Disrespecting Disability
I was recently talking to my fellow commissioners on the Oakland Mayor’s Commission on People with Disabilities in one of our meetings and we started discussing how often people are disrespectful to the disabled. We were specifically discussing how people sometimes ignore or take advantage of laws and policies that give advantage to the disabled.
One example was discussed at length was that people often take advantage of using the disabled parking placards that the State of California issues to people of disability so they can utilize disabled parking. The problem is that the placards are sometimes provided to people who have minor ailments and do not truly need to use disabled parking. The result of this is that with more people receiving disabled placards it becomes less effective for the people who really need to use the limited number of disabled parking spots. It is getting so bad that San Francisco is now lobbying the state to limit the parking privileges of people who have the placard.
It comes down to people not respecting laws and policies that are made to help people of disabilities. Able-bodied people use disabled parking even without the placards, use disabled toilet stalls when regular stalls are free, block curb ramps with their cars, among other acts of being inconsiderate. From my standpoint, people need more empathy about the disabled community and realize that these laws and policies are here for a reason.
While I agree that disrespect, intolerance and flat out rudeness to people with disabilities I want to point out that you have no way of knowing why a person has a placard or is using a handicapped bathroom stall. It is possible that you are being just as intolerant as the people you are annoyed with by assuming these people are doing these things out of laziness and or a lack of empathy. Several months ago, at the age of 34 a heart defect I have had my entire life suddenly became severe. I spent quite a bit of time in Intensive Care have had several cardiac procedures with more scheduled. I lost the ability to walk more than 100 feet, to stand up from a low seat (or toilet) or to do anything requiring my heart to work harder. You can’t tell it by looking at me, but I am very ill and I am disabled by my heart condition. I have spent my entire adult life working with individuals with physical and communication disabilities. I wouldn’t dream of blocking a wheelchair ramp or denying access to someone with a disability. However when you assume you can tell if a person is “disabled enough” to deserve a parking placard or to use a handicapped stall just by looking at them you are denying access to me and others like me with less visible disabilities.