We Sold Our Souls for Thirty Places to park

Checking out the parking. /

I just got off the phone with another disgruntled consumer consumer with a disability fussing and fuming about how they were violated by able bodied folks parking illegally in “disable parking slots”. Again, I am a person who has a disability and I drive, occasionally, a lift equipped van and I use “designated “ parking areas when I can even though, I no longer support the concept of “designate”, “disabled parking” I gave up on the whole idea years ago when I realized that having “ disabled plates” was some sort of a status symbol particularly if you were old and or over weight. Doc s out there, across the nation, were signing disabled parking applications for any patient who paid their bill. I no longer had to worry about able-bodied people abusing the parking spaces and never being a space open, now I could not find a space because all these folks with “marginal” disabilities had glommed onto their little disability placard or plates and were not going to turn them loose till the mortician pried it out of their hands. So, I stopped using them, sort of, I am not stupid. Generally, depending on these parking spaces is useless and frustrating. Designated parking is essentially useless. If a space is open I’ll use it but most of the time I am in my power chair and I can cruise to the market or where I am going with out issue. It’s too bad, because designated parking was one of the few pieces of “currency” people with “real” disabilities had. Social currency. Designated was something, which gave you substance and credibility. Hey, I feel my callers pain but get over it. If I had my way I would get rid all of the designated parking areas and mandate all parking spaces be accessible, you know, large enough to accommodate a van. Then if people, anyone, wanted to park right next to the door they would just have to “shark” for a place line everyone else. So much for my rant on designated parking—one of these days I’ll give you my rant on how UTA’s Trax system has screwed people with disabilities accessing their trains.