"You can't park there!!"

[Playinghardball]

Written by marigoldFollow

Anybody ever said that to you?

Loudly?

Complete with spittle.

I have.

More below the fleur-de-Kos.

Been outside for most of the day.

Finally, some sun.

After months of rain. (I live on the wet coast of Canada).

Dropped off my income tax return, at the Canada Revenue Agency office (due on Monday for us Canucks, not the 15th of April as in the U.S.).

Nice drive. Picked up groceries on the way home, and went and worked in the garden.
Sitting on my little stool, digging out weeds.

Just came in, and was checking out my Twitter timeline.

And there it was; a tweet from someone I follow wondering why a person with a Lamborghini would have a disability parking permit.

Well, I don't have a Lamborghini, but I do have a disability parking permit.

And I have a sports car.

And I'm not way old.

Older, but not way old.

Here's why I'm writing about this.

I don't "look" disabled (whatever that is).

I don't fit the stereotype of what a disabled person looks like (whatever that is).

I don't look old enough to be disabled (how old do you have to be?).

I don't have a chair (because only someone with a chair is disabled).

Those last four statements are not mine; those are things folks have said to me when I've parked in a disability parking spot, with the placard hanging off the rear view.

I have mobility problems; I cannot get in and out of most cars unless I can swing the door wide open.

My left leg doesn't bend properly.

This may not sound like an issue but it is.

Until I got the parking permit, I would get boxed in in parking spots and would be unable to get into my car (or any other car) because I couldn't open the door wide enough to get my leg in. I would have to wait until the person parked next to my car returned, moved their car, and then I could get into my car.

Kinda hard to drive when you can't get in the car.

I waited, one time, for two hours, for someone to return to their car. It was raining out. The shopkeeper in the store in front of where I had my car parked invited me in, to sit down and wait until the person returned. Nice people.

I also walk with a cane. My max walking distance without excruciating pain is about 10 minutes. Not distance. Time. 10 minutes.

So, until I get my knee replacement, and heal from that surgery, I will have to continue to use my parking permit.

I'm not gonna stay home because I don't "look" like I have a mobility issue.

But I'm not gonna get mad at the people who yell at me. Who curse me out.

Their ignorance is theirs. Not mine.

If I think they're amenable, I explain to them why I need a parking permit.

Most folks are. They don't like to see people cheating by parking in a disability spot when they don't need. I don't either.

And if they're not amenable?

Depends. Depends on the mood I'm in. Depends on what they said.

Mostly I ignore them.

They're the ones with the problem.

Not me.

Update:

The tweet I referred to in the diary was about the difficulty of getting in and out of a sports car if you're disabled.

I had a nice conversation with the person who wrote it.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/04/27/1087074/--You-can-t-park-there-

[undergroundpanther]

1. people are fucking ignorant.

I am disabled but my disabilities don't show,my back is a mess gives me pain,and I have a psychiatric injury ptsd. I don't drive but if I did I would want a handicap permit,for the days my back hurts.Or if I get triggered and I could get away.


I look like I'm twenty,but Im 46.I have a unique look,and a mowhawk if spiked is a foot tall. I go out in my leather and all and people don't even suspect how much pain I live with.Dissociation helps me maintain what passes for'normal'.
My back condition is degenerative.I fear for the future.


I must confess I have asked a freind to use a handicap spot when my leg was broke and I had to hobble to the pharmacy to get my meds.