Traffic was again heavy over the Holiday season and parking spaces at stores were at a premium. Again newspapers bring up people parking in handicapped spaces.
The columnist in my local paper writes that unqualified people who do not appear to have a disability use the handicapped spaces use the spaces for handicapped people when they have no need to. She is right; there are people who use spaces when they should not.
However, she appears to be unaware that just because someone looks healthy does not mean they are. She states that if a person can get out of a car without assistance and walk easily to the store that person should not have a handicapped parking placard or license plate.
She argues that a person should prove they deserve the space by looking a person in the eye who is in a wheelchair and tell them they need the handicapped space as much as the wheelchair bound person does. She calls a lot of people lazy who don't appear to her have disabilities.
She notes that Pennsylvania is a state with a large population of elderly adults, but notes that the people she is calling into question are not older. You do not have to be older to have a disability as we well know.
My response to the columnist follows:
“I write in response to your column (For handicapped drivers, parking is a race for space), not to complain, but to elaborate on your statement: “…drivers who don’t appear to suffer disabilities but park in spaces reserved for the handicapped.” Thank you for making the "don't appear" distinction. It is an important one.
People with Parkinson’s disease like me may not appear to have a disability, but we indeed do. Our disability is most insidious. A woman I know with Parkinson's disease once said, “My husband always says it’s hard to get funding for a disease that one minute mean you can’t walk across a room and the next you’re driving to Wal-Mart.”
That is how unpredictable I and many others have found the motor fluctuations of Parkinson's disease.
You will not see me in the hub of Christmas shopping.I stay away from Christmas shopping because crowds tend to make me freeze up. My medicine, when working at full capacity, makes it easy to go shopping and that is when I do so. However, I walk at a quick pace as a natural side-effect of my medications. However, if someone in front of me suddenly stops, or if they are walking at a much slower pace, I can very easily freeze up and won't be able to move at all.
So it is either that, or if I have a clear path, I am a tad like my favorite classic cartoon character, the Road Runner. "Beep, beep, out of my way please!" or I will most unintentionally, and with deep regret and embarrassment run you over. (I have developed a PD kind of sense of humor, albeit a tad offbeat, but it gets me through the day.)
The motor fluctuations so common of Parkinson’s disease can appear with little or no warning. I have already had occasion to hightail it out of a store with my purchases incomplete. In that visit to the store, thankfully, I was able to make it out to my car and get home.
I frequently park in a space using my placard when I appear to be fine because later I may not be so fine leaving the store.
I try to go shopping during the weekdays. I also try to do so when I am "on," meaning my meds are working at their full capacity. However, as I mentioned earlier, the motor fluctuations are unpredictable. If they were predictable I would still be gainfully employed.
I would like you to know that I do not always use my placard. It depends on where I am, if I am alone or with someone, and if I feel like I will not have a problem with my mobility.
People in wheelchairs do need the spaces. But there are other people who do not appear to need those spaces who do. You have, with your column, begun a much needed dialog.
