My disability leads to my inability..

[Guinastasia]

@dropzone

So, I was still abled when a jerk pulled his Corvette into a handicapped space and strode purposefully toward a store. I’ve always been a bit of a junior mod so I called after him, “Hey! That’s a handicapped space.”

“Look at the handicapped plates. Do you think only jerks drive Corvettes?” then he went into the store.

“Well yes, actually, and you didn’t change that,” I said to his receding shadow. Soon after the Secretary of State raised the requirements for handicapped and clergy plates because they were being abused by jerks.

How DID you know know he wasn’t handicapped and only abusing it because he was a jerk?

[Nava]

@Broomstick

Having a handicap tag gives you an option, you are not required to use it unless you want/need to. My late spouse had one and on good days he’d not use it, but it was a big help on the bad days.

I’ve recently talked to my mother about maybe getting one and found out the procedure for her, after we went on some errands when she was definitely wobbly. In Spain the tags are granted by municipal authorities (but valid through the country) on a doctor’s recommendation: any day we’re ferrying her about and she’s in bad shape we could use the tag at least for drop off and pick up. When she’s ok, the tag would stay in her handbag.

I suspect it’s going to take a few rounds until she does it, but getting her to accept she needed hearing aids took more than three years. Anything lower than that will be an improvement. Note that she was already offered disability tags due to mobility problems when she was in her thirties; she refused for the same reason she kept putting off the aids, because “that’s for old people!” Well, you’re 79 now, Mom. Might be time to grow up.

[Isamu]

@Guinastasia

How DID you know know he wasn’t handicapped and only abusing it because he was a jerk?

Because that store he went in to was…wait for it…

the jerk store.

[Dinsdale]

My dad had a stroke 12 years before he died. Ever after, he walked unsteadily. For years he refused to use a cane. My impression was that people assumed he was drunk, and viewed him unkindly, due to the way he walked. We eventually persuaded him to use a cane, and the change in other peoples’ attitude was immediate and huge. I fondly recall him chuckling about things such as young women making a point out of holding doors open for him or offering him a seat, instead of the other way around.

He stopped driving after his stroke, but had a placard which came in useful when someone had to drive him somewhere. I recall thinking I COULD just drop him off, and then park elsewhere. But given his unsteadiness, I preferred not leaving him alone in unfamiliar places, where there may not be somewhere for him to sit down.

Here’s a weird thing I noticed with my dad, and am now noticing w/ my 90 yrs old FIL. They would never ASK to hold someone’s arm, but they sure would USE it if discretely offered. People are funny!

[dropzone]

@Guinastasia

How DID you know know he wasn’t handicapped and only abusing it because he was a jerk?

He was mighty spry for a, um, gimp. (It’s OK if WE use it. )

Plus he drove a Corvette. I mean, DUH.