk (or roll) behind cars to get from your car to the building.
My chair puts me low to the ground so most cars cannot see me if I’m going behind them. That presents a safety issue, especially when I have my three kids with me. Most handicapped spots are close a building and they have a walkway in front of them so going across the lot is now safe.
Now let’s wrap around to the peeve most people (ME!!!) have with people “abusing” these parking spot.
There are many times I see someone who maybe needs to be close, but doesn’t need the width park in the only spot left that I can use. Now why does this upset me if I KNOW they have a limp or heart condition? Because there’s a very usable spot for them either immediately across the row or one or two spots down that would only take an extra two or three steps. If you can stand, you can park in a narrow spot.
I CAN NOT! I may be thin, and my chair may be narrow but I need to open my doors all the way.
Just because you have the placard or plates doesn’t mean you should use it EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. If there is no where else to park in a reasonable distance, then by all means go ahead.
Now why does upset me? Because that means I have to double park at the end of the parking lot and unsafely role through the lot. If I’m by myself this isn’t really a big deal but when I have the kids with me, like I said earlier, it is.
Now you may have noticed that I mentioned double parking. Why would I need to double park if there’s no one in the end of the parking lot? Inevitably if I don’t, someone will park right next to me and I will not be able to open my driver’s side door.
I think there should be two different types of handicap parking spots. Those that are still the same width as all the others but close to the store and those that are further out but wide and have a safe path to the front door.
Yes, OMG YES. I am always so frustrated to see tiny cars in the spots that are CLEARLY marked “van accessible”.
If you want people who are not disabled to be considerate of your needs, the least you can do is be considerate of other disabled individuals needs!
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Hello, Priscilla. Firstable I want to state my whole admiration for all the valuable things you post. I’m going to marry this year,(for being accurately this October) a beautiful woman with spinal cord injury… I’m so excited for being her husband and I hope in the future to build a family. Occasionally I got mad for the people that use the handicapped parking slots and they don’t really need them, and also for the people without a handicap sign. I guess we need responsibility for both sides. Receive my best wishes for you and your family. I just have an extra question. Could you recommend me a book or something for guide me and learn more about “being a mom using a wheelchair”? Thank you so much.
Regards.
I agree, sadly we don’t get any empathy from those who have Parking Authorities, here in Australia, you are allowed to park in a spot, even if you are just picking up a script for someone in a chair, which totally defeats the purpose of having the extra space in the spot. I used to use the spots when there was no other spots at all, even though I used to be able to walk on my prosthesis, but if there was another spot close by, I would take that, and leave the wheelchair spot. After all I was able to walk and didn’t really consider myself disabled. Now that I can only wear the one limb, I can still drive, but I need the extra space beside the car to access the back seat to unload groceries, when I have a wheelchair trolley attached I need even more room. I am able to put my wheelchair in the boot, and I have taken other spots at the end of a row of cars, but then, as you say there is a safety concern while travelling behind cars! I am just super cautious! I should mount a flag on my chair. I wish you luck getting a wheelchair only spot approved, you really do have a greater need than so many people who use the spots! In the mean time, I got a power attachment for my chair so I can park farther away, as I did yesterday when all the oldies,(I am 64 so I can say that! :D) have taken all the wheelchair parking! The only caveat being I can’t use a trolley with it, so I mounted a small basket on the front, and now go back and forth a few times with smaller loads. Cheers Ben
I can see how that is a real problem. My MIL absolutely needs to be close and I don’t know how careful those who drive her (she doesn’t drive herself) are about watching for that. I will be more careful to note if they have two kinds of spots and take the narrow places when available.
XOXO
Traci
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My mother has a handicap permit on her car due to a heart condition. When she would go into a parking lot, she often parked in an available spot near the store, but not marked handicap for the reason you mentioned. Great post and good reminder!
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Priscilla, you said this the best I’ve read. You are exactly spot on with your observations and suggestions.
A concurrent issue is that doctors, at least here in Florida, pass out permits like Halloween candy, and people use other’s permits.
Your suggestion would alleviate some of the problem I mention, because those people would at least not be in a true wheelchair space.
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Thanks for giving us your perspective on this issue. I notice them all the time but never thought about it like that.
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I hadn’t thought about the width issue and how your height in a wheelchair is a safety hazard. I will definitely try to keep my eye out more. Be safe.
My husband had MD. We choose to park in a normal spot if one is available and close. We only park in handicap when we need too. I think he also parks there when he has the kids with him. Because he can’t chase them down if they run off he wants to be as close as possible.
YES!! That’s great to hear. He definitely needs to park there with the kids! 🙂
Great reminder. Even worse than people that need to park close using the last spot is people that park in a handicap spot just because they have the card that their mother left in the car that they can hang up and use. My friend does this and I keep telling her not to! Ugh!
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My grandfather used to tell us to do that, and it makes my mother and I SO mad! Makes me even madder now that I often need a disabled space (and have both plates and a placard).
If there is a space with room enough to fully open one of my rear doors that is close to the store, I park there. But I don’t walk well, and my service dog can’t clear the door if I can’t get it at least 90% open, so I do often end up in the accessible spaces. It may look like I don’t need the space, but it’s hazardous to me, my dog, and my car to try to get him out in too small a space! Fortunately, in So Cal spaces tend to be wider than on the East Coast, so I can use other spaces about 50% of the time here. When a place is crowded or my joints are really bad, I don’t feel like I have a choice in using the accessible spot – it’s that or add a bunch of extra walking, which means extra pain at the end of the day. As I’m already in some level of pain 100% of the time, I feel like it’s reasonable for me to use accessible spots to try to limit how much additional pain I have to deal with. Not to mention, if it’s a hot day, that walk in from the far end of the parking lot can mean fainting or collapsing because I’m so darn heat sensitive.
I think I’m feeling a little bit defensive here, probably because of the crap I’ve gotten in the past, mostly before the dog, about not being ‘disabled enough’ because I didn’t ‘look sick’. It’s easy for a lot of people to judge a person based on what they can see, and a lot of disabilities are invisible.
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It is really good to see this from a different perspective. I do not have a handicap parking permit but have family member that do and some that I truly believe should not. One in particular definitely abuses this and parks in spots that she should stay out of. I am really glad you posted this and I so much want to share this on that particular family members facebook page
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Hi, I feel your pain, Australia used to have a wonderful two tiered disabled parking system – red or blue permits, which allowed for different parking needs. Unfortunately they have gone to a unilateral system which creates the problems you are describing.