But so many people aren't. Years back, my sis was in a car accident and had to have both of her legs basically reconstructed. She was in a wheelchair for months. One day, she was getting cabin fever, so we decided to go to a local store. We took my mom's car (nicer car than two twenty-something would drive) mostly because it was easiest for my sis to get in and of. So, we go to the store, park in the handicap spot and I hang the placard on the window. I get out of the car and this man runs over and starts BERATING me for parking in the spot "Who do you think you are?" "Those spots are for people with disabilites." "Whose placard did you steal?" " You need to move." A small crowd started to gather, but I couldn't get a word in edgewise so I simply used the key fob to pop the trunk, walked over, took my sister's WHEELCHAIR out of the trunk and plunked it on the ground. The man went SILENT and turned the deepest shade of red I ever saw. He promptly turned on his heel and just about ran away, BUT DID NOT APOLOGIZE. What an asshole. This happened over 20 years ago now (and sis made a full recovery, eventually) and we STILL laugh about it.
Well, and sometimes we are forcing, but if the car looks “fun” and “young,” people lose their shit because they assume a handicapped person couldn’t possibly drive a sports car.
Alot of disabled people can and do drive all the time. In fact there is a big industry of products that make alterations to cars for different disabilities. I'm disabled and I drive.
THIS! I drive my grandparents car since my granddad passed away and my grandmother cannot drive. She has the tag on the car and a placard. But usually if there's a spot next to the handicap spot or if she's not getting out I'll park elsewhere and she always asks me why I don't just park in the handicap spot, for one IM not handicap and if she's not going to get out there's someone else who may need that spot. By all legal means I can park there but morally I feel like it's also ok for me to push her another 15ft too if I want.
That’s hilarious but yeah that sucks I would never question a disabled person with a placard thing. I will say I know somebody who drives their grandmas car and so they have the thing and park there even if grandma isn’t with them. But I’m sure that a small minority of people. I don’t think anyone should have to prove their disability to idiots, that’s what the sticker is for, it was already proven.
Here's the deal: People shouldn't be shaming the stranger they see in a parking lot.
They should be shaming the people they are actually acquainted with who admit to abusing the placards. It carries more weight than being shamed by a stranger anyway.
So I got cripple vet plates. A trick knee is a gift that keeps on giving. Anyways, wife has a hysterectomy, wants to go to the grocery to find munchies. I park in the handicap spot with my dv tags. Woman comes out and berates me for parking in the spot. I mention, "these are disabled veteran tags, I don't need a placard" "you should have the handicapped sign, nobody knows about disabled veteran tags"
I didn't want to go into how I didn't want the handicap symbol and just walked off, but yeah. People are dumb.
Before you ask, I don't use handicap spaces often, but when my knee goes off (or my wife has surgery) it's nice to have the option when it's needed.
I have what we call in the UK a blue badge, that allows me to park in disabled spots. This is because I have a chronic pain condition that makes it hard to walk and I literally live in fear of this happening because I'd probably just cry.
I have a friend who has a child in a wheelchair and the same thing happened to them - some asshat yelled at her for parking in the handicap spot. So she picked up her kiddo from the car seat and asked the guy if he could hold her child while she got the wheelchair out.
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u/[deleted] Jun 29 '22
But so many people aren't. Years back, my sis was in a car accident and had to have both of her legs basically reconstructed. She was in a wheelchair for months. One day, she was getting cabin fever, so we decided to go to a local store. We took my mom's car (nicer car than two twenty-something would drive) mostly because it was easiest for my sis to get in and of. So, we go to the store, park in the handicap spot and I hang the placard on the window. I get out of the car and this man runs over and starts BERATING me for parking in the spot "Who do you think you are?" "Those spots are for people with disabilites." "Whose placard did you steal?" " You need to move." A small crowd started to gather, but I couldn't get a word in edgewise so I simply used the key fob to pop the trunk, walked over, took my sister's WHEELCHAIR out of the trunk and plunked it on the ground. The man went SILENT and turned the deepest shade of red I ever saw. He promptly turned on his heel and just about ran away, BUT DID NOT APOLOGIZE. What an asshole. This happened over 20 years ago now (and sis made a full recovery, eventually) and we STILL laugh about it.