Monday, November 07, 2005
Not-So-Handicapped Parking
Parking spots at my university are pretty limited, especially for the first four hours on a Monday morning. Most of the students who decided to skip out early on the previous Friday show up on Monday to find out exactly what they missed. So unless you show up twenty minutes prior to your first class you are usually relegated to "No Man's land" as far as parking is concerned which means you have to walk anywhere from an extra 30 seconds to two extra minutes to get to class. OMFG, the horror!
Like any public or private institution, our university has a specific number of parking spaces set aside for handicapped employees, students, and visitors. These are, of course, the "prime" parking spots being the closest to the buildings. Before someone starts raising their eyebrows, let me first say that I do not begrudge the parking spots going to those who have the most difficulty navigating to and from their cars. They have a hard enough time as it is. I believe the Disability Rights Laws are a necessary part of our society.
That being said, I saw one of the most disgusting things imaginable this morning. Returning from class to pick up my next set of books and my clothes for the fitness center, I had to walk through the area of our parking deck where the handicapped parking spaces are. I saw a hunter-green Ford Explorer and a silver Grand Am pull into adjacent parking spots. As I continued to walk towards and then past these two cars I saw two extremely un-handicapped students jump out of these cars and head for their respective buildings. At first I thought that maybe they were late for class and just didn't care if they got a parking ticket or that maybe they were gambling that the parking services folks wouldn't be through the deck that particular hour. But on second glance I saw dangling from each mirror a Handicapped Parking Pass!! I looked back at the two students as they headed towards the building. One was on her cell phone, walking at a brisk trot and the other was taking the steps into the nearest building two at a time!
Now, I suppose it is possible that there was something going on there that I wasn't aware of. There are handicapped classifications that are not immediately apparent. For example, a person might have fully functional prosthetic limbs hidden by clothing or some sort of visual impairment.
However, more likely was the fact that these two students weren't in any way handicapped and were using some relative's handicapped parking tag so they wouldn't have to worry about parking out "in the boondocks" a full two-minutes away.
I need to make up some static stickers for instances like this. Just to leave something on their window that says, "Hey Tool! You're not handicapped, don't park here!" Only, of course, in a better way.
Parking spots at my university are pretty limited, especially for the first four hours on a Monday morning. Most of the students who decided to skip out early on the previous Friday show up on Monday to find out exactly what they missed. So unless you show up twenty minutes prior to your first class you are usually relegated to "No Man's land" as far as parking is concerned which means you have to walk anywhere from an extra 30 seconds to two extra minutes to get to class. OMFG, the horror!
Like any public or private institution, our university has a specific number of parking spaces set aside for handicapped employees, students, and visitors. These are, of course, the "prime" parking spots being the closest to the buildings. Before someone starts raising their eyebrows, let me first say that I do not begrudge the parking spots going to those who have the most difficulty navigating to and from their cars. They have a hard enough time as it is. I believe the Disability Rights Laws are a necessary part of our society.
That being said, I saw one of the most disgusting things imaginable this morning. Returning from class to pick up my next set of books and my clothes for the fitness center, I had to walk through the area of our parking deck where the handicapped parking spaces are. I saw a hunter-green Ford Explorer and a silver Grand Am pull into adjacent parking spots. As I continued to walk towards and then past these two cars I saw two extremely un-handicapped students jump out of these cars and head for their respective buildings. At first I thought that maybe they were late for class and just didn't care if they got a parking ticket or that maybe they were gambling that the parking services folks wouldn't be through the deck that particular hour. But on second glance I saw dangling from each mirror a Handicapped Parking Pass!! I looked back at the two students as they headed towards the building. One was on her cell phone, walking at a brisk trot and the other was taking the steps into the nearest building two at a time!
Now, I suppose it is possible that there was something going on there that I wasn't aware of. There are handicapped classifications that are not immediately apparent. For example, a person might have fully functional prosthetic limbs hidden by clothing or some sort of visual impairment.
However, more likely was the fact that these two students weren't in any way handicapped and were using some relative's handicapped parking tag so they wouldn't have to worry about parking out "in the boondocks" a full two-minutes away.
I need to make up some static stickers for instances like this. Just to leave something on their window that says, "Hey Tool! You're not handicapped, don't park here!" Only, of course, in a better way.
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