Stupid idea or great idea about handicapped parking?

[PrincessMickey]

I wish that they would do away with handicapped parking spots for all except those in wheelchairs and/or who have specialized vans and need the extra space.

How did oversized handicapped spots morph into spots for anyone who can scam a doctor?

Here in NJ it is a real joke. Everyone has one, whether they really need them or not. In some cities they actually have permits for parking spots on the street. There are some blocks where all the available parking spots have handicapped parking by permit only. Is this even legal I wonder? It's amazing how they came up with a new way to secure your very own parking spot on a public street!

Can you explain to me why they exist at a mall? A person can't walk an extra 200 or so feet in the parking lot but can walk around a mall all day.

And then you have the a-holes who use the family handicapped placard to park...need I say more?

And before anyone goes off on me, I have a parent who uses a wheelchair, so I understand the frustration of the OP.

Your post and thinking is very offensive. So just because my DH is disabled but not wheelchair bound, you are saying that he should not be able to go and enjoy getting out of the house and go to the mall. He gets out of the house maybe once a week. He enjoys going to the mall and taking to the kids to the playplace area to watch them play and maybe treating them to McDonalds. You want to deny him that right to spend time with his kids. What about when my kids want to go see Santa. DH shouldn't be allowed to go because he's not in a wheelchair. Just because he's at the mall for a few hours doesn't mean he is physically walking for that long. Maybe you should show a little compassion for those that can't walk as well as you can. My DH was injured trying to save and protect you. He does not want to be limited by his disabilty and still wants to remain as active as he can for his kids but he still greatly appreciates the car being closer because it hurts a great deal to walk and the extra room to be able to get in and out easier.

 

[daughtersrus]

My daughter is ineligible for school tranportation right now, so I do have to pick her up. The wheelchair the insurance company will pay for is not bus compliant, so she can't ride the HC busses. Considering all the medical bills we will have, I don't want to pay OOP for a better wheelchair. The school provides bus service to 99% of students, so it's not like anyone HAS to pick up their kid- the bus is free to use and goes everywhere within the school district. There are a lot of people who choose to pick up their kids, though!

At the school, even the parent pickup kids have to be signed out at the office. So if the HC person is the driver they do have to get out of the car to sign out the kids. And then in our case, even when I get my other kids I do have to get my HC daughter out of the car to sign out her siblings (we just stay in the school, no point to leave for a few minutes, but hypothetically) because it's against the law I believe to leave an 8 year old alone in the car. Or at least I don't feel comfortable doing it! The carpool line is only in the mornings, in the afternoon there is no carpool line.

I'm assuming that your DD either has an IEP or 504 so please correct me if I'm wrong.

If that is the case, I think that the school is trying to pull one over on you. According to law, in order to provide your DD with FAPE, transportation is considered a "related service" and the school district must provide transportation to and from school as well as transportation within the school.

The school district should know this but just in case, here are some links.

http://www.fape.org/pubs/fape-35.pdf

Who decides if my child needs
transportation services?
You and the rest of your child’s IEP team decide whether
your child needs transportation services. The school has
to arrange for transportation if the IEP team decides that
your child’s disability prevents him or her from:
• using the same transportation as nondisabled
children, or
• getting to and from school the same way as
nondisabled children.

http://leg1.state.va.us/cgi-bin/legp504.exe?000+reg+8VAC20-81-10


"Transportation" includes: (34 CFR 300.34(c)(16))

1. Travel to and from school and between schools;

2. Travel in and around school buildings; and

3. Specialized equipment (such as special or adapted buses, lifts, and ramps), if required to provide special transportation for a child with a disability.




If your DD's chair is not bus compliant and she is able to use a walker, a suggestion might be to have her sit in the chair as it goes up the lift. Once on the bus, she could use the walker to transition to the seat. When it's time to get off the bus, she could use the walker to transition to the chair and sit in it as it goes down on the lift.