Many (ok most) of my posts are rants about things that shouldn’t make life so difficult. The things that get in the way of living a normal life. The stuff I no longer take for granted. Unfortunately, as I have learned these lessons, along with family, friends and coworkers who have been on this illuminating change of perception, I have also seen far too many who seem to take their disability as an excuse for being an idiot. So let me be clear and give some examples.

Just because there are certain “perks” that are given to those with disabilities doesn’t mean that you get to abuse those perks, or lord them over others, or act as if nothing else in the world matters. You don’t get to abuse jumping lines at an airport, or a Disney world. You don’t get ride your scooter down a side street and honk at people who just happen to have their car door open. You don’t get to be high and mighty about your “rights” (yes I know I can be guilty of this). And you damn well don’t get to forget how to bloody park your damn car!

Disabled parking spots are a constant issue and we’ve seen examples of people confronting the issue on social media of late. From the pics of a souped up pickup truck parked diagonally across two disabled spots, to an amateur reporter’s video confronting a woman outside a Tim Horton’s, it’s getting harder to abuse the use of those spots. It’s a tricky issue when questioning the how valid someone’s permit really is, but it is something else entirely for someone who doesn’t have a permit and is using those spots. Those need to have the cops called on them and it is frightening to see the people who actually defended the woman at the Tim Horton’s. That being said…if you ARE disabled and have a valid permit, you don’t do yourself or anybody else favours when you use disabled spots without a care in the world for driving skills or how your parking might affect others.

What am I talking about? I present you two photos below that with my poor photographic skills, I’ll need to give the pictures some context. Example 1:

Diagonal Parking

I came out from a quick grocery trip to discover this Volvo parked in the disabled spot in front of my car. Give it a second look and you’ll see the car is completely diagonal and obviously no effort made to actually park like a normal human being. I’m sure the driver casually thought it didn’t matter. Who cares if you’ve made it difficult for the person who might need to use the next space? Who cares if you’ve made people wonder why the hell disabled drivers can’t park? Who cares if some of us had to be retested to be able to drive with our disabilities and know you don’t simply pull into a spot like an entitled ass just because you have a blue sticker in your window. Oh and they did…you can’t see if from here, but I did check.

Example 2:

Spatial awareness issues

When done right, disabled spots are big spots. I get it. There is a lot of space to get your vehicle into. So how hard is it to park your car in the CENTRE of that spot so that you aren’t interfering with the other cars around you that might need the side space? That’s my Mazda to the right of that Avalanche. Once more, why park like an idiot? Just because you have the permit (and they also had one) doesn’t mean rules don’t apply to you and that you aren’t going to cause a problem for other people who need the spaces too.

And finally I give you this:

Just Dumb.
Just Dumb.

I didn’t get a chance to see if this person actually had a tag and I realize that given the very…odd…setup of this spot(s?) it can be a bit confusing. Based on the numbers on the floor I’m going to assume it’s supposed to be two spots…disabled beside motorcycle? Never seen anything like that before but as for the car? I’m sorry that’s just being dumb. I don’t care that you aren’t inconveniencing anyone…it’s just dumb.

There are legitimate concerns where the disabled “community” can complain about accessibility, but let’s remember that we aren’t exempt from the rules of common courtesy and common sense.