I've had pots for 4 years. My heart rate is 105 writing this. It was 140 a few moments ago when I had to go down a flight of stairs. I want to punch people in the teeth when they tell me I just need a bit of exercise. Sometimes these are even medical professionals.
That ramp looks like it's made out of 2x4s which tells me a really big story about accessibility because that seems like a product that would be useful for a whole lot of people who use wheelchairs, mobility scooters, anything heavy that might need to be put into or taken out of a car.
And this person or somebody close to them made one out of lumber from a hardware store because that product didn't exist.
Some handicap toilets here in Norway (I have seen it twice so far) have recently started featuring the text "Not every disability is visible" (in Norwegian, of course). Because apparently enough people didn't get that memo.
Ehhh, I feel like those stalls are fair game if there’s no one who needs it in line. But if someone tells you “I need that stall” shut the fuck up and let them through. I’ve never encountered that situation in my 40+ years of life, though.
Im fortunate that so far in life I've never been permanently disabled but there was a time when i was dealing with health issues and barely had the energy to walk the 10 feet to the bathroom. An outsider would never have looked at me and thought i needed assistance. Just leave people alone even if you assume they are faking it.
So many people think disabilities are cut and dried and that multiple levels don't exist. I'm half-blind, bad genetics saddled me with terrible vision and the retina in one of my eyes decided to start spontaneously delaminate off the back of my eyeball. I couldn't afford to get it looked at/stopped in time (because US healthcare prices) and half lost 50% of my total vision in that eye and it will continue until I am completely blind in that eye. To make it even better there's something funky...
with my lens that developed over years and what little vision I have left in that eye is extremely distorted and basically unusable. I can see colors, shapes, lights and so on but no fine detail. The eye is half total, and half legally blind. Yet there are people who will say I have no blindness because SOME vision remains in it. And it infuriates me the amount of people who think if THEY can see my eye, I can see out of it. Like, WTF kind of logic is that?
This. My wife has both feet affected by trans metatarsal amputation, caused by necrotizing fasciatis. In other words, no fore foot, she's basically walking around on the heels of her feet. She can walk about 50 yards, painfully. She has a wheelchair, and parks in the disabled parking, but may not use the wheelchair to go in the grocery store for a few grocery items. She does get the stinkeyes from people who can't mind their own business.
She's definitely right about people would not choose to use a wheelchair if they didn't have to. It makes most things more difficult and most people have zero spatial awareness about folks in wheelchairs.
See if i really cared, I'd just go up and ask the person. Something like "Hey sorry to bother you, but why do you have a wheelchair? Do you need assistance with something? Can I help?" But i don't care enough and unless i see that person struggling...im just gonna leave well enough alone lol. I assume if you're in a handicap spot and you have a handicap thing - you're probably handicapped...thats your buisness...
I'm a wheelchair user. I can go - currently - around 200 feet with a walker. My best friend has spina bifida. She can go a lot further, but still has a chair because she can only do so much. And we are visible disabilities. There are so many invisible disabilities.
Yes, fuck anyone who takes up resources reserved for us. But fuck even more the people who wrongly make assumptions and accusations against us, making our lives harder.
I have two artificial hips since I was 43. I can walk for about an hour, IF I have a couple small breaks. If I start and keep going I get to roughly a mile and my legs are close to just dropping me where I stand. I’m never without pain, I can’t even remember what it’s like to run because I just can’t anymore. Visibly, nothing’s wrong. Well when dressed. Butt nekkid is when it can be seen from the massice scars on either side. Do. Not. Judge. People. On. Appearance.
People dont understand disabilities. Like trying to explain to someone that the vast majority of blind people doesnt actually have pitch black 0% vision, and surprisingly many legitimately go "yeah right..." I guess a lot of us just heard that blindness equals no vision in preschool and we just accepted that as fact, the same way that wheelchair means absolutely unable to walk. We aren't the brightest bunch
There was a time after an accident I needed a cane to walk, and even though I've always been somewhat aware of the worlds low accessibility (disabled parents) living it is still something else. I still sometimes use a cane, and am considering a better mobility aid. And I am so fucking grateful no one's ever confronted me for using an elevator or not using my cane "correctly"
When I took my disabled friend shopping, I got a lot of nasty looks for taking a powered shopping cart and driving it out to the car so he didn't collapse walking 50 yards into the store... Fug em'...
I unfortunately used to silently judge folks who parked handicap. When I started working at a tool store, I'd see a lot of dudes in big ol' trucks park in handicap, and as close to the front as possible and while I didn't say anything, it annoyed the fuck out of me.
Some dudes it was entitlement. 'I wanna see my TRUCK to make sure nobody fucks with it' kind of thing.
But a lot of dudes? Their backs were so unbelievably fucked up from their years of work- and from STILL working.
Yeah the only time I judge someone in a parking lot like that is when they clearly shouldn't be parked there.. like not having any of the requirements (placard, plates, etc). There are people that need that space. You (as in the person doing it) can afford to walk a bit more.. trust me you likely need it.
Lots of people need glasses to see properly, but can still see without them in some cases (i.e. I can read just fine without mine, but I need them to see anything further away like when I'm driving or at work), yet nobody sees me take my glasses off and says "you don't need those at all!!".
Yeah, again goes to show how many simply stupid people there are in this world. Not only ignorant of the facts, but so arrogant in their own non-existent self worth that they feel the need to harass strangers.
I had someone try to steal my walking cane, whilst trying to claim I didn't need it and was only carrying it with me to use as a weapon.
As an inpatient occupational therapist, I agree the vid. There are medical conditions people have to live with that may be subtle to figure out. Since I started this path long time ago, I know that a handicap placard can be for something that people may not be able to see during a few second glimpse of a person doing their thing
Here’s 2 things most don’t realize: in the U.S. handicap placards state to be removed while driving-why, they block line of vision. Most cops will not ticket for it unless you are being a royal ass. Also just like able bodied you are expected to park within the blue lines. Reason-the person in the adjacent handicapped spot may need those extra inches to get out of their vehicle. Again most cops will not ticket but if you act like an idiot they are within their rights to do so.
Not exactly the same thing but one of my old coworkers is missing half of her right foot. She doesn’t use a mobility device but has a handicap placard because walking for more than necessary hurts a lot for her. She got so many people talking shit about it. I had to go off on one of them who was being particularly obstinate most went about their business once she told them what was up some apologized this mfer was demanding to see her foot.
I got told about how one time a woman parked in a disabled spot and had people making comments because she was clearly able bodied. The child with her that walked funny on the other hand...
Friend had a third of her lung removed due to cancer. I pushed her to get the placard. First postoperative outing & we were accosted. I calmly inquired if they would like to see the brand new scar from where part of the lung was removed. Saying how it starts at the tip of the posterior lung ending by the anterior ribs. Look on his face-priceless.
If I see someone without a placard in a handicap spot I say something like "Oh I think you forgot to put your sign up." Because yeah not all disabilities are visible, and I actually park in handicap spots often because I'm driving my grandma around and she can't walk very well and has a placard.
welll, it is a multiedged sword, though. If we all mind _just_ our own fucking or non fucking business, there WILL be important things left behind. Adhering to this 100% is what gave us way too many bad things to list here: I'll name two: MAN MADE climatechange and good old Diaper Donnie!
Agreed, but there’s a LOT of people who use handicap spots as loading zones or who are absolutely abled bodied and don’t give a damn.
Like the lady in the vid, my mom is an ambulatory wheelchair user. I push her around all over town because she can’t walk more than 15-20 feet at a time. One of the conditions of using the placard is it can only be used if the person to whom it was issued is actually needing the accommodation at the time. 1/2
Right, but you never know who is and isn't disabled just by looking at them. People abuse the system, for sure. But the way to handle that is NOT to approach random people in the parking lot and accuse them of not being disabled enough to use the spot.
So I can’t legally park in a handicap spot with her in the car if she’s not actually getting out of the car. The placard is for her assistance, not my convenience.
(And I personally know people who have abused that privilege.)
It gets awkward to do it right sometimes. My partner has a badge because she can only walk 50 feet or so without help and has other issues. If I drop her off at the door then park nearby in a disabled space so I can help her walk to the car when she's done I'm technically incorrect. But the alternative is to make her walk even further...
AFAIK, that’s not a technical violation. If so, I violate that one weekly.
As good as the ADA is in theory, sometimes RW implementation is lacking. I took my Mom to a Tex-Mex restaurant in the center suite of a strip mall last week. The handicap parking spots are at either end- 30+ yards away from the restaurant’s door.
She couldn’t walk that, & pushing her chair that distance would have been a challenge with all the benches, tables, trash cans, planters, etc. on the walkway.
Sure. But this lady is putting her wheelchair in her car. Its not like she pops out and does handsprings across the parking lot. Other people should put 2+2 together. I know Im asking for a lot here of them.
Yes, and fakers can and do likewise. It’s not like fraudsters are all idiots.
One of my friends is a recently retired Social Security judge- she handled hundreds of cases of fraud in her career. Evidence submissions could look like what we see above- seemingly legit- then the investigator would submit video of them competing in an out-of-state marathon.
And a lot of handicapped people are aware of this kind of stuff, and get rightfully pissed off & confrontational about it.
So those frauds aren't just movies? Here it is basically nonexistent. Nobody is fraudulent because there are nothing to fake. everyone gets treatment they need for free.
Part of the reason is that some of the benefits are paid out to patients in cash as opposed to other fraud-deterring methods. IOW, it isn’t that the treatment isn’t available & subsidized by the government, it’s that fakers can defraud the program for $$$, believing they won’t get caught. (Not all do.)
Acdkatie
Some asshole keyed an entire side of my grandparents car because their pass fell down. Both required walkers and one needed oxygen when walking.
spiderbroismyhomeboy
Mobility aids are incredibly inconvenient. So if using them helps you, it's because you need them
Alkatrix
Did someone build that sweet ramp for you?
Asadsadsadclown
I've had pots for 4 years. My heart rate is 105 writing this. It was 140 a few moments ago when I had to go down a flight of stairs. I want to punch people in the teeth when they tell me I just need a bit of exercise. Sometimes these are even medical professionals.
UprootedGrunt
I'll be honest, I very often *want* to ask...but I don't, because I'm not an asshole.
robofuck
That ramp looks like it's made out of 2x4s which tells me a really big story about accessibility because that seems like a product that would be useful for a whole lot of people who use wheelchairs, mobility scooters, anything heavy that might need to be put into or taken out of a car.
And this person or somebody close to them made one out of lumber from a hardware store because that product didn't exist.
joshuasplinth
I’ve never once looked at someone and begrudged them their wheelchair. Maybe when I’ve desperately wanted to sit down…?
Higure
Some handicap toilets here in Norway (I have seen it twice so far) have recently started featuring the text "Not every disability is visible" (in Norwegian, of course). Because apparently enough people didn't get that memo.
MrsHowVeryDareYou
Ehhh, I feel like those stalls are fair game if there’s no one who needs it in line. But if someone tells you “I need that stall” shut the fuck up and let them through. I’ve never encountered that situation in my 40+ years of life, though.
johnxbear
Im fortunate that so far in life I've never been permanently disabled but there was a time when i was dealing with health issues and barely had the energy to walk the 10 feet to the bathroom. An outsider would never have looked at me and thought i needed assistance. Just leave people alone even if you assume they are faking it.
MrsHowVeryDareYou
I feel like the ONLY time a comment might be warranted is if someone comes jogging out of their Porsche and someone else is waiting for that spot.
VayaKahvi
Remembering a bumper sticker that read "You can have my parking spot if you take my MS too."
IslaNublar
So many people think disabilities are cut and dried and that multiple levels don't exist. I'm half-blind, bad genetics saddled me with terrible vision and the retina in one of my eyes decided to start spontaneously delaminate off the back of my eyeball. I couldn't afford to get it looked at/stopped in time (because US healthcare prices) and half lost 50% of my total vision in that eye and it will continue until I am completely blind in that eye. To make it even better there's something funky...
IslaNublar
with my lens that developed over years and what little vision I have left in that eye is extremely distorted and basically unusable. I can see colors, shapes, lights and so on but no fine detail. The eye is half total, and half legally blind. Yet there are people who will say I have no blindness because SOME vision remains in it. And it infuriates me the amount of people who think if THEY can see my eye, I can see out of it. Like, WTF kind of logic is that?
TheobromineAddict
This. My wife has both feet affected by trans metatarsal amputation, caused by necrotizing fasciatis. In other words, no fore foot, she's basically walking around on the heels of her feet. She can walk about 50 yards, painfully. She has a wheelchair, and parks in the disabled parking, but may not use the wheelchair to go in the grocery store for a few grocery items. She does get the stinkeyes from people who can't mind their own business.
daytimepajamas
She's definitely right about people would not choose to use a wheelchair if they didn't have to. It makes most things more difficult and most people have zero spatial awareness about folks in wheelchairs.
Ornado
See if i really cared, I'd just go up and ask the person. Something like "Hey sorry to bother you, but why do you have a wheelchair? Do you need assistance with something? Can I help?" But i don't care enough and unless i see that person struggling...im just gonna leave well enough alone lol. I assume if you're in a handicap spot and you have a handicap thing - you're probably handicapped...thats your buisness...
daychilde
I'm a wheelchair user. I can go - currently - around 200 feet with a walker. My best friend has spina bifida. She can go a lot further, but still has a chair because she can only do so much. And we are visible disabilities. There are so many invisible disabilities.
Yes, fuck anyone who takes up resources reserved for us. But fuck even more the people who wrongly make assumptions and accusations against us, making our lives harder.
ToenailClippingsJar
I have two artificial hips since I was 43. I can walk for about an hour, IF I have a couple small breaks. If I start and keep going I get to roughly a mile and my legs are close to just dropping me where I stand. I’m never without pain, I can’t even remember what it’s like to run because I just can’t anymore.
Visibly, nothing’s wrong. Well when dressed. Butt nekkid is when it can be seen from the massice scars on either side. Do. Not. Judge. People. On. Appearance.
sistermoon
You have my story. Thank you for sharing
shinagami091
For me I can’t stand for more than 5 minutes before my lower back starts to spasm and the only relief is sitting down.
usingYourMomAsAHat
People dont understand disabilities. Like trying to explain to someone that the vast majority of blind people doesnt actually have pitch black 0% vision, and surprisingly many legitimately go "yeah right..." I guess a lot of us just heard that blindness equals no vision in preschool and we just accepted that as fact, the same way that wheelchair means absolutely unable to walk. We aren't the brightest bunch
theraininspainfallsmainlyontheplain
There was a time after an accident I needed a cane to walk, and even though I've always been somewhat aware of the worlds low accessibility (disabled parents) living it is still something else. I still sometimes use a cane, and am considering a better mobility aid. And I am so fucking grateful no one's ever confronted me for using an elevator or not using my cane "correctly"
Munchman347
When I took my disabled friend shopping, I got a lot of nasty looks for taking a powered shopping cart and driving it out to the car so he didn't collapse walking 50 yards into the store... Fug em'...
KidCharlemagne524
"You don't look disabled."
"And you don't look like someone that needs to be told to mind their own fucking business. Yet here we are."
BoboTheIceMan
bet this lady had to buy her own chair, and bet even more that the asshole would be against people who need them getting them from insurance
manyslayer
Until they need one, then they'll raise holy hell.
RenaissanceFaireMan
Don't be silly, those chairs are expensive. Probably rented the chair.
4thwalled
to the person hassling someone for not seeming "disabled enough"
arumunus
I unfortunately used to silently judge folks who parked handicap. When I started working at a tool store, I'd see a lot of dudes in big ol' trucks park in handicap, and as close to the front as possible and while I didn't say anything, it annoyed the fuck out of me.
Some dudes it was entitlement. 'I wanna see my TRUCK to make sure nobody fucks with it' kind of thing.
But a lot of dudes? Their backs were so unbelievably fucked up from their years of work- and from STILL working.
CiphriusKane
The term for being able to walk despite needing a wheelchair is ambulatory wheelchair user, and they're actually the majority of wheelchair users
eventide215
Yeah the only time I judge someone in a parking lot like that is when they clearly shouldn't be parked there.. like not having any of the requirements (placard, plates, etc). There are people that need that space. You (as in the person doing it) can afford to walk a bit more.. trust me you likely need it.
Rogahar
Lots of people need glasses to see properly, but can still see without them in some cases (i.e. I can read just fine without mine, but I need them to see anything further away like when I'm driving or at work), yet nobody sees me take my glasses off and says "you don't need those at all!!".
thelategirl
Yeah, again goes to show how many simply stupid people there are in this world. Not only ignorant of the facts, but so arrogant in their own non-existent self worth that they feel the need to harass strangers.
I had someone try to steal my walking cane, whilst trying to claim I didn't need it and was only carrying it with me to use as a weapon.
ZLKdrummer
We call that a Not-So-Fun Fact. Thanks for educating
Yoshi125
As an inpatient occupational therapist, I agree the vid. There are medical conditions people have to live with that may be subtle to figure out. Since I started this path long time ago, I know that a handicap placard can be for something that people may not be able to see during a few second glimpse of a person doing their thing
Cats2cats
Here’s 2 things most don’t realize: in the U.S. handicap placards state to be removed while driving-why, they block line of vision. Most cops will not ticket for it unless you are being a royal ass. Also just like able bodied you are expected to park within the blue lines. Reason-the person in the adjacent handicapped spot may need those extra inches to get out of their vehicle. Again most cops will not ticket but if you act like an idiot they are within their rights to do so.
slightlybrokenegg
Not exactly the same thing but one of my old coworkers is missing half of her right foot. She doesn’t use a mobility device but has a handicap placard because walking for more than necessary hurts a lot for her. She got so many people talking shit about it. I had to go off on one of them who was being particularly obstinate most went about their business once she told them what was up some apologized this mfer was demanding to see her foot.
AtleastIvegotthatgoingforme0
That is terrible.
CiphriusKane
I got told about how one time a woman parked in a disabled spot and had people making comments because she was clearly able bodied. The child with her that walked funny on the other hand...
Cats2cats
Friend had a third of her lung removed due to cancer. I pushed her to get the placard. First postoperative outing & we were accosted. I calmly inquired if they would like to see the brand new scar from where part of the lung was removed. Saying how it starts at the tip of the posterior lung ending by the anterior ribs. Look on his face-priceless.
StarscreamAndHutch
Mind. Your. Own. Fucking. Business. Its very simple to do.
MrMattster
https://i.imgur.com/V149J5o
newsguycraigevans
More people need to understand this.
Enoan
If I see someone without a placard in a handicap spot I say something like "Oh I think you forgot to put your sign up." Because yeah not all disabilities are visible, and I actually park in handicap spots often because I'm driving my grandma around and she can't walk very well and has a placard.
unluckyandbored
And yet, so many simply can't seem to manage it.
JackHL01
welll, it is a multiedged sword, though. If we all mind _just_ our own fucking or non fucking business, there WILL be important things left behind.
Adhering to this 100% is what gave us way too many bad things to list here: I'll name two: MAN MADE climatechange and good old Diaper Donnie!
AtleastIvegotthatgoingforme0
What they said.
Dannyalcatraz
Agreed, but there’s a LOT of people who use handicap spots as loading zones or who are absolutely abled bodied and don’t give a damn.
Like the lady in the vid, my mom is an ambulatory wheelchair user. I push her around all over town because she can’t walk more than 15-20 feet at a time. One of the conditions of using the placard is it can only be used if the person to whom it was issued is actually needing the accommodation at the time. 1/2
AllTheKitties
Right, but you never know who is and isn't disabled just by looking at them. People abuse the system, for sure. But the way to handle that is NOT to approach random people in the parking lot and accuse them of not being disabled enough to use the spot.
Dannyalcatraz
So I can’t legally park in a handicap spot with her in the car if she’s not actually getting out of the car. The placard is for her assistance, not my convenience.
(And I personally know people who have abused that privilege.)
2/2
yoyo42
It gets awkward to do it right sometimes. My partner has a badge because she can only walk 50 feet or so without help and has other issues. If I drop her off at the door then park nearby in a disabled space so I can help her walk to the car when she's done I'm technically incorrect. But the alternative is to make her walk even further...
Dannyalcatraz
AFAIK, that’s not a technical violation. If so, I violate that one weekly.
As good as the ADA is in theory, sometimes RW implementation is lacking. I took my Mom to a Tex-Mex restaurant in the center suite of a strip mall last week. The handicap parking spots are at either end- 30+ yards away from the restaurant’s door.
She couldn’t walk that, & pushing her chair that distance would have been a challenge with all the benches, tables, trash cans, planters, etc. on the walkway.
StarscreamAndHutch
Sure. But this lady is putting her wheelchair in her car. Its not like she pops out and does handsprings across the parking lot. Other people should put 2+2 together. I know Im asking for a lot here of them.
Dannyalcatraz
Yes, and fakers can and do likewise. It’s not like fraudsters are all idiots.
One of my friends is a recently retired Social Security judge- she handled hundreds of cases of fraud in her career. Evidence submissions could look like what we see above- seemingly legit- then the investigator would submit video of them competing in an out-of-state marathon.
And a lot of handicapped people are aware of this kind of stuff, and get rightfully pissed off & confrontational about it.
SergeyPrkl
So those frauds aren't just movies? Here it is basically nonexistent. Nobody is fraudulent because there are nothing to fake. everyone gets treatment they need for free.
Dannyalcatraz
They’re really happening, all right!
Part of the reason is that some of the benefits are paid out to patients in cash as opposed to other fraud-deterring methods. IOW, it isn’t that the treatment isn’t available & subsidized by the government, it’s that fakers can defraud the program for $$$, believing they won’t get caught. (Not all do.)