Watching the discussion on another thread on this board, I thought some of you might be surprised at what it takes to qualify for a handicap sticker, I got this off the WebMD website:



If you have a chronic illness like arthritis or lung disease that makes it painful or difficult to walk, you might qualify for a handicapped parking permit. Ask your doctor about eligibility. People with limited mobility can save time, energy, and frustration when they park in handicapped parking spots near the entrances to businesses.

Each state has its own forms and criteria for handicapped parking permits. Typically, the state’s Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) runs the program. Check on your state’s specific process.

The DMV will need your doctor to verify your medical condition. Other health-care professionals -- such as an optometrist, physician’s assistant, or nurse practitioner -- may also be able to document your condition. If you’re visibly disabled and appear at a DMV office, the requirement of a physician’s certification might be waived in some states.

Check with your own state to find out the specific criteria regarding who qualifies for disabled parking. Common conditions include:

Lung disease
Heart disease
Substantially impaired mobility, for example, use of a wheelchair, brace, or cane
A disease that significantly limits your ability walk or to use your legs
Documented vision problems, including low-vision or partial sightedness
Loss of one or both legs or loss of both hands, or limited use of these parts

Be aware that other conditions also may apply, so ask your doctor about your eligibility. For example, some states will grant permits to people who use portable oxygen or have an acute sensitivity to sunlight that causes burning and blistering of the skin.
How to Apply for a Handicap Parking Permit

Get a handicapped parking application from the DMV office or online.
Complete and sign the form. Ask your health-care provider to fill out and sign the portion that certifies disability. (Again, in some states, certification requirements might be waived if you’re visibly disabled and appear in person at the DMV.)
Submit the application by mail or in person.

Although many people apply for permanent disabled parking, states also offer placards for temporary disability, such as after having surgery. Typically, these temporary placards are valid for up to six months or up to the date that your doctor notes on the application.

Fees also vary. Some states charge a small fee, and others provide placards free of charge.

You are the only one legally allowed to use the placard, whether you’re a driver or passenger in the vehicle. It’s illegal for anyone else to use the placard if you’re not in the vehicle. Misusing the placard can result in cancellation of the permit, fines and other penalties.

What pisses me off, is when I see someone with a sticker that gets out and walks better and faster than I can.

I gotta get me one!!!

Most people in the handicap spots any way.

You sure get pissed off easy, and for no reason. You would be pissed if you saw me but chances are you would not follow me for a 100 ft or more to see me having to sit down to catch my breath. Open your a mind a bit and might see that all disability's are not at first glance. People like you piss me off!

I could qualify based on my heart, but I just won’t apply. If I can’t get up, dress and drive to the store, I don’t need any special treatment.

My Mom didn't get one until she was near 90. She wasn't driving but we drove her around. Same thing with my aunt. Just because you're legally entitled to one, doesn't mean you should use one. Many people, if they got a bit more exercise by walking more, wouldn't need one.

Mostly I see 450 lb women who are too fricking lazy to walk with them parking in the handicapped spots at Walmart.

Which leaves no handicapped parking spaces for those that REALLY need them. 😡

I would give anything to not ever need one... and getting an unneeded one SHOULD create enough karma to bring the need for one on.

Reminds me of a car, with a handicapped placard, that was parked in a handicapped spot every day outside my workplace. Had a ski rack on the back.

They're great when it's raining.

Many are simply lazy lard asses. They tend to leave those Walmart electric carts right in the middle of two handicap parking spaces when they leave, so the spaces can't be easily accessed by other lazy lard asses. I swore to my wife I would never get a handicap sticker, regardless. Handicapped Americans made out just fine for decades, without the stupid ADA law.

You don't have to be handicap to use the electric carts.
I wish they made them sideXside so me and homie or offspring could cruise around the store like we do on the farm. Some of these walmarts are like 4 acres now.

Or have a dump bed on them. Get 100 lbs of dog chow, several 12 packs. The basket they have on them now is a joke.

😄

Three or four bags of that mulch is hell on em.

In NV they are good for ten years. I got one several years ago after falling 11 feet off a roof. It added to existing deficits...twice broken back, rt knee meniscus tear, one shoulder reverse replacement with few ligaments left, one shoulder small tear and impingement.

The only time I use it is when I know I'll be bringing out heavy or awkward purchases, maybe once every month or two.

I jumped a turd's case inside Harbor Freight in Reno. The car was parked at the closest handicap space to the store doors every time I went there. One day a big kneegrow whipped into it in that same car, put his Harbor Freight vest on and hurried on into work at the store. I purposely make a scene in the store about his special parking place, right in front of his manager. A week later I went to HF to get some drill bits and noticed the Bro's car parked at the far end of the lot with the other employees' cars. Mr. Dindoo gave the royal stink-eye.

No need in getting 'disneylanded' at the HF over some .88cent zip ties.

I know an engineer who is in a wheelchair but still skis regularly. It's an interesting contraption but the dude is committed to it. He's a good man, a good engineer, and a good skier. He also happens to have a handicapped plate.

Handicapped spaces piss me off.

I took my wife To Hershey Medical Center for an eye check.
Running late, weird place to find, I dropped her and went to park.
Trying to catch up I was in a hurry.
Probably 150 yards of side by side parking spots in front, every one a handicapped.
Not a car in one.

Next parking spots were up on a terraced hill.
Drive 1/2 mile, walk couple hundred yards to the building.

They are needed, but so dam many?
Who has ever seen half the spots filled? By legitimate users.

My brother has been in a wheelchair for 49 years, my mom has
bad legs and can't walk well. I know a bit about handicapped issues.

This. You don't always know what issues a person faces.... Judging a book by the cover and all.

I do agree with the sentiment though. People shouldn't abuse the disabled. I got to spend a couple of months with crutches and a wheelchair. It was very eye opening at how inconsiderate people can be.

Good on you Sir!!!

Tell them you're a member here and it will be automatic.

So you walk at a fast gate, then have to sit down and catch your breath? Really? Bul!schit. The people I speak of walk the entire store, have no disability to be seen at all. They are abusing the system, likely using someone else car, or "borrowed" the sticker that hangs from the mirror. FO!

Some stores seem to have too many and 1/2 are empty at any given time. OTOH, my 92 yo MIL lives with us and we have one for her. She gets around pretty good with a cane but she tires very fast. She gets out of the car takes off but if she had to walk in from many parking lots, she'd collapse. If it wasn't for handicap spots, we'd have to drop her off at the door then go park.
She's paid a lot of taxes in those years and her husband retired from the Air Force as a Chief Master Sgt. I think she's earned the right to park a little closer.

Depending on the day it might take me 1/2 hour just to go down a flight of stairs. on a good day and after I get things working together I can go up them two at a time. Most days after being active during the day by the time I get to evening I have trouble handling 100 yards. Life is what it is and a lot of the time it doesn't look like what it is. It takes a real dick head to assume he knows better than a given person's doctor whether they need parking sticker or not. I have so many footsteps in a day and when I use them up I either stay at home or suffer through what I have to get done.

What the hell give you the right to be a knee jerk jerk?

I am almost 71 and have bad knees bone on bone so there is pain. I wouldn't get a sticker because then I would be handicapped. I can still get around even if it causes a little pain. Keep the spots for the people who can't get around on their own.

Done.

This thread reminds me of a time I was waiting in my car at a drugstore with my former son-in-law when a huge, raised pickup rushes up, very fast, in a small parking lot and takes a handicapped slot by the door. He says how *x?#^ he gets when people who don't need them use handicapped slots. I said "Why don't we just wait and see how this plays out". A small fellow with a level of cerebral palsy slowly gets out and slowly makes his way into the store. I don't think the former s-i-l learned much from that.

I have one, but it is not for me. It is for my cousin whom I take to the VA regularly. His diabetes has caused severe foot problems. Tuesday he will have his right foot amputated. I never use the placard unless he is in the vehicle with me.

And while we're on this topic, bear in mind that some folks with them don't appear to be handicapped but really are....... Case in point - In the late 1970's my father's emphysema was getting worse, it's what killed him a few years later, and his doctor gave him a handicap parking permit because even walking less than about 25 yards had become very difficult due to his lungs inability to get enough oxygen into his system. He had no cane or walker or limp but couldn't even go up a flight of stairs without a break. So he goes to the supermarket, parks in a handicap space with his permit hanging off the inside rear view mirror like he was supposed to, heads for the door of the market and gets a huge ration of chit from some azzwipe saying he's not handicapped. Dad was a WW2 vet and didn't normally tolerate that sort of crap but he was in his late 50's and the emphysema was robbing him of what he'd have liked to do in a situation like that. I told him that guy was lucky I wasn't there with you that day although I might have ended up in jail. So remember that some folks may really have conditions that rate a handicap permit even though they don't look like they need one. IIRC my dad never even asked for one but his doctor just issued it when he saw things getting worse. This was all back before the motorized scooters with oxygen bottles.

I got one last year after having my Achilles removed, the back of my heel cut off and my Achilles screwed back on. Seemed like most of the handy spots were always full anyways.

I had to use one of those electric carts for 6 months to get groceries. I always had 3 little kids with me, 6, 4, and 2 and it was hell getting around the store. There was always some middle aged women that would get right in my way and wouldn't move. Some people are inconsiderate as hell. I think everyone should have to spend a few months handicap with 3 small kids just to learn some consideration. Don't know why it was always a middle aged women that was the most in the way and least considerate.

Also had a 50 year old or so woman make a rude comment about me using a spot just as I was starting to walk again but was limited to 200 yards a day. I asked her if she knew me and had reviewed my medical records. She said no. I said then maybe she should mind her own business.

Reminded me of the time I was buttering my popcorn at the local theater and the woman behind me said "kid you're going to die before your 50 if you butter your popcorn like that". I said my grandpa lived to be over 80. She said "I bet he didn't butter his popcorn like that". I said no, he just minded his own business. Everyone behind her broke out in raging laughter.

Bb

A few years back during the holidays I waiting for my wife in the mall parking structure when I saw a couple young girls pull up and take the last handicap spot near the elevators. They hopped out singing and dancing to their loud music it was obvious as they ran into the mall elevators they had no handicaps, but they had the blue placard on the mirror.

A few minutes later a older couple pulls up and stops, no parking spots available they had to pull far away and slowly used their walkers to get to the elevator. Last fall at the county fair in one day they caught 71 people fraudulently using Disabled Person Parking Placards, if they can find that many at one spot in one day it shows how badly this system has been run.

I use my handi cap parking placard .after having double knee re placement and having my left foot re built with pins and screws and a steel plate,etc.I need it.I loath the f ers that mis use the spot. At my own daughters school I can t tell you how many fights I ve got into,most common excuse,"I m just running inside for a minute".I finally had a talk with the principle,and she put up new signs,sent a mass E mail and sent a letter home to every students house about using the handicapped spots.people are lazy slobs,the worst offenders?young moms.

the feeling of entitlement is palpable here. laughing

I have a couple fake ones that I got at the flea market.

One of my favorite things to do is leave it on my bike and waltz right into the store.

You get a lot of puzzled looks.

i have a handicap sticker now. I fought getting one for a lot of years. A crushed ankle from you, leg previously broken in numerous places and muscle injury, spinal issues, i look normal at first glance but am not.
i could not walk through a sam's club or costgo.
And i make use of those electric carts too.
I was on my feet too much yesterday and at bedtime my legs were spasiming, and my ankle throbbing. You can't tell from appearances what's bothering a person.
when i first took my state application to the doctor, it took him about two seconds to sign it.

Believe it or not, there are disabled skiers, who refuse to give up what they love to do, because some drunk driver took thier leg. You should admire that drive, not disparage it. Most folks would just give up.

I could tell you why it's in that position, but it wouldn't fit with your prejudice. That person likely has very little use of thier legs, and had to use the "hell-handle" to get from seat to seat. Probably has hand controls on the vehicle.

They issue placards and plates to PTSD people here. One of the dudes that my uncle lets hunt the farm here has "wheelchair plates" on his f-150.

Damn sure aint anything hindering his legs. He humps a backpack, loggy bayou stand, and bow all over the hills and hollers on the place. Drags deer out with his climbing harness


marinate on that

Between that and the 10% off on Veterans Day I've been thinking about signing up.

Only a moron like you Deacon would find any humor in that, says a lot about your lack of character. Let's see, fake recovering alcoholic, fake Deacon and now fake disabled person. Unless your mental disability qualifies you?

Do you think it's more likely that someone with a hand controlled vehicle crawled into a Walmart and then left the Free Rascal outside than a 400 pound woman waddled inside and then left the Free Rascal outside? Cause I think 400 pound women are more common at Walmart.

No one says jack shît to people with a pair of batshît crazy Pomeranian "service dogs" or miniature horse therapy animals on flights.

Yeah right


But someone with a pacemaker that can walk himself slowly, unaided into the walmart is the real con artist against society


Got it

There used to be a guy here who was a radio host. His legs were pretty much disabled and he used crutches to more or less drag them around. He was said to be a pretty fair skier. He had short skis that fit on the ends of his crutches and sort-of regular skis on his feet. I never actually saw him on the slopes but I saw pics of his setup.

If you can ski in any way possible without the help of several people at once your not disabled. F'ing period. You can never convince me otherwise. I do restaurant delivery and on occasion have to block a handicap spot or 2. The level of pretentiousness that these poor "disabled" folk have is mind numbing. I see weekly people who will squeeze into places around the truck to get into a handicap spot even when there are non-handicap spaces CLOSER to the door. IMHO At least 95% of handicap permits aren't needed. Maybe more. I'm all f'd up too, Back, Knee, who gives ashit . Unless you need aid walking you shouldn't get a handicap permit.

Wife needs one. I have to fetch said scooter and take back on the few occasions when she doesnt stay home and gives me the list of what she wants. Have you ever had to shop for womens underwear because your wife is too sick? I have. And i do most of the hiusework,
I have and will call on flagrant violators when i see one

I got one when I had knee surgery and was on two crutches for 4 months. I keep it just in case as sometimes there are NO parking spots except handicap. There is a train park in Scottsdale that has like 40 HC spots. Most times I've been there they were ALL empty. It comes in handy when my MIL visits.

For folks wondering how many spaces are required (I was curious too) it's based on the number of regular spots. - https://adata.org/factsheet/parking

One of the mcdonald's here near Ft Campbell, the entire front row of parking (about 6 slots) is all handicap.

Total no. of parking spaces, is about 20-25.

😄

I try not to get too worked up about people who park in HC spots but don't "appear handicapped.".

I have no idea what their handicap is, or what they're dealing with.

No doubt a lot of lard asses who use those things are bogus and simply lazy, but you're painting with a pretty wide (no pun intended) brush there. Lots of legit folks do greatly benefit from the convenience that the ADA provides.

To the OP, I am confident I could qualify for the handicap authorization based on my VA disability, but the last thing I'd want to do is park up close to where everyone else does. No better way to get a door ding than choosing a parking space close to the doors, handicap or not.

My Dad is a wreck, ejection injuries. So he's justified. But he didn't get one until he really needs it.

The thing I've noticed about the tags is, if the vehicle is driven with the tag hanging, that person is a lousy driver to be paid attention to at all times. Why would anyone drive around with that thing blocking so much of your forward vision? And yep, Dad puts his in the jockey box when the car is moving.

There are skiers when only parts of thier legs left to them. You clearly have never seen the disabled ski. Thier equipment is very different than what you might use, and you clearly could not use thiers.
Side note: my dad owner a construction company. He got injured on the job and spent time in a wheelchair. It was eye opening for him, just how hard it was to get around. He was maneuvering to try and park in a handicap space, when a self entitled asshat cut in and took it. (Not handicapped) and laughed about it. My dad had to work his way in from alot further out in the lot, and he was so angry at that asshat, that he posted a sign in the office, that ANY employee that parked a company truck in a handicap spot for any reason would be immediately terminated.
As with anything, it can be abused, but those spots ain't for you, unless you have and SHOW the emblem. Anyone who abuses the emblem or let's another use it, can lose it themselves.
As for the 400lb woman that people keep mentioning....

Imagine you can't breath well, and sometimes can't breath well enough to know for sure it going to continue. Add in a heart condition, and crone's, and water retention caused by the medication that keeps you breathing, and a nearly complete loss of cartilage in both knees thanks to your heredity, borderline diabetes (again due to the medication), and a loss of feeling from the thighs down.
Do you really think you will keep your girlish figure long? Add in the several hospital stays each year, the enforced bedrest, and I seriously doubt you would be under 300lbs yourself.
It's daily life here.

That's because he is doing it correctly and legally. Here, it will cost you a ticket for obscuring your vision by leaving the tag hanging.

Thank you for that post, Kellory.

I've been illegally parking in handicap spots my whole life.

Anybody wanna take a guess how many tickets or tows I've had?

You'll get both, if I see it happening.

The answer is 28.

28 problems out of THOUSANDS of conveniences.

Do the math, retard.

Enjoy the fine, and the inconvenience. Do it in front of me, and it will happen again. Bank on it.

I don't care if I have to belly crawl into a damn store, save em for the folk that really need them, pass!

See? I knew I would finally find some sort of value in your posts...... you can serve as a bad example.

There's a surprise.

A$$hole

I always park out in the far end of the parking lots and walk....out where the overnight RVs park...
so I am not in competition for a parking spot near the door... even when its raining or the weather is crap...

plus as mentioned above... I usually mind my own business, concerning those who use handicapped spots.

I usually don't say nothing to the teenagers or millennials when they are using the handicapped scooters in the store
riding them around just to have fun, when they are for someone else who really needs them....

in my travels, I still would bet less than half the people who have handicap placards really need them....
but I mind my own business on that subject....

He thinks it's alright to park there since he's mentally handicapped.

Hopefully your condition isn't genetic, and you're speaking out of ignorance.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZEXVMqsnKw

I was gonna guess zero. Cops down here don't even bother with it even when called.

You'd be correct.

But detective kellory is now hot on the trail so I may have to change my wicked ways.

Joe South’s walk a mile in my shoes explains a lot!

I'm kinda slow. Had to read this twice before I realized you didn't say [type] Peacemaker. I thought "Who would say anything to a guy wearing a Peacemaker?"

I'd qualify for that sticker based on my heart condition, but there's always folks worse off who need those spots worse than I do. Deflave, if you're really illegally parking in those spots, shame on you. So hard to tell with you as your line of BS knows no boundaries.

I have a friend that is a C7 incomplete quad. He's legit handicapped. He can ride and race motocross on a bike that has a rekluse auto clutch and a left hand rear brake. If he falls over he can't remount without help and we have to load and unload him at the track. It's kind of fun to watch him park in the handicapped spot and kind of crab walk with a cane to get in the burger place after we're done riding.

"They are needed, but so dam many?
Who has ever seen half the spots filled? By legitimate users."

Most of my health care providers are in the same hospital complex. There is a double line of handicap spaces about 100 yards in length and if you have a morning appointment, forget about finding a space. I ain't gonna happen. Afternoons are sometimes more luck than not but usually there will be a few spaces available. It's a busy place. My doctor authorized the HC plates for me for my knees.
Paul B.

i came back to this thread after running an errand yesterday. I had to pick up a 35lb package at a U .P.S. store. Probably 110 degrees at the time. I hobbled in, got the package, and was trying to support it while walking out with a cane. I did not ask for help. Then getting it from the car in the house. That's probably why i got a couple hours sleep last night, with my back spasiming. I have been a big game hunter most of my life but last year's elk season probably my last. I spent the whole time in the cab of the truck, walking in the woods, and processing an elk if i had shot one just isn't gonna happen anymore. I have hunted in past years with some older guys, we all have quads, they were not available this year or my quad. And i see people complaining about old guys using a quad too.
I did feel really foolish using those electric scooters at some of the stores, but not any more, at least i can get around the store in them.
In my area, most of the handicap parking is usually taken in front of the stores, you have to drive around to get a free spot.
as to 4x4 vehicles with the plates, i had a friend a few years ago, he did not have use of his legs, drove around in a jeep with plates. He had caught a machine gun burst across his lower back in vietnam, no more use of legs. When you saw him sitting in the jeep, it appeared like nothing wrong. But he sure as heck was entitled to any benefit he could get.
I would personally be ashamed to admit i was taking those spaces when it was not needed, just as i would be ashamed at poking at people where you don't know their issues. We had one for my mother in her late 80's and 90's before i needed one too.
There are some real knotheads on this forum, they will be lucky as they age and hopefully don't need these types of things.

The question you need to ask yourself is "did he see me park here, or not?" In all the confusion, I might have missed you, so the real question is "do you feel lucky? Well do you, punk?

Just a guess but I doubt if you have ever parked in a HC spot, ever....

I don't know of a single parking lot anywhere in Southern California that does anything more than meet the legal minimums as to number of handicap parking spaces, and that isn't very many. link

The bad thing about having so few is that they fill up fast (mostly with people that don't need it), once the parking lot fills up it doesn't really make a difference. Unless lucky the handicap wind up having to park at the back, or drive around until they can find a vacant spot a little closer.

Phil

All the people on this thread who may have conditions that qualify and may also possess the decal, for you persons to act all noble when you say "i'll save it for someone that *really* needs it.

All youre doing is saving that spot for some cretin that is dipping into that spot with grandma's placard so they can dash in and get Vape juice. Or some old guy's 20 yrs younger trophy wife in her Benz.

If you have the decal, have a limiting condition, use the the parking slot. No sense in trying to come off as a bad ass or hero.

If it's because he's a fraud, I can see how that would piss you off, but keep in mind that some people have conditions that cause intermittent disability, i.e., they could be fine for hours, then hardly able to walk for an hour. They have no way of knowing when the disability will kick in, so parking closer is a huge help if they walk in the store fine, and then get an attack. That's not as uncommon as you may think, and they likely get dirty looks when they park in the handicap spot and walk in with no difficulty.

I always liked Jerry Seinfeld's quip about the handicap parking situation at the Special Olympics.

Oh, I park in 'em all the time, when my handicapped wife is in the car. It is for her benefit after all they exist. I'm in good enough shape I don't need 'em, and don't use 'em for my benefit. There was a while when I needed a cane due to hip pain and the threat of a fall, but that turned out to be a problem with a worn out boot.
The only time i have parked in a handicap spot by mistake, the paint was so worn i could not tell it WAS a handicap spot. I moved the car as soon as i figured it out.
So in answer to your question, no, I do not abuse them.

I was referring to Deflave but good on you...

Words through wires. I read that as sarcasm. (Tips hat)