Handicapped Parking Permits & Deaf people

[jwolly]

I know a few deaf people that have handicapped parking permits/license plates.

Their states provide them for deaf people.

I find it offensive to those that really need the parking space, especially those who are in wheelchairs. If you can walk, walk.

I've heard a multitude of ridiculous excuses that got me laughing. Heard everything from "deaf people can't hear burglars sneaking up on them" all the way to "deaf people have been suffering, need a break".

So, tell me, if you have HC plates, why do you think you need them if you are physically able to walk?

I do not have a parking pass but often wish I did. I've nearly been run over on multiple occasions because I cannot hear cars coming. It's hard for the average person to understand, but being deaf is scary, and I totally understand why someone would want the pass.

 

[Tetracyclone]

I am deaf, in a wheelchair, and have COPD. Can I get 3 permits?

 

[Emm]

I find it offensive to those who assumed!

There are invisible disabilites and health issues that are not visible. Here is perfect example, people with hearth aligment, asthma (I got one) and I used to have one when I was at college. The parking space gets full and I can't walk distant in cold weather.

Here it is not as easy to get permit just because one is Deaf. I have no problem getting one because of asthma.

Just be careful when assume.

I’m deaf, and I don’t want a handicap parking sticker, but I wouldn’t judge another deaf person who chose to get one. Parking lots are not safe places, especially when you can’t hear environmental sounds. Before I got my cochlear implants, friends were forever yanking me to safety if we were walking and traffic were an issue. Even now it happens occasionally.

 

[x1heavy]

I know a few deaf people that have handicapped parking permits/license plates.

Their states provide them for deaf people.

I find it offensive to those that really need the parking space, especially those who are in wheelchairs. If you can walk, walk.

I've heard a multitude of ridiculous excuses that got me laughing. Heard everything from "deaf people can't hear burglars sneaking up on them" all the way to "deaf people have been suffering, need a break".

So, tell me, if you have HC plates, why do you think you need them if you are physically able to walk?

I am working on a broken joint. My driver has a HC on her vehicle. We use that if we need to then. Then I use the store's wheelchair to get around the food etc. I am deaf but thats not the primary reason for using a HC.

We have a similar discussing happening as our Trucking Industry has aging drivers with accumulating HC issues in real life. Some came back from wars with three new limbs and a chair lift that puts them wheelchair and all right into the Cab of he 18 wheeler. They hang a HC card to take some of the newer HC spaces made specifically for RV and 18 wheelers with HC.

The Joint will be replaced which will be a second for me. The HC is issued strictly to that car and it actually involves her mom who has several lethal end of life issues that can kill her at any time at 92 going on 93. One of those is three holes in her entire heart system. It leaks alot, so if she walked too far. Thump Dead.

You say WALK. Great awesome no worries..... Not all HC can walk too far. Hence the HC spaces.

Many are disabled in ways that are not visible. and so getting inside the store from the HC is all they can stand.

Me? I always parked at the far end and walked in. Hip or not. However when the spine is flaring up and I am on a walker getting around with a shuffle, then my driver gets out the HC card and we go get a Wheelchair. No problem. That all will be fixed with surgery next month so its temporary for me.

The worst thing about being deaf specifically dates to Maryland School for the Deaf, the staff there in the mid 80's Many preached against taking SSI which is there for Deaf children who also in some specific cases have documented handicaps mental or physically over and beyond simple deafness. That did a great deal of damage to many including myself and divided the students unnecessarily. Thats all water under the bridge and we are so over it.

There are people like myself who will continue to go to the store and do what I need to do when its time to do it even if I am in a wheelchair. Its no big deal. Provided the surgeon can fix or replace body parts with artificial ones to solve the problem so we can walk and jog but not necessarily run.

Thats the big laugh. You have new joints. Great. You will run at least once to get out from under the City Bus sometime in your life or get run over. =)

HC? Not a issue. Leave it to those who have need of it. They are among the last people who need to justify or explain to you, me or anyone on the street about it. The State has already made that determination to issue that card for them.

My view is pretty generous towards those less able than I am physically or mentally. I had spent YEARS in a small bus that did nothing but pick up wheel chair classmates and those who require special attendants at all times. It was aggravating until we told the state to quit it for me. Put me in a normal bus with the other deaf. (They eventually did...) but we still had the ability to take HC people.

 

[Hedgehog182]

I'm seeing all kinds of mobility issues that are in addition to Deafness. That's cool. But I must agree, that if you can walk, that's the way to go. I suppose there ARE a few other rare reasons one might be normally mobile, Deaf, and still need a spot. Late Deaf people often feel handicapped before (and IF) they integrate into Deaf Culture and find out they do not have to be handicapped. Others are "handicapped" by sudden deafness and never seem to be able to capitalize the d in Deaf. Still, the default seems kind of obvious that if you can walk it, it's the thing to do. I'm a late Deafie and I find that taking advantage of loopholes and such makes it harder to embrace my Capital D.

 

[x1heavy]

I'm seeing all kinds of mobility issues that are in addition to Deafness. That's cool. But I must agree, that if you can walk, that's the way to go. I suppose there ARE a few other rare reasons one might be normally mobile, Deaf, and still need a spot. Late Deaf people often feel handicapped before (and IF) they integrate into Deaf Culture and find out they do not have to be handicapped. Others are "handicapped" by sudden deafness and never seem to be able to capitalize the d in Deaf. Still, the default seems kind of obvious that if you can walk it, it's the thing to do. I'm a late Deafie and I find that taking advantage of loopholes and such makes it harder to embrace my Capital D.

I'll share some more to your wondeful thoughts.

When we were children and I first went to (Bear with me) deaf school, my brother and sister occassionally wanted to learn the "Good" signs or signs that are very ... showy and entertaining. For example Porcupine. In the east that means you are making many spikes along one forearm to the elbow which says Porcupine. Sister always fell over laughing for whatever reason. Dad might smile. Essentially I was entertainment. Not for intent to learn my new language.

One night my father collapsed laughing at the dinner table when I explained how we managed to have a school wide snowball fight between two sets if not three whole dorms one winter night. After he calmed down he had a mental picture of say 50 deaf coming at your team signing in silence instead of yelling whatever because there was 60 of us waiting on them. The word yelling to him as a hearing did not compute because how is a deaf kid able to do snowballs and yell? You savvy?

My mother made a attempt to learn as did my wife. Wife did better but mother suffered bone injuries that HC her ability in the wrists. Ice skating left her with partial healing. So signing did not come out right without excessive finger spelling.

Anyway, Father loved his music (Beethoven, mozart etc etc etc) and one day a virus hit him in his sleep woke up deaf in one ear. That was where the battle was fought and won by his immune system in the night against the invader whatever it was.

He is sorry he did not really treat sign language seriously but I suppose has made some adjustments later in life to use what is left to him.

Now.

When I was in Bear School off Warwick Ave in Baltimore at 6, the year before going to Columbia in Maryland, there were two classmate hearing girls one black and one white, both about 9. And a product of downtown baltimore. I was in Bear School for one school year with them and the education I gained from those two girls when the teacher was away was valid all my life when I went into dangerous places in trucking. The first lesson I learned from those two was Im deaf. SO EFFING WHAT? Get in there and get the game resolved whatever it was. (I used to keep out of group activies with hearing children my age in kindergarden etc with one exception at John Archer years prior) So I was not handicapped being deaf. Now what?

Part of being at Bear School also involved MacDonough School downtown a few blocks away, a total BLACK school. A lawless place too. I recall classmates having snub nose 38's snuck in on themselves for protection at a tender age of 9 or 10 or so. They took a little time to teach me how to use it. Which probably is not the approved educational material. I was the one deaf white boy and bait to these people when they realized my family failed to teach me the racial issues then raging in Baltimore city just after the riots of 68' So I got educated on that. We got along famously believe it or not. I had a gift of being able to learn whatever a people might be wherever they are at and fit in. What we would call Bigotry was destroyed before it had a chance to evolve at MacD so I am thankful to those folks for teaching me their culture such as it was then.

Well, things got interesting when I got into the deaf system in maryland. The staff would bend over backwards telling us we had potential and special and so forth. It would take years to eliminate the indoctrination damage. The State had their interests served by molding us kids a certain idealolgy. That included being a victim, I am deaf, therefore I am handicapped therefore I need all of this technology, services and people etc etc etc etc.

What a mess.

Much of the stressors in the mind and life going into Puberty with my girl (Both deaf and later hearing) was resolved in many ways when they took the time to erase the damage that the state has done.

I am not mad with the state. The education we got and the language I gained was the key to my adult freedom. To live the life the way I want to. And how.

I dont mind being deaf. I dont mind being hearing. But I keep very few people in my life from both cultures who understand me perfectly. And damn few. Maybe less than ten total in real life. Im losing one every few years as they pass on in some cases too young. I do sometimes wonder if I am alone in life what I would have to do to be with deaf? I rather just leave it and cross that bridge someday if necessary.

 

[Hedgehog182]

Thanks for the enlightening story x1! Makes me miss my summers at Gally when we'd all share our various stories. I was lucky that I found Deafness in 86 when ASL was gaining popularity and soon after that schools were allowed to offer it as a foreign language. There was no shortage of newbie signers around to for me to practice with. My city had very few deaf folks and I had to travel long distances to mingle.

I think the hardest part was lack of support for a Late Deaf person learn ASL. From the hearing community that is! It was quite silly! My Deafness became total in a short time after the onset, so what was I going to do? "Fake" being hearing? CI's were a no go for cranial damage. They could not figure out why I was trying to figure out how to integrate into Deafness instead of lip reading and other stuff to become hearing again.

I didn't live in a problem area and didn't experience a threat of violence like you did. For me it was a small Southern California town that was heavily racist and didn't treat the Deaf well. It was mostly ignorance. People flipping me off saying "look, I know sign language." Throwing objects to get my attention, and not in the acceptable way. Usually to tease and get a laugh out of the room.

Getting a braille menu at Denny's, people saying "forget it" and walking away, and getting yelled at for not hearing, just to name a few. I guess I kind of wish I'd grown up with that, instead of jumping right into the deep end well into adulthood. Go blind or lose the use of your legs and you have entire programs devoted just to adjustment process. Deafness is kind of invisible, you know?

Eventually, I created my own path. Sort of had to. Gallaudet was a big help. One of the few places that had Classes not only on ASL, but in culture and ASL for deaf people. That was a great help in creating what I needed. it was odd having them say, "OK, that parts done... what are you going to do next?"

I spend a lot of time and effort "educating" and teaching some sign. I thought what you said about being "entertainment" was spot on, and often felt the same as you describe when people go off on a tangent and poke fun. It's OK in an intimate setting, if the person is not suffering from too much ignorance (or crossed the line into stupidity), but I lose patience if it's a public display. It's not just me taking the tease, it's the whole understanding of it and of the Deaf Community.

Thanks for the stories... I absorb all that kind of info to keep the quest alive and fresh. Your final question is mine too! I need to be with the Deaf, but between Covid, and not having any Deaf family members, it's been a bit of an isolated year. I am looking forward to new things now that we are reopening.

Bridges ahead!

 

[muddy feet]

I know a few deaf people that have handicapped parking permits/license plates.

Their states provide them for deaf people.

I find it offensive to those that really need the parking space, especially those who are in wheelchairs. If you can walk, walk.

I've heard a multitude of ridiculous excuses that got me laughing. Heard everything from "deaf people can't hear burglars sneaking up on them" all the way to "deaf people have been suffering, need a break".

So, tell me, if you have HC plates, why do you think you need them if you are physically able to walk?

My first point is that I live in England, so i cannot comment upon the States. However, in the UK no-one gets a Disabled badge easily, we all have to go through our GP's who say yes or no. No ONE GETS AWAY WITH ANYTHING, even if you are in a wheelchair-you may beable to walk on odd days. My concern is that most deaf people have additional health issues. Besides this... Can you honestly say that you can spot a deaf person before you talk to them>? or is it when you see signs being used that you think (oh that is a handicap space why have they got a badge>?) AND THIS BRINGS BE BACK TO THE QUESTON DISABILITY AND ILLNESS are not the same. Like a wheelchair user may be more healthy than a deaf person. Its a judgement that you are stating. Unless you have a medicle answer from a GP why worry about other people and there health /disablity issues when you need to think "i am so lucky i do not need a badge-they must have needs" Equality is not for all. But being fair and unbiased is important so that one is not bigoted,or negative for no reason. Being kind is far better and getting on with your own life for more important.

 

[x1heavy]

Isolation is hard on people and the last oh... 15 months did no one any favors. Ive got surgery coming up and its going to be quiet in that private room for the week for me. If I could take laptop and hook in then I can try to spend some time with new friends via the wifi at the hospital. Thats the other problem. They intend to have telemetry to the room's Router for live data on my vitals. So... I might have to bring a ethernet cable.

Galludet is one of the strongholds for anyone and everyone. Now I remember it as a party school back in my time and frankly they have had certain crimes that put the deaf community into limelight etc. I have a dear ex girlfriend graduate there, I made sure to take the big rig and get down there to see her get the diploma. And was happy I did. Some things in life you need to be there so to speak. We are still in touch actually however its been quite a while. She has been occupied.

The teasing from hearing? Well... I ran into bullying. Designed to scare and hurt me from wanting to be around them. They would discover with my ancestry I loved to fight. That heat of violence using applied physics with just enough medicine to finish the bullying problem was successful. I got punished yes and the bully equally if not more punished. The better outcomes happen when they quit bullying and became popular.

The racism and certain other... expected behaviors shall we say is unchanged. HOWEVER... today's younger generation were not alive in say Carroll Conner's TV shows such as All in family, HEat of the night (Now there is a show...) and a number of others in all races in those days not just White and Black. Indian nations and other immigrant races as well. Everyone was abused equally. Today? They took the fun out of it already. HA. not. There is a Frenchman, German and a Pole who went fishing... and so on. Baltimore had all the world with us from the Sea and our highways. But racism? Certainly. whew.

What I worry about is this. I visited MSD etc back in the late 90's I was expecting a living evolving student body of all ages, both sexes involved in enjoying school life and solving problems along the way. What I find instead first hand was a listless and low spirited student body. Almost tender to their own shadows for fear of breaching rule. a older teacher explained to me that we were hell on wheels in the 80's and the state cracked down on every one after. They also eliminated bullying. (Ya think?) But failed to eliminate sexual crimes or even murders. Come on now.

The hearing I ran with in those schools were something else. And did they ever tease, haze or whatever you call it to me. What I ended up doing was putting myself into a big football game with the classmates who jeered and laughed at me. The game was a memorable one to leave out the details. At the end of day I was a valued part of the place rather than just a strange deaf to be mocked, teased etc. So that worked out nicely. I just rather not have to try and hold two locomotives trying to get to my quarter back before he gets the ball off. I dont have the frame in those days for it.

And you wonder why I take so many medicines today. HA... Life was lived to the fullest and I hope to see another 50 years of fun. Deaf or hearing. However...things are a little bit different now when in public and not for the better I fear. Maybe we can fix it soon. I hope so.

 

[Moris]

I know a few deaf people that have handicapped parking permits/license plates.

Their states provide them for deaf people.

I find it offensive to those that really need the parking space, especially those who are in wheelchairs. If you can walk, walk.

I've heard a multitude of ridiculous excuses that got me laughing. Heard everything from "deaf people can't hear burglars sneaking up on them" all the way to "deaf people have been suffering, need a break".

So, tell me, if you have HC plates, why do you think you need them if you are physically able to walk?

It's funny that you say that. A former employee was using a handicap parking permit and I knew before he was transitioned to me, so even I had to thread a fine line when approaching this topic, in a private conversation I asked him if he needed any special arrangement and he told me that he was hard at hearing and why he was wearing hearing aids i. Both ears. So, I was a little surprised at first since I thought to myself well so why do you need something that it's meant for people with physical limitations, but after he saw me a little puzzled he volunteered and explained. He said, I've been a self sufficient person and this has not prevented me from running my life but my hearing has been decreasing over the years and a few years ago we moved to a home close to a hospital and there were ambulances coming in and out 24/7, the sound was so unbearable that I had to remove my hearing aid to sleep. Fine, but one day I was rushing out for work and didn't put it on, so I stopped to put on gas and buy something, I backed out and visibility was not great at that spot so I didn't hear the car incoming that honked and well one thing led to the next and I hit the front of the car. So, after the insurance went over the case they concluded that I was at fault and should had I been at the handicapped parking space I would have been spared. My insurance paid, I got my rate increased and my lawyer advised me to apply for a handicapped permit with cause. I did and after my case was reviewed, I got it. Since then, I am more comfortable and confident when driving and less worried if I don't have my hearing aid with me. The handicapped space is wider and allows me to see better and not be worried too much if I don't have it. Perhaps there is more to the story but the bottom line is that if you have a strong case, and there is justifiable cause, you may get it. Just sharing.

I know a few deaf people that have handicapped parking permits/license plates.

Their states provide them for deaf people.

I find it offensive to those that really need the parking space, especially those who are in wheelchairs. If you can walk, walk.

I've heard a multitude of ridiculous excuses that got me laughing. Heard everything from "deaf people can't hear burglars sneaking up on them" all the way to "deaf people have been suffering, need a break".

So, tell me, if you have HC plates, why do you think you need them if you are physically able to walk?

 

[Horrormaker]

Let me say this.. I am near deafness. I even have a hat that says ‘hard of hearing’. I understand about the wheelchair and cane stuff. However, we do need something about safety in a parking lot. Many times I will be walking down the parking isle, watching for cars to possibly pull out. I’m about to approach an empty parking spot when some asshole will pull right cutting me off, scaring the hell out of me. This has happened several times, i’s only a matter of time when I will get hit. What is worse that 9 times out of ten it will be senior citizens. people are losing patience and total disregard for others. People also seem to forget pedestrians have the right of way.

 

[blackbird]

I am HOH and deaf in my right ear. I was walking along the road with my son because there were no sidewalks. He heard a car coming and pulled me out of the road just in time to save me from being hit by the car. In light of that occurrance I completely understand why a deaf or HOH person might need a placcard. There are many invisable disabilities. Therefore, I never assume that someone is taking advantage of the placcard. Regarding teens, is it possible that they might be driving for an elderly grandparent or parent and parked in the spot to get them closer to the store (accessibility)?

 

[RVO]

I know a few deaf people that have handicapped parking permits/license plates.

Their states provide them for deaf people.

I find it offensive to those that really need the parking space, especially those who are in wheelchairs. If you can walk, walk.

I've heard a multitude of ridiculous excuses that got me laughing. Heard everything from "deaf people can't hear burglars sneaking up on them" all the way to "deaf people have been suffering, need a break".

So, tell me, if you have HC plates, why do you think you need them if you are physically able to walk?

Then you're an idiot! The ability for a person to be able to walk through a large busy parking lot and not worry about being run over by a bad or careless driver is equally as important. Deaf people need to be able to hear a potentially dangerous situation