Handicap Parking

On Tuesday afternoon, Walter and I went to Walmart. To our surprise, all the handicap parking spots were taken (about 20 of them). We had to park in a spot away from other cars because I needed room to get in my wheelchair. No walking for me because it was too far. Since all the handicap spots were taken, I assumed I would see a lot of physically handicapped people in Walmart (at least 20), but I didn’t. No people in wheelchairs, no people with canes, and I only saw one person riding a powered cart. What have we become? I blame the government and doctors for the problem.

What is the problem? The problem is this - the government requires every parking lot have handicap parking. That’s good. Doctors write prescriptions to every patient that asks for one, every overweight patient, every senior citizen, everyone that complains. Don’t get me wrong, some people have physical handicaps, and we need the spots, but some people are just lazy. They’re too lazy to use the opportunity to exercise (walk) from their car to the store. I was told if you don’t use it you lose it. Then there are the people who are not “handicapped” but have the placard in their cars and see nothing wrong with parking in a spot.

Then there are all the “disabled veterans.” I thank all the veterans for their service, and I respect them. A lot of the vets suffer from Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a mental handicap. My opinion is, a handicap spot is for physical handicaps not mental handicaps. If your mental handicap is that bad, should you be driving? Maybe we need to look at that.

It’s funny - before my stroke I never thought about handicap parking. I liked to park as far as I could so I had a nice walk. Really, I didn’t think about any handicap things - bathrooms, seating in a stadium or theater, airplanes, restaurants, etc. I do think we have to rethink the parking or at least the definition of a handicap (physical and mental).