Dear List,
There have been a couple of comments about people who looked quite able
bodied using disabled parking spaces. I'd like to tell you a bit about my
youngest sister, Tina.
Tina has MS, multiple sclerosis. She has chronic, progressive MS, the
bad kind with no remissions, no good days. And she has fought it tooth and
nail every step of the way. The first year or two she had her disabled
parking permit she was in her early 30's, young and very healthy looking,
and drove a sporty little car, though it had to be outfitted with hand
controls. And she fought having to use even a cane as long as she could.
She could usually just make it from the disabled parking space into the
grocery store, or drug store where she could then use a cart to lean on.
Her legs were very weak and sometimes didn't cooperate. It was like a high
wire act, trying to keep her independence, keep upright, never knowing when
she'd get tremors or when a foot would drag and send her crashing into
something or to the ground.
By far the vast majority of people are kind and helpful, but that first
few years she endured a sea of icy stares in parking lots, many rude
remarks, and several times had to put up with people cursing and yelling at
her. She's been confined to a wheelchair for many years now and no one
could mistake her for able bodied any more, so those kind of problems are
behind her.
I have the same reaction as everyone else when I see someone walk away
from a disabled parking space, but, unless they're doing a jig across the
parking lot, I try to remember that I don't know their story. They just
might be someone with as much courage, with as much spirit as Tina.
Denise
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