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Handicap Spots/Tags

Started by Gearhead4Life, March 26, 2015, 03:29:53 AM

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0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Gearhead4Life

A while ago my physical therapist and doctor signed off on one for me. Sometimes i feel a little guilty about using it, and on good days i try to park in a normal spot when i feel i have the energy to walk. How many of you guys also have handicap status? Do you use it all the time regardless of how you feel? It has helped me out quite a bit in many cases, especially when i was first getting major symptoms and had to walk with a cane. I still have it if i feel that i need to use it, but the cane tends to just get in my way. I have almost learned how to walk with the pain, but it is really annoying. I can't walk as fast as a regular person anymore.

Robby

I do have one, and in the beginning I did park somewhere else if it was close enough. But as time has went on, it's all I can do to get from the handicap spot inside the store to get the scooter. I can't make it any farther. Yes, I did feel weird, and bad about using it to start with, but I finally realized that my problems were not any less than anyone else and I was just as good as any one else, I had every right to use it, and I didn't need to be embarrassed about it. After a period of time, like with anything else, I used it enough that I got comfortable with it. You will too, just remember you deserve it as much as any other.
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I will put you in the trunk, and help people look for you, DON'T TEST ME.

Barberian

I don't have one, but the Mrs. does. I could probably get one if I wanted to, but almost every time I leave the house the Mrs. is with me. As for the guilt of using one, I may be feeling OK when I leave the vehicle, but who knows how much pain I'll be in shortly thereafter.


ronr

I have one and use it as much as possible.  I did not use it that way in the beginning but learned the hard way that just because you are doing well that day, by the time you get done in the store you may well be crawling back to your car.

I do not feel the least bit guilty using it because there are many disabilities and most of us fall among the not visible disability category.  Being a senior is not a requirement, having a limb gone is not a requirement.

That does not mean that some crank won't try to give you crap about not being disabled enough in their minds.  They are few and far between.  I try to be courteous to them but it doesn't bother me to jump down their throat either if necessary.
Times are tough when "Happy Hour" is your nap.
My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely!

Lonesome George

I have one and don't use it very often. If I'm in that bad of shape I usually don't leave the house. The times I am I try to park as close as possible without using it, unless the closest parking spot is a very long way off.  I always feel that no matter how bad I am, someone worse may come along that needs that spot.

foxgrove

I also have one and use it every time we go out and I leave the car.  I too learned that not using it was punishing both myself and my wife on the return trip and afterwards.  She misses time with me and I just hurt like there's no tomorrow.  I get tons of "exercise" just trying to look normal and walk with my two canes and my mask... normal went out the window a LONG time ago!!  But seriously, just walking at a slow pace through a store requires lots of breaks and lots of recuperation afterwards so I feel NO bad feelings about using the handicapped parking spots at all!!
Where God leads, His hand always provides
...so keep Calm and code on....

Foxgrove

Gearhead4Life

Quote from: foxgrove on March 26, 2015, 01:13:40 PM
I also have one and use it every time we go out and I leave the car.  I too learned that not using it was punishing both myself and my wife on the return trip and afterwards.  She misses time with me and I just hurt like there's no tomorrow.  I get tons of "exercise" just trying to look normal and walk with my two canes and my mask... normal went out the window a LONG time ago!!  But seriously, just walking at a slow pace through a store requires lots of breaks and lots of recuperation afterwards so I feel NO bad feelings about using the handicapped parking spots at all!!

I've had a few days recently where i've had to lean against the wall for a break. Sometimes i need to stay near a wall so that i have some sort of support encase i start having a flare. Weather seems to have something to do with the flares.

foxgrove

It sure does... Well said.  It's amazing the number of folks here who are bowled down by weather changes.  There has been an actual study that showed that yes, it's real and we're not just imagining it.  Pretty cool and yet really sucky at the same time.  Know what I mean.
Where God leads, His hand always provides
...so keep Calm and code on....

Foxgrove

Robby

Quote from: Gearhead4Life on March 26, 2015, 03:49:41 PM
Quote from: foxgrove on March 26, 2015, 01:13:40 PM
I also have one and use it every time we go out and I leave the car.  I too learned that not using it was punishing both myself and my wife on the return trip and afterwards.  She misses time with me and I just hurt like there's no tomorrow.  I get tons of "exercise" just trying to look normal and walk with my two canes and my mask... normal went out the window a LONG time ago!!  But seriously, just walking at a slow pace through a store requires lots of breaks and lots of recuperation afterwards so I feel NO bad feelings about using the handicapped parking spots at all!!

I've had a few days recently where i've had to lean against the wall for a break. Sometimes i need to stay near a wall so that i have some sort of support encase i start having a flare. Weather seems to have something to do with the flares.

George I used to have the exact same thought. I knew that if I saw a elderly lady trying to shuffle to the store from halfway across the parking lot, that it would really make me feel horrible about myself. Until I went to Wal-mart one day, and even though I felt good, I parked in the handicapped spot,  as I went in the store I again elected not to get a scooter, that was the last time I didn't get a scooter. I walked in the door, and felt great, I walked to the back of the store and hung a left to go to the shoe department about halfway across the store. As I rounded that corner I didn't feel so good anymore. From that point it went down hill fast, I made another 10 steps, and knew I was in trouble, I looked around and didn't see anyone. So I forced myself to make another 5 steps to a display in the middle of the aisle, that I could sort of half sit, half lean on so I didn't fall.

Luckily I hadn't been there but just a minute when this young man that worked there came around a corner just a little farther down. I got his attention and barely managed to ask him to find me a chair. He had this terrified look on his face, he ran, and I do mean ran back to the layaway service desk, and came running back with a rolling office chair. Before he could get to me, I could feel myself starting to get lower since my legs just would not hold me any longer. He barely got to me, and hooked his arm under my arm pit just as I lost it and started falling. Good thing he was a rather large muscular guy, so he could hold me up. He got me in the chair and I sat there about 10 minutes, trying to get my body back under control. Someone called him on his radio and told him he better get where he was supposed to be, and he told them, they could fire him he didn't care, he was helping a customer with a health issue and wasn't leaving. So his supervisor came over, and checked on the situation, and complimented the boy for doing the right thing, then called the office to get someone else to fill in, because the kid was doing what he needed to be doing.

Now, I wouldn't get a scooter, unless I had no choice, because I always felt I was giving up, I felt I wasn't bad enough to justify it. But I got over that feeling real quick as the boy pushed me on over to shoes, I got my shoes, and he pushed me in that office chair to the front, helped me get checked out, then pushed me over to the door, and got a scooter for me, and went out to my car to make sure I got in ok. Talking about feeling foolish, riding that chair through the store really made me feel foolish. That was the event that completely changed how I looked at things. I will not get caught in a store, in that condition by myself, or with someone ever again. That was scary. I just knew I would be leaving the store in an ambulance, I really did. I also sat in my car about 20 minutes before I tried to drive, because I wasn't sure my legs would work to hit the brakes or not, I did have to run my truck off in a ditch and against a culvert to stop it one day, because I couldn't pick my foot up to press the brake.

G4L, weather is a major factor for someone with chronic health issues.
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I will put you in the trunk, and help people look for you, DON'T TEST ME.

looneylane

I have one that I only use at University. Otherwise i have to park a km away and by the end of a long day at class I may as well have stayed home as the walk on top of 8 hours of classes leaves me done beyond belief. It has never been used besides there and even then if a regular spot is open anywhere near my buildings I go there.

countryboy

I use mine when ever I can find a handy capped parking spot.  It just burns the hell out of me when I go to the gym to try and swim a little every few days.  And I do mean a little.  I can't walk without my walker and some days after being in the pool for only 20 minutes or so I can barely make it back to the car after taking a very quick rinse shower.

There are 4 parking spots for us at the club, and usually it is hard to find an open one.  There are 2 ladies probably in their
50s that I have seen many times using their handy capped parking cards and then going into the gym and working out on
various machines and even using the tread mills and elliptical machines.  After that they usually go into the pool and take up 2 lanes as they walk a little and talk a lot.  I got real pissed a couple of months ago after taking a chemo treatment and jumped them about using the handy capped parking spots and they both said that they had reoccurring back problems and needed to park there.

Those type of people should have their cards pulled, but if you have a friendly Dr. he/she will sign the release that is needed here every 4 years to renew it.  I questioned one of the guys that works full time at the gym about their policy with people using the spots if not needed and he just said as long as they show their cards in their windows he doesn't care if they need it or not.  If I wasn't is so bad of shape, I think I could flatten a couple of tires at times.   :emowall:
IT IS BETTER TO BE CONSIDERED A FOOL, THAN TO
OPEN YOUR MOUTH AND REMOVE ALL DOUBT.   But
UNFORTUNTELY MOST PEOPLE REFUSE TO LEAVE ANY DOUBT.  -unknown-

ANY FOOL CAN CRITICIZE, CONDEM AND COMPLAIN --
AND MOST FOOLS DO.   'Benjamin Franklin'

Lonesome George

Countryboy, you and others that have posted are the very reason I will not use my handicapped hanger if I am able to get by without using a handicapped parking space.  There are times I must be out when in bad enough shape to need it, and then I most often do use it then unless a parking space next to the handicapped is available. I keep my hanger in the door pocket until I need it.  I just don't like riding around with it hanging for all to see.

ronr

The problem with leaving a handicap space for someone else is that I have seen the guy with the huge pick up with ladder rack and all that is obviously doing some sort of commercial work take the place, go into the store get his stuff and return quicker than I could even get parked and into the store.

That's another one where I would need a step stool or help just to get int the vehicle.
Times are tough when "Happy Hour" is your nap.
My mind not only wanders, sometimes it leaves completely!

augoldminer

The handicap hangers will get you a broken window in some places in calif.
They are a high theft idem as gang members have found they can be resold for good money.
Wooden Ships and Rusty Crusty Old Iron Men
USS Enhance MSO437
Sanity is for Nuts!

foxgrove

Quote from: augoldminer on March 27, 2015, 02:22:54 PM
The handicap hangers will get you a broken window in some places in calif.
They are a high theft idem as gang members have found they can be resold for good money.

Wow... and here I thought having to use one was bad enough!!!
Where God leads, His hand always provides
...so keep Calm and code on....

Foxgrove

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