Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group handicap parking

Sue, in my early yrs. when it was all inflammation and no fusion yet, the farther I walked the better I felt, so I held out and did not get one. That is probably what wore my right hip out at an early age. I was on a cane for a few yrs. before the hip replacement, and could have got one easily, but I think it was just pure stubbornness that kept me from it. After the hip replacement I can walk well again, so I still don't have one, maybe someday. Everyone is different, if you need it get it.
J.R.

Sue, I've had one for 5 years. My Orthopedic surgeon filed it for me. I don't even know what was on it. I just remember the nurse asking me if it was to be temporary or permanent, of course we all decided permanent and that was it. They sent it in and I recieved it in the mail. Boy am I glad I didn't have to go through what you had to. I'm touchy about all this disability stuff and always concerned with how people view me. I had a triple whammy when I was told I had to walk with the cane and then quit work and fill out forms for SSD. Man, what an awful feeling. Don't worry about what people think. If a handicap parking will make your life easier, do it and don't give it a second thought. That's what they are available for.
Cindy

thanks tim,

my life often reminds me of a seinfeld episode!

hi lisa

in NY state, for the hangtag, you have to go to the town hall.
since sometimes i drive my car, sometimes i sit in my husband's car,
the hangtag made the most sense.

i remember you telling us that story awhile back.
very memorable and a good story.
its not really the strangers that i worry about, i really don't care what they think,

i guess its just that i've tried to hide things from my coworkers as much as i can, they think i only very rarely have problems, that's only when my SI is so bad its totally noticeable, the rest of the time they think i'm fine. my husband says "what do you care, you have tenure." but still i don't want people i work with to know, don't want them to have questions in their minds about whether i can do my job or not. though i'm also trying to remind myself that usually we are much more acutely aware of ourselves than anyone else is of us. one of my colleagues had a temporary handicap parking permit and i don't think anyone so much as noticed.

i think if someone were to come up to me and question me about parking in handicap parking, i think i'd end up suggesting that they ask their doctor for a permit as well. see what they said to that.

anyway, thanks for the warning. we'll see how it goes. really what i need it for is work. if i'm too bad to walk from my car to a store, then i'm also too bad to walk through a store, and so i just stay home. but work, gotta work. and like a lot of universities, its a 1/4 to 1/2 mile walk to my car when i park out in the nearest parking lot. no parking near the buildings. even the handicap parking is enough of a walk into the building that my colleague in a wheel chair has to have his wife pull up to the building and wheel him in, parking illegally to do so.

donette,

i think you should ask for one. you can get a big fine parking in a handicap spot without a permit. i never would have thought about getting it if it weren't for people here talking about it.

thanks dean,

that's a great analogy, i like it.

thanks jeffrey,

i know how much you've been hurting, yes, i think you should get one too.

thanks donna,

for me, its just really unpredictable. one minute i can be fine, and the next......like yesterday, i took a step and felt a pain in my knee shortly before i went to bed, it hurt until i went to bed, woke up today and fortunately the mysterious pain was gone. its this unpredictability that is so hard to predict

I got one last summer when I couldn't walk without my cane and, even with the cane, couldn't walk far. I keep it in my purse because it applies to me not my car (you're not supposed to leave it hanging while you're driving in case it obscures your vision). I take it out and hang it from my rearview mirror AFTER parking.

I haven't used it for months but I was advised to hang on to it in case I need it in the future.

usually its not the walking that is the problem, thus parking most places is not the issue. for me, the problem is work. no matter how little i try to carry in from the parking lot, its too much. and they do a horrible job cleaning the snow and ice in the winter, i'm always so afraid i'm going to mess something up trying to navigate on the ice, as i already have several times. one of my colleagues took a hard spill on the ice when she was about 6 months pregnant. she asked if she could have special parking closer to the front of the parking lot and they just told her "sorry, but no." had another colleague who is diabetic fall on the ice in the parking lot and shortly thereafter lost his lower leg due to a blood clot (probably from the fall, but hadn't thought much of it at the time so had no documented proof). i wonder if all universities are so thoughtless about their people. when i was a student, i had no issues walking as much as i needed to, but as we become older.......most universities have separate parking for their faculty much closer to the buildings, but our university does not, everyone parks together. when i was younger, i just thought it was a perk that the professors got, now that i'm older, i realize its kind of a necessity for some people, but our university doesn't get it, and of course no one tries to educate them. the older faculty with health problems just have their spouses drive them in. but really that's not very practical when you live as far away as we do and my husband has his own stuff to do. then of course there are times when i can barely walk, period. but really, its my university's lack of understanding that has forced the issue.