Dear Editor,
I usually write about veterans issues but I am writing today to complain about the blatant ignoring of disabled parking places. I am disabled and use a power-chair to maintain my mobility. I have a ramp-van that gives me the independence I need to lead a nearly normal life. Unfortunately, the disabled parking spaces, particularly those with side stripes to allow side loading and unloading of wheel chairs, are frequently misused. Three times in the last 10 days I have returned to my van to find a golf cart parked on the stripes making it impossible to load my chair. I have also found small autos parked on the stripes in between two adjacent cars. If my wife is with me she must back it half way out thus blocking traffic while the ramp is let out and the chair loaded. If I am alone it is really a difficult problem.
The van and power-chair were very expensive; however, I willingly bear that cost to help me experience more independence. On occasion, when all disabled spaces are taken, I move to an out of the way parking area and place a traffic cone in the space beside mine with markings that point to the van and say Ramp-Van please allow 8-ft. I also have three decals on that side warning of a ramp-van. Sometimes it works and other times they just move the cone and park in the space anyway. I am constantly amazed at the attitude of many drivers that are so focused on their own convenience they choose to ignore the difficulties they are placing on disabled drivers.
I spent 26 years in the Navy and 15 years in the VA as a maxillofacial surgeon and since retiring do volunteer work for three and sometimes four veterans organizations. I must attend many meetings and functions and parking is always a concern. Sometimes, when I roll up to my van and see a vehicle blocking my ramp, I begin to wonder why I bother to continue my volunteer work. I experience considerable discomfort because of my hip surgeries and when I encounter difficulties in getting the chair in the van I begin to think I might be better off to just relinquish the volunteer work, stay home, put my feet up, have a beer, eat some chips and watch ball games on TV. Then my stubbornness genes take over and I am determined not to let these self-centered, inconsiderate folks who are only concerned with their own expediency, determine how I spend what years I have left. I am sure that there are many disabled people who are experiencing the same incorrigible drivers as I am.
B. F. Kepley, CAPT USN (Ret)
