I'm a teacher and this summer I'm working afternoon summer school at a building that's known for not having enough parking. People will park along the side of the driveway or in other non-spots that aren't in the way when the proper parking spots fill up. There's also ample street parking behind the school.
There are 3 disabled spots and I believe a total 2 loading zones between the spots. For the past two weeks someone has either parked in the loading zone, or 2 of the 3 spots have been taken by someone without a placard or disabled plates. We have at least 3 people working in the building who are disabled and have parking placards but we don't get to park in those spots because they're constantly taken.
I get that you might not want to park farther away or whatever. But that spot is reserved for people who need it. And yes I know not everyone can get a placard or plates and these people might be disabled. I only recently was able to get mine despite being disabled for years. But never once did I park in the disabled spots that I didn't have a placard for. Never did I dream of parking in the loading zone that might be necessary for someone to get in or out of their car.
Today I drove in and saw that once again the three spots were taken, and I recognized two of the cars as the repeat offenders who don't have placards. I stopped in front of the spots to reevaluate where to park, when an older Black man got out of his truck in the third spot and came over to ask if I wanted his spot. When he recognized that I'm the person with the cane he immediately was like "I'll move it's no problem" even though he did have a parking placard. I'm so grateful that he did that. And I hope I see him again today so I can properly express that to him. But he shouldn't have had to do that. We should have both been able to park in the accessible spots. This isn't an instance of lack of accessibility but of (almost certainly) ablebodied people being inconsiderate and ableist and taking up a limited resource set aside to help disabled people.
Don't park in the disabled spots if you don't have a parking placard/plates (or whatever it is outside the US). DONT park in the loading zones! If I had brought my wheelchair to work and someone was parked in the loading zone I wouldn't have been able to get it out of my car. I don't care if no one ever parks there and they're always empty and you think you aren't harming anyone. I don't care if you don't understand why we need them or need so many or need loading zones or whatever. Its common fucking courtesy to not be an ableist asshole.
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