LOL, oh well, when I get rolling (no pun intended) responding to all these posts, I just answer 'em all. 
I never said you were slow getting out of the car - for all I know you could be lightening-quick. But come one, the guy was 15 feet away - even a few seconds would be enough for him to come over. How the hell can you be so sure nothing could happen? But since you seem to be entirely convinced that you had a magical ‘no physical confrontation’ forcefield around you and your car, lets say that there really was no danger to you in this instance.
Next time you might not be so lucky. There are consequences to pursuing vigilante justice, and the possibility of running into someone bigger, stronger, and angrier than you is definitely one of them. Of course the possibility of being asked to remove yourself from the premises and not return is also one of them, and you clearly can’t accept that.
Pull the other one.
And hey, it was me making the decision. I am comfortable handling myself in these situations. If it had been a Hell’s Angel or some crazy thug, perhaps I wouldn’t have done what I did. I exercised on-the-spot judgment. This was a little guy. I wasn’t concerned for my safety. Now, you can call that foolish or vigilante or whatever term you’d like, but I was the one there and you weren’t. I am capable of making these snap decisions and I am capable of defending myself. I know, I know, a guy in a wheelchair is a total invalid and is just inviting an ass-kicking by being an “entitled jerk” by doing what I did. And, as I have argued in my letter to the Dept of Justice (and helped show by the similar incident at Planet Fitness about a month later) my membership was terminated due to a personal animice and lack of professionalism on the part of the manager at HHFC, not my technical law-breaking. Given the context and extenuating circumstances that led up to MY transgressions, I believe that I should have been allowed to remain at that gym.
Now I am not in the HABIT of blocking people who park illegally. It’s happened twice in my life. But, if it were to happen again (and it very well might) and it led to a physical confrontation (and I’m aware I’d be at a severe disadvantage), that would be something that I instigated. ME. I know this. I didn’t START the fight, but my actions instigated the anger on the part of the fight-starter. I never run from responsibility for my actions (and please, no rude comments about the use of the word “run”)
Would have sucked for you, though, if that “little guy” had pulled out a gun and shot you from 15 feet away. A bit unlikely, true, but shit like that can and does happen. That is, after all, why they call a gun “the great equalizer” - it enables a “little guy” to stand off 15 feet and take down Mr. Buff Bodybuilder.
While I don’t care to be carried around, either, your reaction to the idea seems to be extreme. Well, OK, you have issues I don’t. I think you DO have some serious ego and body issues, probably with justification, that other people don’t, including some of the rest of the disabled crowd.
What am I missing here?
**Acsenray **is saying **Elmwood **is pulling your leg with that story of the origin of the wheelchair symbol.
Go around and ask people at random if they would allow someone to carry them and place them on a toilet (all under 40yrs old and with at least similar functioning abilities as myself). 100% would tell you no. Come on. Be honest and realistic DUDE. And ok, yes, the small possibility of getting shot existed in that situation. True. But that possibility was small enough that I felt comfortable in my actions. It’s about assessing each situation independently for what that situation is presenting.
I don’t know what you mean by ‘animice’ (I’ve never heard that word before), but it seems to me that your membership was terminated because they didn’t want someone making trouble and you had made yourself a problem on several occasions. If it’s a private gym, they have the right to terminate your membership. Didn’t you sign an agreement that indicated that? I know I did at my gym, and if I was in the habit of getting into screaming matches and parking in the middle of the parking lot aisle, I wouldn’t be surprised if they decided that we should part ways.
Do you have any evidence that they are discriminating against you? Do you think that an able-bodied person would not have had their membership cancelled after similar antics? Are there other disables patrons at this gym (sounds like it’s designed for that) - are they being treated in a substandard manner?
Your actions lead to you being dismissed from your gym. Now it’s your responsibility to find a new gym. What’s the problem?
“Habit” implies chronic patterns of behavior. This was an isolated incident. And yes, I was discriminated against, but not in the parking lot issue, with the exercise banning-that is explained in detail in my letter to the DOJ. I connected the two events to show the unfair behaviour of the manager.
He meant “animus.”
Ah, thanks. For some reason I kept seeing that as a misspelling of ‘avarice’, which made no sense.
Thank you. :o
He still won’t feel it.
And with that, I’ve locked in my spot in Hell.
In the time it took you to type out this post, an able-bodied person could easily move the length of a parking space and punch a guy in the nose.
Several times over, probably.
I’m sorry, brickbacon. just the first sentence. That real-life junior mod comment was not meant for you, but for the OP. My apologies.
as to the OP. I read the article and your post. As others have mentioned, blocking someone in isn’t ok just because the person parked in a handicapped spot.
You did make a comment about doing this before I believe. So if I read that wrong, I apologize. But if I didn’t, you are in my opinion playing with fire.
You lost your gym membership. I think that sucks. However, I’m not sure I believe this was the only instance of your indignation at something. Are you telling us everything that’s happened to you at the gym that you view as scandalous? What if someone was in the handicapped restroom stall and you had to wait? Is that something you get fired up about?
To physically wait for someone to come back to their car so you can berate them as well as show them how clever you were by blocking them in is a jerk move, IMO.
Here’s the thing. If you take a picture of the car, the date, etc is recorded and you send it in to the police, they may issue the driver a ticket. I received one just like this once. I forgot to put the temporary thing up, but the person that turned me in had no idea I had one. When I notifiied the police about the situation, the ticket was rescinded (they had a record of my temp. tag with my license plate).
If the guy who turned me in parked behind me and waited for me to come out, do you think that could have ended in a good way or a bad way? It doesn’t matter who would ultimately be proven wrong. The event could get ugly very quickly.
I can understand your frustration over the situation, but your method of handling it leaves something to be desired, that’s all.
:smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack::smack:O…M…FUCKING…G…
“To physically wait for someone to come back to their car so you can berate them as well as show them how clever you were by blocking them in is a jerk move, IMO.” THIS NEVER HAPPENED!!! OTHER THAN IN YOUR HEAD!!! IS THAT CLEAR!!! Jesus, I’ve never seen so many examples of illiteracy on an online message board. And NO, you are right, if you had read everything, which of course you didn’t, you’d know there was another issue of “injustice” or whatever term you used in your post, regarding this gym (and specifically the manager). It involved the arbitrary banning of an exercise. An exercise which I had no alternative in which to work the muscles that were worked by doing it. And it was banned with no alternative offered.
Wow, I just can’t see why anyone would find you abrasive or difficult to deal with.
Can we know more about this exercise? Why was is banned? Was is dangerous? Was is harming or inconveniencing other people? There must have been some reason for the banning. Also, the gym doesn’t have an obligation to provide a means for every person to work out every muscle group they feel like working out. If you didn’t like the way the gym was being run, why didn’t you ‘vote with your dollars’ and go somewhere else?
That’s it. I’m done making these repititous posts. I’m definitely not going through all the effort of explaining the admittedly complex issue of the exercise banning when you ask me a question like you do with your closing sentence. I’m not answering your question, you can find your answer to that by going back and READING the thread.