Color me Confused

last Friday we went to Uptown Friday night. Parking is always a problem there but we had found a nearby bank that had a couple of handicap parking spots. There used to be a few handicap spaces on the street but the city did away with those. In general Cedar Rapids outdoor Auditorium seemed very unfriendly to disabled people. The weather was perfect Friday so we thought we would try it. As you can see by this photo we were outwitted by stupidity.

I got to the car first and I this idiot had parked where my ramp would go out. I was tilting my chair back so I could put a gouge in the side of their vehicle with my foot plate. My wife came up about then she told me not to do that. She had to back out so I could get the ramp. She took this photo so she could submit it to the Cedar Rapids police.

We know there are people who drive around to stores and take photos of people illegally parked and submit to the police. Years ago by father-in-law got a photo and citation from the Cedar Rapids police saying he had parked illegally in a handicap spot. In this photo is a handicap placard was obvious. He still had to go down to the police department to get it taken care of. Because of this I know they responded to photos. When my wife called them they told her they don’t. I think they were just being lazy. They told her she needed to call them immediately and then wait. Thanks a lot Cedar Rapids police for nothing.

I realized the problem is not just this individual. Parking down there is really bad. Also there are probably 25 other people drove by and thought about parking the same way. It seems pretty common that people think disabled people are just pretending or something. There seems to be this anti-disabled attitude that some people have. As a consequence we will probably never go to uptown Friday night again.

It’s hard enough to get ready and into the van. We also have to guess whether parking will be a problem or not. This is not just the only place. We go to Cedar Ridge where there are two handicap spot. If those are all I have to be let out and then my wife asked to park far away. After this last episode it’s going to be harder than ever to think about going places. It’s hard enough without dealing with obvious stupidity!