In 2025, America is faced with such an erosion of liberties that many of us are numb to it. It's just expected, and it's imbedded in so many subtle ways.
Today, I'm going to focus on one of my pet peeves that I am sure many of you will disagree with me on, conservatives included:
Handicapped parking spaces.
Ten years ago this summer, I had a torn quadriceps tendon, had major surgery and was in a cast for six weeks. I borrowed a walker from a neighbor. There was a point when no one was home, and I had to go to Walmart to buy groceries. All the close by parking spots were taken, except for the 20 or so handicapped spots of which about five were occupied. As you know, handicapped spots are the premium locations always closest to the door. So I began my slow trek about 200 feet from the entrance. As I neared the empty handicapped spots, a van pulled into one of them and out waddled a 300-pound woman. I don't know what her disability was, but the main one appeared to be that she was morbidly obese. She was walking without assistance, so I would assume if she were to drop 150 or so pounds, she could walk normally and not need a special spot.
The only requirement for getting approval for handicapped parking is for a health care professional to sign off. Doesn't have to be a doctor. A nurse practitioner will do. And
there doesn't have to be a specific condition; only the determination that one has difficulty walking normally. So this could be most anybody who wants one. I am told these things are relatively easy to come by.
A business must have 2% of spaces solely for handicapped parking. For a small business, any number under 20, must be for the handicapped; again the prime spot. My beef is that this spot is usually available, and 98% of the population is inconvenienced at all times to accommodate the possibility that less than 2% might use a spot. For a business like Walmart or Lowe's that has upwards of 1000 parking spots, at least 20 front-and-center spots have to be available.
Usually fewer than half are filled. This inconveniences everybody else. I sure could have used one of those spots that day I was in a cast with my walker.
This madness started in 1973 with the Rehabilition Act which guaranteed rights for the Disabled. While the act didn't mandate parking spaces, it set the table for the American Disabilities Act of 1990 which ushered in the familiar guy-in-a-wheelchair blue icon where the rules were standardized.
My thoughts?
This is just another unfunded mandate that businesses are expected to eat. The decision should be left up to the business. If they think a spot should be left open, leave it open. If not, don't have a handicapped spot. If people complain, it's on the business to decide. It also depends on the type of business. Hospitals and doctors' offices could choose to have them. Athletic speed performance centers may decide they don't need them. Right now, no one is encouraged by our laws or government health care system to be healthy.
America is increasingly obese, and we must not fat shame people. In fact, we are told by the left we must celebrate people's obesity. "It's who they are". There are no incentives for being fit. No incentives to walk. But if we were to mandate spots, let's restrict eligibility and make it tougher.
Being a 40-year-old fatass should not be enough.
But if we must have mandated handicapped parking, let's do it more intelligently. Lowe's shouldn't have 15 open prime real estate spots on a crowded business day. Have 15-minute parking. Or open those spaces for everyone between, 6 pm and 8 am. Or if there are say, eight parking spots, let the end spot be for the handicapped; not the one right in front (which requires another adjacent space for loading and unloading).
It's all part of the softening of society. What did people do before 1974? They worked it out. They went when it wasn't busy. They got dropped off. Someone went in for them. They did what they could to become ambulatory again. Or businesses decided for themselves. Forced mandates are not compassion.
True disabilities are unfortunate, but you don't make everyone else move heaven and earth to accommodate. Government needs to get the hell out. It's none of their business.
Discover the history of handicapped parking tags, how they originated & shaped accessibility laws to support drivers with disabilities.
wkfirm.com
Nationwide surveys show that 40% of Americans are obese, while 10% are severely obese.
usafacts.org
