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-------------------------------------------- from the Ottawa Citizen: Wednesday, June 13, 2001 Letters to the editor Louts abuse handicap parking For a week now I've been struggling with an inflamed Achilles tendon. It means walking with a cane - slowly. It has given me a chance to experience, I hope only briefly, what it is like to be mobility impaired. I can no longer manage the three-block walk from my downtown parking space to my office. Buses are out of the question - that involves six blocks of walking. A trip to the washroom takes planning, a shower takes endurance worthy of a flamingo, and sleep is disturbed by nagging discomfort in a limb. But what is most painful of all is to see the legions of able-bodied drivers (displaying handicap permits) using handicapped parking spaces when no disability is visible, nor is any disabled person with them. Just once I would like to see a by-law enforcement officer challenge some of these lazy louts. Remember: If you take up a handicap spot when neither you nor your passengers are legitimately disabled, you condemn some other poor soul to a long and agonizing ordeal as they try to get from vehicle to store. You should be ashamed, and fined heavily. Perhaps a month in an ankle cast would help educate you. James Bradley, Nepean -------------------------------------------- from the computer of Janet Paterson: 13 June 2001 Letters to the Editor Ottawa Citizen 1101 Baxter Road Ottawa Ontario K2C 3M4 Att'n: Kurt Johnson Url: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/ . E-mail: [log in to unmask] Dear Mr. Johnson; On June 13th, James Bradley of Nepean wrote about 'lazy louts', that is, apparently able-bodied drivers displaying handicapped parking permits and using handicapped parking spaces, when no disability is 'visible'. I am 54 years old and I have had Parkinson's disease since I was 38. As I observe the slow but inexorable progress of this incurable and degenerative disease in my body, attaining a 'smooth' response to the medications (which can remove 95% of my symptoms), can feel like a misguided attempt to fine-tune a Maserati using a ball-peen hammer. As a result, my PD symptoms can yo-yo from highly 'visible' to 'invisible' several times a day. Mr. Bradley might very well have seen me getting out of a car and walking 'like a normal person'. He might also have seen me an hour later, shuffling back to the car or even being wheeled in a borrowed wheel chair because my meds had not 'kicked in' and I had become virtually paralyzed (at least in terms of walking) in a matter of minutes. A visible clue (like an ankle cast) is not the only way to 'judge' disability. I like to asssume that anyone who has gone to the trouble to obtain and display a handicapped sticker is legitimately entitled to it. Janet Paterson 375 Country Street, Apt 301 Almonte Ontario K0A 1A0 Tel: 613 256 8340 Url: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ . E-mail: [log in to unmask] -------------------------------------------- janet paterson: an akinetic rigid subtype, albeit perky, parky . pd: 54/41/37 cd: 54/44/43 tel: 613 256 8340 email: [log in to unmask] . snail mail: 375 Country Street, Apt 301, Almonte, Ontario, Canada, K0A 1A0 . a new voice: the nnnewsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/janet313/ . a new voice: the wwweb site: http://www.geocities.com/janet313/ . ---------------------------------------------------------------------- To sign-off Parkinsn send a message to: mailto:[log in to unmask] In the body of the message put: signoff parkinsn