Don't Tell Me What To Do! (And Leave Handicapped Spots For People Who Really Need Them)

The title might sound a bit like a petulant child.  Really, though, it's a matter of letting people make choices for themselves.

I was reading one of my Disney groups yesterday where a woman complained about the lack of trams in the parking lot at Epcot during the recent RunDisney events.  These are marathons of various lengths that take place throughout Disney World at different times of the year.  January, an otherwise slow month for tourism, is one of the popular months for these events.

Anyway, this woman is in a situation similar to me right now.  She has bad knees - bone on bone.  This is my condition as well and I am getting knee replacement next month.  The woman made the call to go to Epcot, thinking when she parked her car she was okay because she could hop on the tram to the entrance to Epcot.  I have made it through a couple of vacations recently just knowing when I can sit and taking breaks as I need them.  I've rented a scooter in the past and they are more stressful than helpful, in my opinion.  Maybe one day I will need one all the time, but I'm hoping that isn't too soon.

With the RunDisney events going on, there were no trams running in the parking lot.  This poor woman walked all the way to the usual tram stop before she found that out.  She commented that it would have been nice to at least have a sign up. She couldn't make the walk from there to the entrance, so she returned to her car. Getting back to her car she said she was nearly crawling.  I get it, believe me.

In the comments on her post, most were sympathetic.  There were a few pieces of advice that she should let them know and even I agreed she should have told a Castmember (Disney employee) so they could have either given her a ride to the entrance or back to her car.

Along come the people who want to put the blame on her.  Why don't you have a handicapped placard was the one that struck me.

I don't have one and I don't want one.  I can manage to walk most distances I need to, and just sit a bit if my knees start to bother me.  I have been in parking lots way too many times and seen the handicapped-designated spots taken up and people who really need it unable to park there.  Just a few weeks back I saw a couple at our Wal-Mart in town have to park in a regular spot and the husband had to go up to the front of the store to get one of the scooter-carts for his wife.  I and another person in the parking lot helped him as best we could, but it would have been much easier if he had been able to park in the handicapped spots and have the room to bring the scooter right next to her.

No, I don't want a handicapped placard.  That's my personal decision.  This woman agreed when I answered the first person's comment with:

I know the feeling - I am having knee replacement next month. If you're like me, I don't need a handicapped placard most of the time and I don't want one as there are people way worse off who need it. I can plan well enough except when they throw something like this to me. I would complain. A cast member should have called for a cart to either bring you to the front or back to your car.

That wasn't good enough for the person who first questioned why the woman didn't have the handicapped placard.  She was insistent that we should have one and telling me that I should talk to my doctor and get a temporary one if I "worried that I'd become comfortable using it."

I don't need you telling me what to do.

People don't like it when they make a suggestion and you don't take it for some reason.  They have to insist we do things their way.  The initial poster, like me, has gotten around fine without the placard.  We have found we don't need it, until a monkey-wrench got thrown in her plans.

Even having the placard is no guarantee.  Remember I mentioned using a scooter at one time?  Well, that was back when my left ankle was in really rough shape and I couldn't walk on it all that well.  We had my Dads car and he had a handicapped placard at the time, so I used it at Disney to park closer one trip.  We arrived at the Disney Studios parking lot to find the handicapped parking so small there was no place to go.  Where we ended up parking, I had a pretty good walk.  That was not a good day for me, which is another reason why I don't like to use something like a handicapped spot if I think I can get by without it.  I do believe in karma and have often said that people who cheat the system to park in a handicapped spot will someday be given a reason to need it.  I've seen that happen.

If I wanted a placard, I'm sure my doctor would give me one.  I don't want it.  If that's what someone tells you, don't insist they should do it.  They have their reasons.  It goes that way for much of anything in the way of advice.








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