OT - Handicap Parking

No one has ever asked me why I need a handicapped room. That hotel has some bad staff.

BTW, ANYONE can request a handicapped room. You are not required to state why, or prove your need. That's ridiculous.
B.

My brother requested a handicap room; the room they got was (wait for it)--several steps up from the parking lot.
When they saw the full size O2 concentrator, they comped the room.

What does comped mean? Thx.

Comped means no charge.

CF, that is a GOOD hotel!

I used to travel with my father who was blind, deaf, and had trouble walking. If you saw him standing still, he looked like Tom Selleck and looked perfectly healthy. We used handicapped parking spaces and hotel rooms. Never ever had any trouble. But I was always on guard, ready to explain.

LSAT wrote:It really irritates me when I see obviously healthy people (often a teen) parking in Handicap spots. I know some handicaps are not obvious, but if the person doesn't have a walker or wheelchair and there are other parking spots, they should use them. When my wife had hip surgery she was given a temporary (3 month) handicap tag. I think we used it twice in that period. I printed out notes that say "Laziness is not considered a handicap", and put them on obviously non-handicap cars.

Don't be too quick to judge. I have knee problems. When they flare up, I look fairly normal walking, but if I have to take the long walk across the parking lot, I will have serious pain the next few days. I did that a few weeks ago and spent the next week nearly confined to the recliner, and only getting up when necessary for bodily functions and hobbling through the house with considerable pain.

As I stated, I do not judge people with handicap plates/placards UNLESS I know them and know, for a fact, that they are abusing the system (like the person that brags about using a family member's permit). Before I started using a wheelchair, my disability wasn't as obvious either. And I know that even in my wheelchair, people have thought to themselves "if she'd just lose weight, she wouldn't be in that damn chair!" People judge what they don't understand.

I don't travel now unless absolutely necessary. If we had to travel, I would have to have a handicap room. The last time I did travel, I requested a handicap room and got it, but was told during the reservation process that they couldn't guarantee I would get it. I cannot lift myself off a toilet without handicap rails, not to mention needing to get my power chair in/out of a room. Frankly, staying home is safer.

The original point was people parking on the lines designated for wheelchair ramps. Having it happen to me twice in one week is indicative of the selfishness and stupidity of people in general, be them disabled or not.

My wife is currently bouncing between a wheel chair and cane. If less than 100 feet she can hobble. Thus I drop her at the door often tbenpark in the handicap zone if I am going in to meet her and walk her out. If I am just going to sit while I wait tk see her come to door I use regular spots. If someone doesnt like me dropping her at the door then using a handicap spot as the plan is for her to walk back to vehicle then I figure they need something to be upset about and gripe thus it may as well be me. Because of my back issues I was given ahandicap placard but seldom use it unless the pain is extravagent that day. I have been cussed like a sailor a couple times.

My doctor says he denies over 70% of the requests he gets for signatures on handicap parking forms. Loses a lot of patients over it. He says most need the exercise of extra walking. He told me most of his denials are to people whose only real issue is weight. They will say walking makes their knees hurt and his response is their knees will stop hurting when they lose some weight. He will say they need to park as far away as possible and make a lap around the lot before entering the store. Usually that is their last appointment. He has very liftle tolerance for smokers or people whos real underlying health problem is inability to control the amount of junk food they eat. I actually feel bad when I use the handicap spots but what really chaps me is when a lot has 12 handicap spots, all are full and most of the vehicles have no handi tags or placards. The holiday season is the worst time for this.

I do NOT have nor use any Handicapped placards or license.

But, I have noticed that when there are spots for pregnant women, they are ALWAYS the very 1st ones next to the door AND most of the time, they are empty.

Would it not make more sense to use those spots (usually 2) as Handicapped & move the pregnant women a couple of slots away? Especially if they are empty most of the time?

No hate mail from pregnant women Please !

But, I have noticed that when there are spots for pregnant women, they are ALWAYS the very 1st ones next to the door AND most of the time, they are empty.

No hate mail from pregnant women Please !

For goodness sakes! Exercise is good for pregnant women. Spots near the door are just for lazy pregnant women!

Babette wrote:No one has ever asked me why I need a handicapped room. That hotel has some bad staff.

BTW, ANYONE can request a handicapped room. You are not required to state why, or prove your need. That's ridiculous.
B.

I think that is because most people would rather not have a handicapped room. Many of the features intended for people with limited mobility are inconveniences for others. It isn't much of an inconvenience, but still I don't think anyone actually wants to hear the desk clerk say, "I'm sorry, all we have left are handicapped rooms." Everyone likes to be closest to the door, so the able-bodied will snap up handicapped parking if there is no disincentive. Not so for hotel rooms.

This leaves the question that I know must be on everyone's mind. We agree that it is wrong to use a handicapped parking spot if you don't need it. I propose that it's okay to use a handicapped hotel room. What about a handicapped toilet stall? They are roomy and comfortable, especially for us big guys, or those with a wide stance, as Larry Craig would say. I would avoid using one in a busy airport or other crowded location where someone else might really need it, but what about in an office building where the average number of people using the bathroom at any one time is zero. I usually walk right into the big stall. Does this make me a bad person?

Therapist wrote:

But, I have noticed that when there are spots for pregnant women, they are ALWAYS the very 1st ones next to the door AND most of the time, they are empty.

No hate mail from pregnant women Please !

For goodness sakes! Exercise is good for pregnant women. Spots near the door are just for lazy pregnant women!

I think you're being judgmental therapist as you don't what a pregnant women's situation is. Maybe exercise is good for her normally but she is having one of those days in which she can barely put one foot in front of the other due to her condition.

49er

PST wrote:

Babette wrote:No one has ever asked me why I need a handicapped room. That hotel has some bad staff.

BTW, ANYONE can request a handicapped room. You are not required to state why, or prove your need. That's ridiculous.
B.

I think that is because most people would rather not have a handicapped room. Many of the features intended for people with limited mobility are inconveniences for others. It isn't much of an inconvenience, but still I don't think anyone actually wants to hear the desk clerk say, "I'm sorry, all we have left are handicapped rooms." Everyone likes to be closest to the door, so the able-bodied will snap up handicapped parking if there is no disincentive. Not so for hotel rooms.

This leaves the question that I know must be on everyone's mind. We agree that it is wrong to use a handicapped parking spot if you don't need it. I propose that it's okay to use a handicapped hotel room. What about a handicapped toilet stall? They are roomy and comfortable, especially for us big guys, or those with a wide stance, as Larry Craig would say. I would avoid using one in a busy airport or other crowded location where someone else might really need it, but what about in an office building where the average number of people using the bathroom at any one time is zero. I usually walk right into the big stall. Does this make me a bad person?

Great question PST. If I go into a bathroom in an office building with a regular and handicapped stall, I will use the regular one. But if it is occupied, I will then use the handicapped one because of the odds of anyone with a disability needing it being slim and none. During all the years I have adopted this policy, I have never encountered a situation where i used one that someone with a disability needed.

And like you, I will not use a handicapped stall in a crowded area.

So I too want to know if I am also a bad person.

49er

I already know I'm a bad person.

As a person who is regularly handicapped by wearing a 5 foot wide hoopskirt, handicapped johns are a MUST during those times. And I feel no shame using them. In fact, at many reenactments, folks will post a silhouette of a woman in a hoopskirt on the handicapped john's door.

In crowded areas, sporting events, airports, etc. I generally do not use them.

In my office, when I'm juggling a load of papers, my coffee cup, my purse, and my coat, and the knowledge that we have no workers on crutches or wheelchairs here (which says more about my employer than I care to think) I often use the one handicapped stall - because there's a table in there to pile all my crap on.

If I ever was confronted with a handicapped person that I had inconvenienced, I would be mortified, contrite, and apologetic.

So yeah, you're a bad person. But so am I.
B.

Babette wrote:So yeah, you're a bad person. But so am I.

I am not going to say that either of you is bad. I wait for people all the time using the handicap stall, sometimes because the others are all occupied or -- another reason. That doesn't bother me. If the bathroom is busy, the handicap stall SHOULD be used. If a disabled person comes in during this time, it would be nice if others left it for that person, but if not, the disabled person should wait their turn, then wait for that stall. I do that all the time.

Bad is the woman at Walmart, with 4 or 5 young children, taking the ONLY women's handicap stall because she's too lazy to walk to the back of the store to use the "family" restroom. I wet myself that day because waiting for five people to use the bathroom took longer than I could wait.

Bad is the perfectly able-bodied person parking in handicap because they feel they are just as entitled to good parking as the person who is "lucky" (their words, not mine) to need a wheelchair. Yeah, I'm real lucky.

Bad is the person, handicapped or not, who parks on the wheelchair ramp lines because -- heck I have no idea why they think they should be able to do that. It's not something I can wrap my mind around.

Some of the things you all do? Not bad. I get those and don't have a problem with them.