Everyone has felt the temptation of parking in the big blue and very conveniently located handicapped parking spot. I don’t know about you, but I’d never dare. I didn’t know it was a thing capable people ever did, but apparently it happens all the time.
Mandy Harris is a mother who raised two daughters with special needs. She knows first hand how important the space and proximity of the handicapped parking spot is. And she’s sick of seeing people who don’t need it take advantage of it.
She wrote an open letter and shared it to Love What Matters, because it’s an important message for absolutely everyone. You may rationalize it because you’re just popping into the store for a quick second, or because you have a toddler with you.
But this mama makes her statement very black and white. If you don’t have the blue sticker, you can’t park in the blue spot. Simple as that.
She has experienced it from every angle.
She’s been on the side of needing the space for her special needs children, but instead watched it get taken by a car full of giggling teenagers.
And she’s also been on the other side, carrying children and strollers with her hands full, and still parking where her car belonged – in a regular parking space.
She’s even heard stories from friends, like one recovering from a brain tumor, who shared the same frustrations and struggles to find an available handicap parking space.
“If you or another person getting out of your vehicle do not possess a handicap tag or plate, you are not entitled to park in that blue spot. End of story.”
There are only a certain number of handicapped parking spaces allocated in every lot. It depends on the overall area and number of spots, but it’s usually about 1 handicapped space for every 25 regular spaces.
The numbers differ slightly for places like hospitals, where the legal requirement understandably changes to 1 in 10.
But really there’s no way of knowing how many people with handicapped stickers will show up to a parking lot, or when. So even in those quick few minutes that someone has taken up an accessible space, it could be the same time frame that someone who actually deserves the spot arrives and needs a place to park.
The trade off foe your convenience, is just not worth inconveniencing someone else. And Mandy has vowed to never be a part of the problem.
“I will not be parking my vehicle in a handicap spot. Not if it’s raining. Not if it’s cold. Not if I’m in a hurry. Not if the other close spots are full and it means I’ll have to climb that hill and extra stairs.”
After seeing so many parents pull into her toddler’s day care parking lot, fully healthy and able, and parking in the handicapped spot, she had enough.
Having children is a lot of work, but it’s not more important than helping to make life safer and more accessible to those who are actually in need.
Tragically, her two oldest daughters, who had Pantothenate Kinase Associated Neurodegeneration, have passed away.
She’s fortunate that her third and youngest daughter is healthy and she no longer needs a blue handicapped parking pass. But Mandy is using her previous life experience as a mom to special needs children to spread an important message.
“Today my family is healthy and able, but if someday we find ourselves back in a position where something as simple as a handicap tag and parking space could make the world safer or more accessible, I hope there’s a spot there for us.”
I hope there’s always a spot available to anyone in need! You really never know what someone else is going through, and when that little bit of extra help could mean the world.
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