now you’re compartmentalizing the posters in an attempt to ignore what you’re hearing. Statistically, you would be getting support from the same ole’ band of posters but as people are exposed to this continuing saga that hasn’t happened.
We’re not trying to attack you to make you feel bad, just the opposite. Think of it as an intervention.
Yeah and I wasn’t being, in the least bit, accusatory, aggresive, angry or pissy. Like I said before, I asked this man the question because I originally thought he may have been a legitimately disabled man who had, for whatever reason, failed to display his permit. So I agree with this post 100%.
Baloney again.
Old fart knew you were handicapped. Old fart knew the car was parked in a handicapped space. Old fart saw you eyeballing the car. Those are pretty much facts.
Based on what he said I’d also bet good money he knew your past history of playing parking lot cop to boot.
And, I’d bet good money your delivery of the question had an angry/sour/accusatory tone to it as well.
Your question DID not happen in a vacuum. That question could. But in this case it certainly did not.
Old fart’s brain processed all these facts and other inputs and probably thought “jerk”. But he toned it down a bit and gave you a warning you should probably heed if you want to keep going to that particular gym.
BTW are you using steroids or anything remotely like them? Is so you should knock em off IMO.
well that’s not true. We might all be wrong but it wouldn’t hurt to talk it out with a professional. You don’t have to be crazy to have unresolved issues with a traumatic event in your life. You only have to be human.
I believe plenty of what you say, but this is total bullshit.
“Nobody mind me, I’m just a guy in a wheelchair peering into someone else’s car parked in a handicap spot and asking an innocent question. I just wanted to know how much below sticker he paid, that’s all.”
Like Bill Murray delivering the plastic explosive squirrel in Caddyshack.
this has been mentioned before. If you are on steroids this is a big deal.
I’ll just re-post this for emphasis. :dubious:
And I’ll tell you why I believe you all are doing it: you want me to leave the board.
Oh sure, your response will be something like, “Oh I couldn’t give less of shit what you do…” or something like that, but this is what seems quite clear to me. I feel like I have been under assault from a particular group of posters ever since I got her and it won’t relent until I leave.
No.
We want you to understand why you get shit in the real world because apparently you are oblivious to the reasons why you do . Are we chasing you down in cafe society about your contributions to a Star Trek thread?
Either your delivery/approach in the real world sucks or your town is full of uncaring assholes. Or both possibly. Somethings gotta give if you don’t wanna end up banned from all the places you want to go or gawd forbid get the crap beat out of you. Or you can keep doing exactly what you’ve been doing, get crap for it in the real world and people here telling you why you are and you can keep going “but I didn’t…”.
Do you really think people here in general have a dislike for handicapped people?
Seriously.
wow, this couldn’t be further from the truth. I admit to a certain bit of sarcasm at the beginning but that ended many pages ago when I decided this was more serious than I originally thought. At this point I’ve gone out of my way to be as honest as possible and not make you feel like you’re under assault. It’s clear that this really bothers you and I think you should talk it out with a professional and not us. I wish you well and would hope you are able to resolve this to your satisfaction and that you stay on this board for things other than this thread. It doesn’t appear that it’s helping in the least.
I would like to think that you go to bed tonight feeling like people care about you and not the opposite.
Missed the edit window
Heck, if things were going good, and you were taking names and cars were being towed and tickets being written everybody here would be giving you high fives. But thats not how its going down is it?
So, something is wrong. All you are doing in the real world is pissing off people, getting banned from places, getting yourself worked up, and probably putting yourself in danger.
Do you want to fix that or continue down that same road?
Many people here do want to help. But you aren’t going to get the sugar coated version. At least not if you are gonna fight every piece of advice tooth and nail.
You can do what you want.
Good luck. It’s my bedtime too.
This is the exact sort of response I was anticipating. LOL.
Thanks for caring man.
And if asking “Who’s car is this?” was made by anyone else but the same ole’ guy that’s been on talk shows, in the newspaper, had run in’s with the police, posted on the internet about it, lost a gym membership over it and been thrown from his wheel chair for doing it maybe the old man wouldn’t have reacted the way he did.
It’s funny, you get the same reaction here every time you post a story like this and this person, who (in all likelihood) has no idea of your message board history, probably never saw the comments on the online article (IIRC many of them were more or less the same as these…but then anonymous newspaper article comments are pretty useless anyways), more the likely doesn’t know that the staff and/or police asked you just to call in and walk away…and yet you made one quick comment to him and he reacts virtually the same way. Doesn’t that tell you something? There must be a better way to do this. I mean, even if it was his car and you told him it was illegal to park there. What do you expect to happen after that. It’s like telling a smoker that cigarettes are bad for them. It’s not like he’s going to say “Oh, sorry, I didn’t know, I don’t do it anymore”.
My suggestion is that you email your local police department or meet with the chief (if it’s a smaller PD/town) and ask them what can be done. Explain to them that it really does present a true hardship for you. Especially since you have (IIRC) suicide doors on your car and they have to swing all the way open so you really can’t just park a few spots away with the rest of the cars.
Can you take a picture of the offending cars and email it to them? Maybe if they see repeat offenders they can start issuing tickets? Is there a way you can get squads dispatched faster? I would even say something like “For my safety, I don’t want to approach these people anymore, besides, you told me not to do that, but I’m not sure what to do anymore, I call, but nothing happens. I feel like I’m being ignored. It’s hard when I have to go two grocery stores because the first one has all the handicapped spots taken up by people without placards, it’s even words when I see them get out of the car and walk up to the door and appear able bodied. I want to confront them, but I don’t want to cause any more trouble that I have in the past, I’ve learned that that just causes more problems then it solves” or something like that.
As someone who deals with authority/government/police often enough, this is how I would do it. Asking them for help because “little old me can’t do it by myself” works better then putting them in a position of bailing you out of trouble, diffusing a situation or ending up with a news story. If it works and you get a couple of tickets issued out of it, I’d send them a catered lunch out of it. Just call a local sub shop and send something over some day. They’ll love it (I’m a caterer, we do that from time to tome for stores that get robbed). Also, if you never got an answer from the actual OP of this thread, I wouldn’t drill them about it anymore if you do contact them. If there was an (il)legitimate reason why they didn’t issue the ticket or the cop screwed up, they may rather just forget about it and it’ll be better if you didn’t bring it up and accidentally rub it in their faces. I just had that happen to. OTOH, I have licenses they can mess with if they want to, so I have to tip toe from time to time.
Dude, did I EVER suggest such a thing?
And the WORLD is full of uncaring assholes, not just my town. Is this news to you?? The fact that I am challenging their actions (whether it be by calling police or whatever) is why I get “shit”, not because of the inherent “dickishness” of my behavior. It’s because assholes don’t like to be called out for being assholes. And if I ignored this issue, as everyone here seems to think I should, then absolutely nothing ever happens and the situation is only guaranteed to worsen. The only “advice” I’ve gotten is to shutup.
Baloney.
I’d guess that the amount of people that park illegally in handicapped parking spots has more or less leveled off and is controlled by LEO’s. I’d further suggest that if you stopped what you’re doing (or at least using your current methods) it would not get worse.
I think part of the problem is that you have a very highly inflated ego. I mean, seriously, you honestly think that the situation is “guaranteed to worsen” if you ignored the issue. You truly think you’re making that big of a difference. Personally, I think that’s why you have no real interest in anyone’s suggestions and are really just looking for people to say “Go Jamie, you tell’em, he’s the dick”.
Ok, tell me what suggestions have been made other than to, for all intents and purposes, “shut the fuck up”. I call police, I get bashed. I question someone parking illegally, I get bashed. I fucking glance inside a car window when I pass by on my way to my car, I get bashed. So what advice has been given to me? 
I never quantified how big of a difference I was making; that is something you’ve just inserted here. But there is no denying that I have made some difference; without my calls there are several cars that never would have been ticketed. As well as many people who park illegally who were embarrassed as hell by being called out by a person in a wheelchair; I imagine at least some of those people, having never been embarrassed like that before, would alter their future parking behavior.
And how do you think this “control” by LEO’s is facilitated? It’s, in large part, by the watchful eyes of concerned citizens.
Inflated ego? Uh, my ego is irrelevant here. My individual role in the fight against handicap parking abuse, at this stage, is miniscule at best. I acknowledge this. But it IS a role and to do less would be a failure as a human being, in my eyes. It is a small facet in the much larger battle for equality.
You know what? I am. When I told this story, I was looking for a bit of surprise that such totally benign (and seemingly understandable) behavior on my part (and yes, even with the man having knowledge of my previous gym mishap) would provoke such rude and disrespectful language from a man with whom I previously thought I had had a cordial relationship. It was meant to highlight the simply profound lack of knowledge and misunderstanding that exists in some of the AB world regarding the importance of handicap parking for the disabled members of society.
Instead of offering his sympathies to me for having to encounter yet another asshole who took it upon his or herself to take up the spot that another disabled person would actually need; he chastises me for having the nerve to call this law-breaker out* in the first place. This really strikes me as a bass-ackwards, night-is-day and day-is-night kind of mentality. What’s even more surprising (or not) is how many here seem to be supporting that mentality.
*and by “call-out” I literally mean just acknowledging the car’s status.
ok people wondering about handicap parking space and why its a big deal.
ITS A CIVIL RIGHTS VIOLATION AND LIFE AND DEATH VIOLATION
handicapped parking Violations is between 500$-1000$ here in my state. For parking violations that is quite high.
It is a matter of life and death for the disabled, who need those spaces that are being taken by the able bodied. Especially those in chairs or scooters.
I saw first hand what happens when violators use the spaces and a handicapped driver needed it.
One Day, I was at a pawn shop in January, during a snow fall of 3 inches. A handicapped driver in a power chair, had to park in a non handicapped parking space with no ramp to the sidewalk. This person had to drive down the middle of the parking lot behind the vehicles and gets stuck in the slush and could not get free. I went out to help him get to the side walk, pushing him. Normals did nothing to help this person even though there were 5 people watching this guy spinning his wheels. By the By, I am also disabled but mine are not related to mobility.
This is a life and death situation for a person like this. lets suppose that it happened right behind a suburban SUV. The owner of the suburban comes out and doesn’t see the stuck disabled person in the chair because they are lower than the window. The driver gets in and pulls out running over the disabled person. Seriously injuring or killing them.
Or what if it happened after dark In the middle of winter, The person would freeze to death right there in the parking lot!
This has happened time and again which is why they came up with laws like the American with disability act of 1990, which made these violation a civil rights matter on top of the parking violation. This is reality. The handicap parking violation is not just a parking violation, it is also a civil rights violation. This is why the fines are so high 500-1000. There are standards in the access rights that governs disability parking space.
The gym is a public accommodation, this is why it has disability spaces that are larger and have the extra space between spots to give room for the drop down ramps on vans.
it seems most of the people posting to this thread are not looking at it from the vantage point of those who actually have the right and need to use those spaces.
ONLY PEOPLE ALLOWED ARE THOSE WITH PLATES OR UP TO DATE CARDS (CARDS ARE SUPPOSE TO BE HUNG ON THE REAR-VIEW MIRROR, NOT ON THE DASH BOARD IN ORDER TO BE VALID)
NO ONE WITHOUT A VALID PERMIT IS ALLOWED NOT EVEN A DISABLED PERSON.
Valid permit only. (People who actually need it, are going to get a valid permit every time)
The reason you call 911 is its a valid danger to report. You say right off the back to reporting disability parking violation. If they have separate department then they transfer you to the parking department.
By the By, The pawn shop, where I witness the consequences of violations, Had repeated offenders they only had the paint on the grounds and not the standing signs, The property owner got fined for improper markings and people repeatedly got fined for violations there.
Able body people may think there is no harm in the violation, but in reality you could be responsible for killing someone who actually needed that spot!
in this case ignorance and arrogance kills.
To the OP Keep at it, if this same car keeps violating the same space, I recommend that you call the building safety and inspection agency for your city. Give them the license plate # and other detail about the car, the number of times you have seen the car there. Also point out to them that the business owner is not taking enough action to stop this person from violating safety and civil rights. Explain to them that the Cops are not enforcing the space there as well.
The Gym can be held accountable for repeat offenders. The gym Is suppose to announce over the intercom to move the car and report it as well. (guilt by association and in violation of civil rights protected by the Americans with disability act, equal access.) That is when they don’t take action against the violator.
Also when talking to building safety and inspection department that is is in violation of the American with disability act Not everyone knows this but are suppose too since it has been in effect since 1990.
I am not sure if you have a serial Number on the place-card or not but I would report the serial number to the DMV because It is illegal to use a invalid card illegally. He or she is breaking 2 laws or more the parking space and the invalid illegal place-card. The card was suppose to have been shredded when expired.
For those who think its not big deal your violating civil rights laws and putting peoples lives in a life and death situation. by parking there without permit or not reporting the violation. Not reporting it is guild by association, You saw it and did noting to stop it.
Corey
PS I am not coming back to this site. Just wanted to educate people abut this and to try to get people to realize that such a simple crime has dire consequence for those who have the legal permit to use the spot.
I have been a private disability advocate for 8+ years. Primarily in the service animal access, And in process I look out for fellow citizens who are having their civil rights violated by people such as the Ignorant and arrogant SOB who thinks he or She can violate someone else civil rights and life for their own convenience.
If I had my way I would revoke this drivers license for the repeated civil rights violations.
Then you’re doing it wrong.
As I said earlier, if this person, with who you’ve had a cordial relationship, heard what you’re describing as a benign statement and reacted more or less the same way people here do then it’s not us, it’s not them, it’s you. You have a choice to make:
A)If you want people to stop acting like that, change your behavior. Clearly, what you’re doing bothers people. Pay close attention to how I worded that and don’t put words into my mouth. I’ll say it again to make sure it’s clear “Change your behavior”
B)If you don’t want people to stop acting like that, continue on with what you’re doing, but stop complaining about it. As long as you continue to do the same thing, people will continue to react the same way they do now. They will continue to call you a dick, you’ll be asked not to return to businesses, you’ll end up in confrontations and probably physical altercations. Perhaps you will make some headway, maybe people will stop parking in those spots just because they don’t want to deal with you.
Something else I thought of as I was typing. When people tell you to ignore the illegally parked cars, it’s not that they’re telling you that you should ignore them because it’s not a big deal, they’re telling you to ignore them because you get so worked up over it. It’s like the old joke “Doctor it hurts when I do this/don’t do that”. But instead it’s “He called me a dick when I said this/don’t say that”
Most people on this board have complained about something or other at some point, but they don’t turn into several threads that are several hundred posts long that just consist of This is bothering me/don’t do that/but I have to/try doing it this way instead/you’re just being mean on purpose.