What would you do if you were prevented from being able to access the bank, post office, your child’s school, your workplace or even a public toilet? Then imagine it happening at least a few times a week.
This happens to me regularly because I am disabled. The problem is parking and the use of disability parking spaces by people who do not have a disability permit. And for me, the worst offenders are parents at schools and sporting clubs.
It is a battleground like no other. On one side you have a person with a disability who has been assessed as having a medical condition that severely restricts their mobility. On the other side you have an entitled or ignorant able-bodied person, who can often be aggressive.
There is no public space or private property in Australia that is immune to mobile people who steal the designated car parking spaces for disabled people. With today marking International Day of People with a Disability, I feel it is time I speak out.
When I lost my leg over five years ago, I knew that some people abused the system. I even had friends admit that they had used their elderly parent’s permit so that they could duck in and out of the shops as quickly as possible.
What I did not expect was the extent of the problem. It is a socially acceptable practice in many circles. I have lost count of the times I have watched a mother pull into a disability parking space and sit there, on her phone, flicking through Facebook while waiting for her child to arrive at her self-designated priority parking space. In the meantime, I am stuck in my car waiting for her to move.
Top Comments
Have you considered that at least some of these parents have children who are MORE disabled then you? Just as you don't like others to assume you are fully functional -- you should not assume all parents have kids who have normal abilities. You may also consider to use public services that shuttle the disabled around, or hiring someone to help you with chores-- the entire world can not, and should not be designed just for YOU to park some big VAN wherever you want -- others have needs to, stop being GREEDY, learn to provide, not just go crying poor me!
i live near a private school and have a nice large driveway, and as we are apartments, the driveway is for many people. every afternoon the driveway is blocked by parents waiting for their little princes. when politely asking them to move, they always act as if it is their right to park there, and one man (typical) resorted to insulting the way i looked, after i informed him he was blocking my driveway. parents are the worst people. you had children, that doesn't make you king of the world.
Nope -- parents are the best -- the are providing new generations for society to go on -- what do you do? You don't like parents and kids -- go move somewhere that you can live away from normal society - -maybe sit yourself in some old folks home already, be done with creation.