A friend at work was talking about handicapped placards the other day. She was upset because her father used to have one, but wasn't granted a renewal. He is missing a hand and is a diabetic. She continued to complain about some people who have placards but really don't deserve them and that it isn't fair. In the same breath, she said that she shouldn't talk because her Grandmother has a placard and they keep the placard in my friend's car. She giggled and said that she always uses it when she's out shopping even though Grandma is not with her. Also, this "friend" is well aware that I have health problems and have a placard. I interjected that sometimes I am out shopping and can't find an available handicapped parking space. I either park way out in the parking lot, or go home without shopping if I feel that I can't walk that far. She replied with "Well now you're starting to make me feel guilty". I just said "It is what it is" and left it at that.

She has also told me in the past (several times) that when she and a friend went to Disney a few years ago, they borrowed someone's handicapped placard because they had 3 small children and needed it. Ummm...don't most people at Disney have small children...and isn't that why they have trams there?

Thanks for letting me vent...had to get it off my chest....

What an inconsiderate selfish person! (not you, her)

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

This is one of my pet peeves. I'm pretty sure I would qualify for one of those tags because my back aches so bad after just taking a few steps. But as long as I am able to get somewhere under my own steam, I will leave those spaces for someone who needs it more.

Years ago, a Pepsi Truck driver really got me upset. I pulled into a convenience store in a gas station. The driver was making a delivery, but he parked his big rig sideways blocking all the disabled spaces. I complained to him about it. He sarcastically told me he would give me his supervisor's phone number to call with a complaint.

I told him the supervisor is probably a friend of his, so I went home and e-mailed Pepsi. I let them know that he was an able bodied man and could find a parking spot out on the street. Especially since he had one of those dollies to use.

Pepsi apologized to me and I never saw one of those trucks parked there again. I passed every morning about the same time on the way to work and looked over there.

My mother has a handicapped placard. She *looks* healthy---but after 5 or 6 back surgeries, a hip replacement, chronic pain syndrome, fibromyalgia, there are days she can't walk to the bathroom at home, much less across a parking lot!

My pet peeve are those who get the parking placards without good cause (I have some friends who continue to use their DEAD family member's placard!!! Didn't realize it until the last couple of weeks). My other pet peeve are the people who think they *know* a person can't possibly be handicapped just by looking at the person.

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

My neighbor has handicapped license plates and when she came out of Costco police where standing by her car and asked to see proof plates were intended for her. If her husband had been the one they asked without her there he would have received a ticket which costs almost $300

I like seeing enforcement but that is going too far. We have window hanger and it's for me. My husband is actually as deserving as I am, but we just don't feel the need to get two tags, one for each of us. We seldom go anywhere alone and we both use the tag when we do.

My pet peeve, other than people who use the spaces that shouldn't, are stores that don't have any marked spaces near the door, not to mention those that don't have any marked spaces at all. Some places will put them off to the side with a wheelchair cut but the distance is sometimes a lot further than it has to be, but those who don't use a wheel chair are required to walk further to get to the door.

And then there are the handicap bathrooms. Another topic, I know. But there are places that have been allowed to remodel but not forced to put in accessible stalls. Should not happen.

I think that's great. If people don't see it being enforced, they'll continue to abuse the plates and/or tags.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

That's not great if you both need the plates. I'm not sure you can have them issued in two names in some places. And for the most part it is only enforced around this time of year unless someone sees a problem and calls the police. In fact, the more I think about it, the more I think they should do away with the plates and just issue the hanging tags. Those can easily be allotted to a given person and then there is no problem when there is more than one needed in a household. The plates make it far too easy for others to abuse. I keep my tag in my purse and if I'm not in the car, or my husband, then no one else has access. But he would lose his within days probably, so maybe it's not a great idea. 8-). We'd have to put a tracking device on it.

Wildwood, if the plates were registered in your husband's name and the placard in yours, wouldn't that work?

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

Not really, at least in our house. Our daughter, grandson, and a few weekends a month, son-in-law live with us. There are cars everywhere and we both need flexibility because we are often driving a car other than ours. It's sort of a usually controlled bedlam. We do over half the driving for grandson. We usually take one of their cars when we do, so they are paying for the gas. Often it's just drop off and pick up without our getting out of the car, but some is not. Our car is ancient and subject to spending time getting repairs, so then we end up in their cars also.

My husband gets around better than I do, so the placard is in my name, but when I send him to the store in bad weather, I make sure he takes it. He's in his 70's and has had two quad bypasses and a heart attack and several TIA's. All I need is for him to slip on snow or ice and break a hip or something else. The placard gives me peace of mind, knowing that he can park a little closer to the door. Of course we don't go out in terrible weather if we can avoid it. And of course, being a man, he refuses to concede to age and admit that he can't do what he once did.

I commented a few days ago that the trim on the exterior needed painting and he started talking about getting out the 40 foot ladder to take care of it. When I said he would not and could not get on the ladder, he told me that he had fallen off roofs twice before and not gotten hurt. And I said yes, but you were in your twenties. You don't bounce as well as you used to. I think he was saying it to get me riled up, and it worked. The old fart!

Your friend obviously cannot differentiate between a "need" and a "want". Just another blatant example of the self-centered laziness so rampant in today's society.

In the past, I probably would have been one of those people that would have had negative thoughts about someone that didn't "look" like they needed a tag. I never would have said anything, but it would have entered my mind. Working with Multiple Sclerosis patients taught me something new in that arena. We have many patients who might be fine going IN to a store, but need the closer space coming OUT of the store due to severe fatigue and muscle weakness. I felt bad later that I had never realized someone who needs a handicapped spot, may not always LOOK like they need one.

As the saying goes that we all learn in childhood - appearances can be deceiving.

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The local convenience has about 5 parking spaces to the left , in front of and to the right of the door. The farthest space to the right is the handicapped space which is where the ramp is. I found it amusing when I noticed people parking in the handicap space when there are empty spaces right in front of the door available.

I don't think it's any more frequent now. There's more people, so maybe it seems that way. It wasn't all that long ago that there were no handicapped spaces.

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

That would possibly be me. I have trouble with steps, even one up the curb at times. I will walk a few steps out of my way to hit the cut for the wheel chairs.

I have a handicapped family member who is CLEARLY handicapped, so I am very mindful of these spots. I also have a friend who does not LOOK handicapped, but has major knee problems and can't walk far.

I find it odd when I see a big truck parked in a handicapped spot. I mean, really.....if you are able to maneuver in and out of that thing, do you really NEED to be parking in the handicapped spot? Just doesn't make sense to me.

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Doing the right thing isn't always the same as doing the easy thing.

I have a friend who has handicapped plates on a big truck. It's some work for me to get in and out of his vehicle, but he's quite tall, so to him it's easier than dealing with a little car. I tend to get annoyed at the undeserving-placard/space-users rants, because I know a lot of disabilities really aren't visible. In some cases, too, the driver is perfectly able-bodied, but one of the passengers definitely isn't, so I've never yelled at someone for using a space I didn't they deserved, because I don't know their story.

That said, people who figure it's okay to break rules because they're somehow special bother me. Have some shame and shut up about your misdeeds, or just be a decent person. Seriously.

I, like many people, don't "look" like a deserve a placard. I only use it on bad days.

I totally understand your friend with the truck. DH used to have a Cavalier. I hated getting in and out of that thing because it was too low. I felt like I had to have one of those lift-chairs installed.

"The world is passing through troublous times. The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they knew everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness with them. As for the girls, they are forward, immodest and unladylike in speech, behavior and dress."

-Peter the Hermit AD 1274

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.

I guess ol' Peter the Hermit of 1274 is surely rolling over in his grave right about now...HAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!

"plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose"

- Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr

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If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn't help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we've got to acknowledge that He commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition, and then admit that we just don't want to do it.

- Stephen Colbert.