Handicap Parking Space Abuse: Disabilities Faked More Often Than You Think

You've heard of the excuse of invisible handicaps by seemingly healthy people who use handicap parking spaces. Well, the faking of an invisible handicap has hit home, and I'm sure this scenario is repeated thousands of times across America. It's not at all far-fetched to assume that the person driving a car with a handicap permit is, in fact, quite able-bodied. Think about it, folks: Suppose someone in your family has a disability, but you go out on an errand in that person's car, without that person.

The regular parking spaces at the shopping center are all filled, save for ones 300 yards away from the store entrance. Then you spot several handicap spots a stone's toss away from the store entrance, and you look at the handicap permit hanging on the car's rearview mirror. Hmmmm...pretty tempting, no? Especially if you're pressed for time. So you zoom right into a handicap spot. You are now one of those people with an "invisible handicap."

I can think of several medical conditions that feel worse if a person walks 300 yards versus 50 yards. But this doesn't mean that extra walking makes the condition worse. In fact, walking will improve the condition. Ask any doctor. Three examples: peripheral vascular disease, diabetes neuropathy, and emphysema. In fact, an obese woman with emphysema joined my health club, and didn't use handicap parking. She walked the lengthy stretch of the parking lot with her oxygen tank and used the weight lifting machines.

Months later I noticed she didn't have her oxygen tank with her. I also noticed her walking gait had improved. I have to believe that all those many times of walking the stretch of parking lot contributed to her improvement. But another woman always uses the handicap spot. She, too, is obese and makes her way up the gym's staircase slowly. I don't know if she's in pain, versus just weak and heavy. What I DO know is that often, between upper body dumbbell workouts, she walks around the track WITHOUT holding onto the rail! Yet she parks in a handicap spot.