The fines have gotten serious, in my jurisdiction, so it's a lie literally not worth telling around here.

Oh, yeah, the fines have gotten insane here, and enforcement got very aggressive sometime in the late 90s; but before that it was a little spottier. I haven't seen any non-tagged car in a handicapped spot in years.

Amusingly (in a very mean way), the only invisibly handicapped person I know who's gotten challenged recently by parking lot vigilantes is Deb G. It's safe to say that everyone who gets in Deb's face about how she doesn't look disabled enough for their tastes walks away from the encounter severely unlikely to ever try it again.

Probably afraid to talk out loud for a day or so.

Hubby enjoys going to the doctor's office and reporting the people who take up all the handicapped spots near the doors who don't have tags. Turns out a large number of those people are local college students, who say they've been told that if you have out of state plates you can park in those spots. Hubby has occasionally leaned on his cane and smiled beatifically at the sobbing coed or fuming jock who is arguing with a cop who's quietly writing a ticket. And it's not uncommon for the spot to empty out and another clueless student to immediately pull into that spot, right in front of the police car, while Hubby's chatting with the cop.

I'm beginning to think the city should just assign a cop to follow Hubby around when he's driving, just so they can collect tickets.

Or deputize hubby - sounds like he'd get a great deal of entertainment from writing tickets himself.

A few weeks ago, I had the most ridiculous argument with someone over a semi-related issue. I can use stairs, but I usually need to hold onto a handrail, and this was at the end of a day with a lot of walking, so I definitely needed it. I was walking somewhere where there was a ramp, but it was kind of inconvenient, so I took the stairs, holding onto the handrail. There were maybe ten or so stairs. When I was about halfway up, a woman starts walking down the stairs, also holding the handrail. We meet when I have about three stairs to go. She says, "I'm old! You have to move so I can hold on." I say, "I can't use the stairs without the rail," and point to the brace on my ankle. She says, "Well, you have to move, because I'm not moving! I'm old!" We glare at each other a bit, and finally I step over to the side (blocking the other people trying to use the stairs) while she goes past me.

Ugh. I have to leave the house in half an hour to go to this training. And I want to be there, and I want to do some shopping nearby afterward...but at the MOMENT, all I want to do is hit a magic pause button and take a nap (even though I just got up an hour ago).

I'm periodically surprised about how ... clueless? inconsiderate? flat-out rude? ... people can be. I have bad knees and I CAN use stairs, but if I'm on an escalator I ride. I've gotten a few rude comments (hey, I almost always stand to the right) but in stores where the escalators are too narrow to allow two people side by side (me standing, someone else walking), I've had people push me to try to make me walk.

I've had people push me to try to make me walk.

People do that? I mean, I almost always want to walk, and I consider it just my bad luck when I get wedged behind someone I can't pass, but PUSH? Someone thinks PUSHING is acceptable behaviour? Jesus.

You just don't know anyone's story and there are times to shut your mouth.. I had a friend in sf with a sever RSI. She spent a lot of time riding buses to various parts of the city to go for walks. there wasn't much else she could do. She looked healthy - but had to sit , she couldn't hang on to a bar . Esp. In china town she got yelled at all the time for sitting in handicapped seating.

Good luck bonny. I hope you met a new friend

yes. people are fucking ridiculous.

seriously. I'm about 10 personal incidents away from living in a mountain cabin or in a remote beachside village.