Handicap Parking and My Invisible Illness

 

I have an invisible illness. To look at me you would see a short, fat, middle-aged grandmother. Sometimes I walk with a cane, but most of the times I don’t need it. I have a handicapped parking tag hanging on the mirror of my car. I park in handicapped spots. However, I get nasty looks when I get out of my car because I look normal.

I am not “normal”, I have Fibromyalgia. This is a connective tissue disorder. The health professionals’ don’t know what causes it, or how to cure it. There is no blood work that says, yes, you have it or, no, you don’t. It is diagnosed by a list of symptoms and a series of pressure points on the body.
They symptoms of Fibromyalgia are many and varied. What affects one sufferer may not affect another. In my case it is chronic fatigue and chronic pain. The fatigue can be overwhelming. Some days, just thinking about getting out of my bed or my chair is more than I can deal with. Doing everyday activities like washing my hair may not be possible because I can’t hold my arms up long enough to lather in the shampoo much less have any remaining strength to rinse it out.

Chronic pain is another major symptom of this disease. It is not like any pain I have ever had. My muscles hurt. My joints hurt. My skin hurts. It hurts to have the lightest touch. Being hugged can be torture. Shaking hands feels like a vise. This is where the pressure point diagnoses comes in. There are eighteen pressure points on your body. A doctor who is familiar with the illness knows how hard and where to press. If he gets a reaction on eleven of the eighteen, it is considered a diagnosis. The day I went in because of the pain, I had a response to all eighteen pressure points.

Other symptoms that go with the illness do not in and of themselves mean you have Fibro. They can be indicators of other illnesses or mean nothing at all. I have a tendency to drop small items such as keys. I have also dropped large items because I thought I had a good grip on them and didn’t. This is not always constant and some days are better than others.

It can also alter your vision. Some days it is hard to focus and other days I have clarity of vision I haven’t had in years. Some days I can walk as I did ten years ago, and some days it is all I can do to make my legs work. Some days I can eat whatever I want. Some days my stomach is in an uproar and getting any distance from a toilet is not an option.

How does this affect my everyday life? In some ways, it has been extremely negative. I have well-meaning friends and family tell me about the latest miracle cure. They also give me unsolicited advice such as if you would only . . . fill in the blank . . . you would feel better. On the other hand, there is this wonderful new doctor, treatment or vitamin that will surely cure me. They are offended when I don’t jump at the latest offering or advice, but what they don’t understand is that I have looked at all the suggestions they are offering me, and I found them lacking, quackery or just plain dangerous.
I can no longer work, even part-time. The fatigue and pain would put me to bed. I know, because I tried working part-time. At the end of the first two weeks, I was in tears. At the end of the second two weeks, I was in the bed for most of the next five months.

My love life is not what I want it to be. It is difficult for my husband to make love to me knowing that his slightest touch can be painful. This might work if you are married to a sadist, but most husbands don’t want to hurt their wives. The fatigue also plays havoc with my love life. I get tired quickly.
I have three beautiful grandchildren. I have not bonded with the youngest two as well as I have with the oldest. Because of the fatigue and tendency to drop objects I didn’t hold them as much as I did the first one.All of this led to a tremendous amount of guilt and anger. These have to be dealt with in order to move on with your life.
Grieve.
Grieve for the abilities you have lost.
Grieve for the uncontrollable changes in your life.
Grieve for the plans you had that will not come to pass.
Grieve for the you, you could have been.
Get angry.

Find someone who will listen without judging. Who will let you blow off steam. If cussing makes you feel better, use every foul word you ever heard and make up new ones. Get it out of your system. Dealing with the guilt and the anger are not going to happen overnight, and once you deal with it doesn’t mean it will be gone forever. You will have periods where they will come back. Don’t be alarmed or get depressed, well maybe for a little while you can be depressed, but deal with them in the way you know works for you. The only exception here is substance abuse. It is very tempting to drink, smoke pot, do pills or eat yourself into a stupor to make it all go away. However, this are only temporary fixes, and adds to your problems. It is not what you would tell your children or your friends to do. So, don’t you. (End of sermon)

All is not lost. I have been able to make positives out of the negatives. I now work from home as a freelance writer. It has been a slow journey, but I am making progress. I have written a few articles and been paid for them. I was a regular book reviewer for Romantic Times Bookclub Magazine, and had to stop as I had a short story published. I am developing an online reputation as a writer doing research columns, writing book reviews and teaching classes online.

My husband and I are learning to adapt to the illness and have a mutually satisfying love life. My children and grandchildren are learning to cope and know that they are loved in spite of what I can no longer do. We are learning how to adapt the activities we love to do as a family so I can take part and everyone can have a good time.

My friends and family are learning to look carefully at treatments and doctors not just for me, but for themselves too.

Now, if I could just get people in parking lots to quit giving me dirty looks when a “normal” looking woman gets out of a car parked in a handicapped spot.

Submitted by guest writer Deborah Brent

©2024butyoudontlooksick.com
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  • Parker Foster

    exactly. nobody’s business, and not worth hurting someone’s feelings or making them feel worse by trying to police the parking. you are right Jenna.

  • Parker Foster

    You were being a dck no matter how you try to justify it. There is a right way and a wrong way of doing things, but you are fully aware of this and are just trolling the boards. Truthfully, get a life.

  • Parker Foster

    So you are saying if someone isn’t permanently disable they should have to suffer? Not that this person needs to explain anything, but fibromyalgia IS a permanent disability, and a very painful one at that. Some disabilities do not warrant the need to use the parking spot every time, but that doesn’t mean they should not have the option when they need it. Not all disabilities cause pain, like some in wheel chairs or those who use walkers, that doesn’t mean their disability should be compared to one that does cause pain. I think your statement is very unfair to this person, and it is the reason people like them feel hesitant to seek help from their doctors to get these placards. They should absolutely feel ZERO shame for needing help from time to time or needing a placard for those days when their disability causes them agonizing pain when walking only five steps. I agree that their are those who abuse the system, but we can’t compare illnesses or disabilities. We can’t go around accusing people of abusing the system either because like you said, until you walk a mile, or a few steps, in their shoes, you have no right to say anything. We have to just hope that the people using them who do not have a disability will someday realize the harm it causes and not do it, but there really isn’t anything we can do about it without risking hurting those who “DON’T LOOK DISABLED” by making ugly remarks or discounting their reasons.

  • Parker Foster

    Like I said….some people….

  • Parker Foster

    It’s nobody’s business. I feel bad for them because it must suck harboring so much resentment and negative feelings for perfect strangers. What their awful life must be like. You should say, “Oh, I’m sorry your life sucks so bad. You should definitely get a placard bc you deserve it a lot more than me (as you show them a little leg by lifting up your pants..don’t forget to shoot them the bird afterwards).” It takes a special kind of jerk to snarl or make remarks to or about anyone using these spots especially bc most of the time we don’t have neon signs hanging around our necks so that everyone knows our private medical histories. They need to get a life. In my humble opinion, if you have prosthetics, whether born with them or not, you have earned your spot no matter how far you are able to walk. And I don’t mean that in a “pity or poor you way”, I mean it in a screw them for being nasty people way…IT IS NOBODY’S BUSINESS!!!! I am sure you are a nice enough person that if you were feeling up to it and the spots were limited, and there were someone who clearly couldn’t walk far or needed the spot more than you did at the time, you would give it up in a second bc those of use who do have them (placards), and do from time to time feel strong enough to take a longer stroll, and who can identify with needing them more on some days and not as much on others, are happy to give them up when necessary (and even sometimes when not). I am so sorry you have to endure such treatment. I will never understand people….EVER! Just for the record, I never say anything or give people the finger because we don’t need to sync to their levels, but it is ok to think it or say it here among those of us who deal have to deal with it and need to vent in a safe place from time to time. 😉

  • Parker Foster

    Okkkay? Are you just being hateful? Yes, that happens, but why on earth would you respond to this person with this comment? It just sounds mean. Just because some people get them who may not really need them does not mean anyone has the right to assume someone may not really need it, and therefore should not be using the spot. I think it is better to be respectful to anyone who has one rather than chance making someone who is truly within their rights to park there feel bad about it because their disability isn’t obvious to onlookers. It’s nobody’s business. I have an “invisible” disability, an I am 36 so I have had my fair share of nasty looks and snide remarks from people who are just plain asses. I have a permanent “placard” in the form of a license plate, but I only use it when I have to, and even when I need it, I will always give it up to the elderly or someone I think may need it more than I do at that time. I, however, never pass judgment on those who don’t have neon signs hanging over their heads who may not “look” obviously disabled bc there are many reasons one might need it even if they walk normally. There are people whose symptoms only reveal themselves if they over exert themselves, etc. So, better not to judge anyone. Plus, it takes more energy to harbor useless negative feelings all the time especially for perfect strangers. Don’t worry, be happy! Peace!

  • John

    Severely limited walking is just that, severely limited. It’s virtually impossible to hide a severely limited visible function like walking? Those that claim they have no visible limitation in their ability to walk have no understanding of what severely limited means. They very well may be limited, but that’s a far cry from being severely limited. One is a handicap the other is a disability. And the legal name is disabled parking, not handicap parking. There is a significant difference between the two.

  • Beth

    Just because a physician signed the disability application form does not absolutely indicate the patient qualifies. How do you think so many people get prescription medication they don’t need? I’ll give you a little hint, all doctors are not saints and all doctors are not perfect.

    In short, many permits are given out where the patient does not truly qualify.

  • Queenotfu

    I can assure you – I am aways inconvenienced by someone who thinks that the fact that the spot is there and is open means that anyone who is handicapped should just wait the extra 5 minutes until they are finished their business is just fine. And last night? Rick Scott’s security detail took two handicapped spots at my club because of security reasons.

  • tamsets

    Those spots are strictly for the handicapped and no one should be using them as convenient drop off spots or because they have political status; that’s a clear violation of the law. If you’re qualified and have a placard don’t feel guilty.

  • Queenotfu

    I feel badly fighting to use a handicapped spot. …People who need to use it temporarily to exchange thier child of divorce and the car seat. …People who are just dropping someone off. …The security detail for a prominent politician who needs it for security reasons; because I don’t…
    And then all the parking people stare and point because I get up to dance. Six dances and not all night long; because the pain starts. I’ll be suffering for days because I did this…
    FML. I’m so sick of this shit and really depressed. It’s not bad enough that I’m in constant pain? I need to ask people to vacate the spots and prove that I’m handicapped too?

  • tamsets

    It certainly is difficult for those of us who don’t fit the typical “look” of a disabled person. I have had cervical spine surgery, degenerative disk and arthritis in my lower lumbar, fibromyalgia and myfacial pain syndrome. Although I am nearly 50, I am told I look 35. My doctor says I have the spine of a 70 year old with degenerative disk disease. The degeneration and spinal stenosis of my cervical spine was so severe I was nearly paralyzed before surgery and have permanent nerve damage causing pain, numbness and decreased ability to my lower limbs. On “good” days I can make it into a store and use the shopping cart basically as a walker, unless it gets full and heavy then I can’t manage it. On not so good days I walk like an elderly person in need of my cane. I avoid the handicapped parking, for which I have privileges, unless I am having an especially bad day. My thought is that there may be someone in need of the space more than I and so I avoid it. I believe the bottom line is that for those of who have the handicapped placard, we have met the medical criteria of our state through our physician’s medical documentation and NO ONE has the right to argue with us regarding that. We should not feel guilty or defensive about using the placard that we need and we need to show respect and support for others who have also been given that right.

  • Jen

    They do not look exactly the same. Each placard has a unique identification number that identifies who the placard was issued to. In fact, some states will even add other identifying information such as gender, birth year, and photo.

  • Sally

    #8 is – “is severely limited in his or her ability to walk due
    to an arthritic, neurological or orthopedic
    condition.”

    What is your definition of “severely limited”?

    I would think the definition would be just as limiting if not more than #3. Or are you saying anyone with an arthritic, neurological or orthopedic condition should qualify regardless of how far they can walk? Should someone who can walk 5 miles but has one of the listed conditions still qualify?

  • Martha

    The problem with simply getting more parking spaces is that at some point even the handicap parking spaces themselves would be too far away. Imagine for example you have enough disabled parking spaces that the back row or two are farther than 200 feet from the store entrance. Those so called disabled spaces would then be too far away for anyone that cannot walk 200 feet.

    The moral is, we need both. More spaces but also more stringent requirements for qualifying for a disabled parking permit.

  • disqus_4Fw8t5kzKY

    Re-reading this page makes me wonder about those people who make assumptions about people who “don’t look sick” – do they ever actually do anything that would truly help handicapped people? Or do they just blow off steam and try to get strangers in trouble without actually knowing for a fact whether those strangers truly have a disability?

  • disqus_4Fw8t5kzKY

    This really confuses me. Just Me qualifies as disabled but doesn’t have his or her own placard…which would look exactly the same as his/her mother’s placard. You wouldn’t be able to tell the difference between Just Me’s own placard and mom’s, but Just Me is wrong for taking advantage of the handicapped parking spot while feeling ill due to a disability?? Seems to me the cop should have listened to the explanation and said “get your own placard for next time” and then let it go. And NO cop should EVER tell someone “the fix will be in”. Cops are supposed to enforce the law, not manipulate it!

  • Pag

    I also noticed there was a lot of discussion about the “walk 200 feet” as the legal definition of disability. To clarify, in PA, this qualification is #3 of 9 possible qualifications (including being blind and having portable oxygen). I legally qualify by #8, and on some days #3, and currently I can throw in #2 and I’m unfortunately working my way to #4.

  • Pag

    The real problem is that there are not enough parking spaces alotted to those with disabilities. Instead of battling each other, and trying to determine who is more handicapped than whom (because there is no way to definitively rank everyone), we should be lobbying for more spaces and getting people who have no tags towed. We are a special population, although widely diverse, that needs to support it’s own. PS I’m currently stewing about the 100% full handicap spots with 0% handicap tags at my kids’ school. I am definitely more handicapped than them 🙂

  • barbershop_quartet

    Excuse me, but Victoria BC is not in the States, right?

  • TruthHurts

    Again, I’ll ask. How is providing an option being rude? It’s wasn’t the Mother that wanted the placard, it was chris.

  • Tamers

    yes it was mean. Some people only can be happy being mean. Did you not learn when you where small….If you cant say nothing nice, then don’t say nothing at all? She has now lost her Mom. She is suffering enough without rude, mean comments.

  • Homer

    Perhaps you should be asking that question to the people who are fraudulently using placards. What the hell is wrong with them?

  • Homer

    Apparently your not up to date on the current requirements to qualify for a disabled parking permit. Your ramblings show this rather clearly. It’s also obvious that your clueless on how the process works for applying and being approved for a disabled permit. What state do you live in that has a qualification of occasional need? Link us the application form for that state.

  • Homer

    Application for a permit is mostly an honor system. All the DMV does is make sure the form is filled out correctly and the appropriate signatures are there. One could easily print out the form, check the boxes, and fake a doctors signature and get approved. The DMV get’s 1000’s of applications every month, there is no way they can validate an application beyond that.

    And that’s just one way to fraudulently obtain and use a placard. There are many more. The most prevalent being people using placards that weren’t issued to them. Using a family or friends placard.

    Normally it wouldn’t be that big of deal. But the number of issued placards has skyrocketed in the past decade. On average 10%+ of the population now has a placard while ADA rules still only require about 2% of parking spaces be accessible. Resulting a in large shortage of disabled spaces and thus causing a major issue for those who actual need to park in them. The people who don’t have the luxury of using a non disabled space when the disabled spaces are full. These people have to either wait or leave and come back another day.

  • TruthHurts

    Your just spinning now. There is no reason chris couldn’t have gotten his mother a folding wheelchair, a walker with a seat, crutches, cane, or whatever she may have required to be able to walk when she could and rest when she needed.

    Also, as a permanent wheelchair user myself I find your comment about wheelchair users completely flawed. A wheelchair greatly improves ones independence. Anyone that truly struggles to walk and then begins to use a wheelchair soon realizes how much more independent they become. Anyone that thinks otherwise doesn’t have a clue what it means or feels like to have severely limited mobility.

    Seems to me the snarky one here is you.

  • Phyllis Anne

    I get it! I literally live in my bedroom. And people do not understand chronic pain either, until THEY have it. I had a major abdominal surgery that left me disabled for over a year. So I learned what real pain was. Now, I cannot even take a quick shower due to spinal pain from neck to butt. Taking a shower is a 2 hour event. Sciatica and muscle spasms, nerve pain. I never know how I am going to feel the next day. Mornings are the worst after pain med wears off while sleeping. After losing 85% of my muscles from taking cholesterol lowering drugs for a bit over a year and a half. Stopped the drug in 2012 and I was a mess. Before the drugs I had excellent muscle and strength. Thank you Lipitor!
    Pennies from Heaven! Enjoy life as much as you can. May you have many pain free days!

  • Phyllis Anne

    There are violators of course. It is up to the DMVbusiness that issues the placards to police them, along with the police. Of course the do-gooders could report anyone they think is in violation. I would venture to say that the majority of placard users have a valid need to have them and use them.

  • Phyllis Anne

    YOU go after them! YOU be the placard police, and YOU report everyone whom YOU think are using it fraudulently. I hope you get slapped upside the face by those who DO need the placard. What the hell is wrong with people?

  • Phyllis Anne

    Okay, I disagree, and I change my opinion that your comment was downright mean, rather than rude. Thinking a bit further, just by your name Mr.TruthHurts, you probably go around and make snarky comments to people on a regular basis. I was trying to be nice. And I did read Chris’s post and at no time did I get the thought as you did that he wanted the placard more, and that is because I don’t think in a cynical way, such as you do. No, your comment WAS rude and mean. I would haven’t even been able to come up with your comment and my opinion of it being rude was agreed by others reading our posts. You don’t realize that many sick people do not want to use a wheelchair since it is a huge blow to their independence and reduces their feelings of dignity especially while out in public. And in medical you never do for patients what they can already do, slowly or not, and walking is included in the care plan. Putting his mother in a wheelchair is helping to remove the functions she has left. If she can still walk, then she is to walk, NOT put into a wheelchair. For the last 3 months she has to live, why not let Chris get a placard so his mother can live out her days with dignity. But Chris seems to realize those things already and is smart enough to recognize the need for the placard.

    You don’t seem to get it, and the truth hurts MrTruthHurts don’t it!

  • TruthHurts

    Apparently you didn’t read chris’s post. Her Mother did not want a placard and it was chris who was complaining about having to drop off her Mother. In what way was I being rude to her Mother, the one who actually had a disability?

    If chris was actually worried about dropping her Mother off and leaving her unattended she had options available to not do that. I provided her one such option. How is providing options rude?

    My comment on chris wanting a placard more than her Mother was more truthful than rude.

  • Emily

    If prosthetic limbs sufficiently restore ones ability to walk then there are some states you would not qualify for a disability parking permit. It really boils down to not what someones disability is, but how significantly it impairs their ability to walk. In many states, this is defined by unable to walk 200 feet without stropping to rest.

  • barbershop_quartet

    People Stare at me and when I leave the care and approach a store, they criticize me, unable to see through my pants that I rely on prosthetic limbs and braces to get around. It’s only in the Summer when I’m wearing shorts that people leave me alone.

  • Jenna

    The handicap parking tag and the abuse or not of it IS none of your business. I’m assuming you are not the doctor who determined the need, or are working for the bureau which grants these passes based on a determined need. Occasional need or 100% necessity on the spots being available is irrelevant. If the individual has a tag, then they deserve it, and whether or not YOU think that it’s abuse of it or not is none of your business, and if you have a concern, take it up with the appropriate officials.

  • Valari Elardo

    A local news team joined with the local traffic cops and busted people during the Christmas crush. Among the many violators they showe on tv were several who kept using the placards after their hanicapped relatives had died!

  • Phyllis Anne

    You are mentally ill.

  • Phyllis Anne

    Very, very, very rude comment you made. Why? I asked. But I know, that there are so many people in the world who have zero understanding of others, much less the smallest amount of empathy for the things others have to deal with and the pain they go through each and every day. You sir, Mr. TruthHurts, are a cruel and unusual person. Pathetic comment and I am sorry that others have to read it. I could have flagged it, but I chose not to.

  • KMA

    I didn’t mean to offend. If I did I appologize. I know too well about the need of the access aisle and the chances of someone parking next to the vehicle and making it impossible to access your car. The person I was speaking of had a very able bodied husband who was able to move their car, and she was saying I had no rights parking in the handicap space because I was not in a chair.
    I hate when people park in the access area of the handicap parking and often wonder what they are thinking.

  • ChairUser

    There is more to a handicap parking space than just its location. The access aisle is the most important and most reliable part of handicap parking. The access aisle provides the space required to load/unload assistive devices like wheelchairs. Without them a person with an assistive device would never be able to get out of their van. And if they have to park in the back of the lot there is always the chance someone will park next to them and block their ability to get back into their van.

    I guarantee you that relying on van accessible handicap parking spaces is far more restrictive and required than anything you have personally experienced.

  • KMA

    I have told people, if you think I look fine getting out of my car now, hang around because I guarantee you that when I walk out of this store after buying a gallon of milk and a loaf of bread, you will see why I have that tag. I have earned my tag! I have also had arguments with a person in a wheelchair about those parking spots. I told her that her husband is not handicapped and can push her chair the extra space or two. I may not be able to walk that distance when I leave the store.

  • NoOptions

    Walk the path of someone who never has a good day. Someone who always struggles to walk only a few feet/yards. Or someone in a wheelchair that always needs an access aisle to enter/exit their car/van. Imagine you are walking their path and the last open handicap parking is taken by someone who could manage to park 4-5 spaces farther out.

    Once you realize there are people that always absolutely need handicap parking you will realize why they are dismayed with all the people today that have permits that “optionally” use them.

  • AF

    I really need to get a handicap sticker bc of the fibromyalgia, but I look “fine”. You wouldn’t know by looking at me, the pain I go through, unless I happen to be limping or wincing in pain. But you know, at this point I find myself caring less and less about what other people think or say. It doesn’t affect my life that much, and at the end of the day, they don’t walk my path and their opinions don’t change my situation. If a doctor approves it, what is it anyone’s business? Unless they are the handicap sticker police, I don’t wanna hear it.

  • Homer

    So now your saying everyone using a placard are legally using it? I can tell you right now, many many people fraudulently use placards. The biggest fraudulent use being people using a placard of a friend and family member. Another common fraud is people illegally obtaining a placard, which is easy to do.

    You need to wake up if you think all placard users have legally obtained a placard.

  • Colie Marie

    Im saying if someone has the tags, its obviously for a reason. Worry about you and more important things. Under the guise? You really think a person and their doctor pretend for people to be disabled? Theres are hundreds of invisible illnesses and you should not stick your nose in somewhere where it doesn’t belong. So YA, mind your bussiness.

  • TruthHurts

    You could of gotten a folding wheelchair and pushed your mother from your parking spot rather than making her wait by the door 10 minutes. Seems to me you wanted the placard more than your mom did.

  • Homer

    Are you saying it’s none of our business if someone is breaking the law? Or none of our business if someone is taking advantage of disabled parking? Or none of our business if people block access aisles? Or …..

    Seems to me it would be more rude to people with disabilities if we allow handicap parking abuse to go unchallenged under the guise that it is none of our business.

  • chris

    Everyone must stop judging. All I can think if is my dear mom with stage 4 cancer that refused to get a HC placard out of pride. She missed out on things her last month’s due to this. And the times we took her places and had to drop her and leave her at the door – leaving her alone for 10 minutes while we parked – she was so very sick but probably just looked old. We never knew how she would do those 10 minutes. And no one would know it was the cancer that had aged her 20 years and she would die in 3 months. A placard would have helped her enjoy her last months more and kept her safer as we could get out of the car with her and stay with her.

  • Colie Marie

    I cannot believe the rude remarks from you “adults”. It is none of your business weather or not we use handicap plates/ tags. I am disabled, Im 25, with fibromyalgia, and I sure look like im not sick. But I am in excruciating pain 24/7. I am going to get a handicap tag for my car, because I cannot walk far in the city, in the freezing cold. If I did that, it would be the only thing id do that day. So spare your rude comments, and why dont you people who are so judgemental, go pick on someone whos not disabled, anf grow the hell up.

  • Wood

    Ken, there’s a few things with your video that are misleading and many things missing.

    First the misleading parts.
    1. Not everyone using a disabled placard or plate has legally obtained it.
    2. It’s not illegal to confront someone.
    3. It is illegal to punch someone.
    4. The DMV is only an administrator. They do not have any say on who or who does not qualify for a disabled parking permit. They simply insure the form is properly filled out and signed/dated.
    5. Police are not always the only authority that can issue disabled parking violations. Some communities have trained civilian volunteers that also perform these duties.

    Now the missing parts.
    1. You do not mention the rampant fraudulent use of disabled placards/plates. The #1 fraudulent use being the use of placards/plates by people that were not issued a placard/plate.
    2. You do not mention any of the many ways to fraudulent obtain a placard. Many of the qualifications are subjective and applicants can use that to misrepresent themselves to a physician. Some doctors will not take the time to fully understand and quantify the qualifications. Applicants can doctor shop for physicians willing to sign, similar to doctor shopping for prescription medication. Applicants can forge physician signatures. Or people can fake, steal or illegally purchase a placard.
    3. 100% Disabled Veterans can also receive disabled parking privileges. This is noteworthy because DV percent ratings are not limited to mobility impairments. A veteran could receive a 100% disability rating and not have any mobility impairment. For example they could have a 100% rating due to PTSD.
    4. You do not mention the difference between van accessible disabled parking and normal disabled parking.
    5. This is a harder one. But you yourself do not take on the task of quantifying the criteria (1, 3, 5, 7) you chose to highlight as possible invisible conditions. Not quantifying these subjective criteria is one of the main reasons average citizens and physicians will approve or disapprove (judge) an applicants eligibility differently. Or more simply said, if the same applicant went to 10 different physicians with (1, 3, 5, or 7) they would probably get varying approval results.

  • Fed up with invisible illnesse

    I agree.

    I have chronic pain in both legs due to Fibromyalgia, and osteoarthritis in the knees after getting hit by a car while cycling a few years ago.

    Although I am in chronic pain all day, and can hardly stand for more than 10-15 minutes at a time, I know I do not qualify as “handicapped” due to the 200 foot rule and don’t want to put someone, like my grandmother, in a wheelchair at a disadvantage just because I feel like parking closer sometimes.

    It also pisses me off to see those other people with “invisible” illnesses jumping out of their SUVs and walking quickly, normally, into the store when I limp the entire way.

    I am tired of the “invisible” handicapps. I don’t care if I get a ever get a placard, but would love people to stop abusing them.

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