The encounter got me thinking -- must be parking weekend; Bad Cripple also wrote about disabled parking this weekend. Anyway.
The people who set up accessible parking have to balance a number of considerations, the most important of which probably are space (for ramps and to get a wheelchair out of a car/van) and proximity to the destination. People who have placards have them for very different medical reasons. Unwittingly, though, we become part of the planners' calculations about where to put the spaces and how many spaces there should be. (Legislation for this is, I believe, set by the state.) Whatever the law, the practice is that in my parts of California at least there are never enough spaces. And with scarcity begins the zero-sum game and the policing of who gets the spots.
Yeah, I know there's abuse of the placards, but I tend not to see that or I don't know that I am seeing that. I don't think that encouraging and enforcing hierarchizing principles of access help members of the disabled community. When I look at sites like this one -- download an iphone app so you can report a fraudster, I feel really cross. Disability is not always visible. Even though we know there are abusers of the system, I think we do better to trust that people displaying placards need those placards . And I believe that those who need the placards will do better if we recognize that we are all in this together.
I am concerned with how we treat each other. I hate the way that we who have legitimate placards and need the spots turn on each other -- even if all that happens are comments and/or looks. I don't know how we decide that we need these spots more than anyone else, but we do. It's frustrating not to be able to get the parking, yes. But designated spaces are only that: designated. They are not a personal entitlement. If the place goes to someone else with a plate or a placard, that's it. You can't give that person a dirty look or try to get them to hurry up. I think it is permissible to check (once that person has gone) that they have a placard, but I also think that checking, if they DO have a placard, can come across as policing.
Policing is no understatement. A delicate and tactful enquiry about whether they need disabled parking is one thing -- asking them to produce their placard (which is what happened to me today) is another. I've been on both sides of it. I have asked someone if they need the space -- that's my way of getting around the "are you REALLY disabled" question. I'm literally asking about the space -- I need room for my chair. Sometimes, the space user is a disabled person who gets it. Sometimes, the question comes across as policing, and they get upset (with some justification.) Sometimes, though, I just get ticketed like everyone else who parks in more than one space at a time.
And speaking of policing, there's also the question of law enforcement. Friday was International Parking Day -- the idea being to turn parking places into, well, parks! I didn't do anything. I'd love to see that take a firm hold. But I also recognize that in places where public transit is poorly constructed and para transit poorly organized, cars are a necessity. So, again, I feel pushed to trade my desire for a green world against my desire for an accessible world. If we could work on this, perhaps the pressure around abuse and fraud could be reduced. Effective July 1st, the fine for placard abuse is $935. Is that money going back to the disabled community -- the ones most materially affected by the abuse? Hell, no. It's going to a cash-strapped city. This kind of policing should help us more than it does. Places like San Francisco and Berkeley simply don't have enough accessible spaces. Reducing fraud is part of the problem. Rethinking the system is another.
In the meantime, I'm going to try and trust that the placard user needs that space.
Yeah, I know there's abuse of the placards, but I tend not to see that or I don't know that I am seeing that. I don't think that encouraging and enforcing hierarchizing principles of access help members of the disabled community. When I look at sites like this one -- download an iphone app so you can report a fraudster, I feel really cross. Disability is not always visible. Even though we know there are abusers of the system, I think we do better to trust that people displaying placards need those placards . And I believe that those who need the placards will do better if we recognize that we are all in this together.
I am concerned with how we treat each other. I hate the way that we who have legitimate placards and need the spots turn on each other -- even if all that happens are comments and/or looks. I don't know how we decide that we need these spots more than anyone else, but we do. It's frustrating not to be able to get the parking, yes. But designated spaces are only that: designated. They are not a personal entitlement. If the place goes to someone else with a plate or a placard, that's it. You can't give that person a dirty look or try to get them to hurry up. I think it is permissible to check (once that person has gone) that they have a placard, but I also think that checking, if they DO have a placard, can come across as policing.
Policing is no understatement. A delicate and tactful enquiry about whether they need disabled parking is one thing -- asking them to produce their placard (which is what happened to me today) is another. I've been on both sides of it. I have asked someone if they need the space -- that's my way of getting around the "are you REALLY disabled" question. I'm literally asking about the space -- I need room for my chair. Sometimes, the space user is a disabled person who gets it. Sometimes, the question comes across as policing, and they get upset (with some justification.) Sometimes, though, I just get ticketed like everyone else who parks in more than one space at a time.
And speaking of policing, there's also the question of law enforcement. Friday was International Parking Day -- the idea being to turn parking places into, well, parks! I didn't do anything. I'd love to see that take a firm hold. But I also recognize that in places where public transit is poorly constructed and para transit poorly organized, cars are a necessity. So, again, I feel pushed to trade my desire for a green world against my desire for an accessible world. If we could work on this, perhaps the pressure around abuse and fraud could be reduced. Effective July 1st, the fine for placard abuse is $935. Is that money going back to the disabled community -- the ones most materially affected by the abuse? Hell, no. It's going to a cash-strapped city. This kind of policing should help us more than it does. Places like San Francisco and Berkeley simply don't have enough accessible spaces. Reducing fraud is part of the problem. Rethinking the system is another.
In the meantime, I'm going to try and trust that the placard user needs that space.
It's not the cars with placards that I pay attention to. As you say, there are a lot of invisible disabilities.
ReplyDeleteOn the other hand, the people without parking placards showing, I feel, are fair game.
I have a collapsed hip, but am not wheelchair bound. I had a placard when I lived in the U.S., even though my limp was not as visible then as it is today. Even so, unless a store had a plethora of handicapped spaces (and some did), I hated taking the designated spots because I think people in wheelchairs need them more (for the space to get in and out of the vehicle, for the chair). But part of it was also because I got tired of being "policed" about my disability, and figured might as well park in a regular space, walk a bit further and pop a pain pill than deal with the crap. =(
ReplyDelete@displaced.... I can't publish your other comment with the joke about visually impaired drivers. It makes no sense to say we should all support each other and then make a joke against one group.
ReplyDeleteWCD
Posting this for Displaced.
ReplyDeleteThis reminded me of an episode of House I saw once - House who has a lot of pain and walks with a cane lost his designated parking space to a Doctor who was using a motorized wheelchair and went into battle with that doc... She argued that he was ambulatory and she had the worse disability and he argued that her motorized chair could more easily cross the parking lot than he could walking with his cane. The outcome became wrapped in other story lines but I thought it was an interesting dilemma (the issue of the size of the space was not mentioned). I was really pleased to read your comments regarding the hierarchy and your support of people with invisible disabilities. We are all in this together and we need to be as respectful as possible of each other.
Well, you could come to Victoria, we have 28 blue badge spots out of over 10,000. Most supermarkets don't have any blue badge spots. It creates a sort of equality of discomfort. The cinema has no spaces for wheelchairs, and no blue spaces either. I don't have to wonder if I am a hinderance, every person who climbes over the wheelchair tells me. There is no need to police who gets the spot, as there aren't any, and those who have severe impairments don't get out at all.
ReplyDeleteThere are worse worries.