[Normati]

I wonder if perhaps it's a good thing that rich people can pay to use handicapped spots. We could just think of them as "priority parking", and the regular priority parking ticket costs $x while handicapped people get a coupon entitling them to free access. After all, the intention isn't to prevent healthy people using them, it's to prevent them becoming unavailable - a gaggle of handicap convention attendees would cause more trouble than an occasional CEO buying his own groceries.

[colin_jack]

Some disabled people rely on access to these spaces, meaning if the spaces are full they can't do their shopping and have to go home.

[collyw]

While I agree with you, the situation is also abused somewhat (in the UK at least).

A girl in my university class had some kind of wrist problem. She wrote slow because of it, though no slower than me - I am just a slow writer. She was officially classed as disabled and could have had access to such parking, as well as extra time in exams. Does she really need access to disabled parking spots? She was fit and healthy otherwise.

The other person I spoke to who had access to disabled parking "borrowed the permit from his aunt".

[sago]

How is that different from abusing the system by parking in it with no permit? Except that you are not as likely to be fined?

The question is, so what? Does the degree of abuse mean we should let more people park in disabled spots? Or should we enforce the rules more stringently?

Also, it is unhelpful to judge whether someone is 'fit and healthy' from seeing them. There are many hidden disabilities. And people with them are often accused (to their faces) of faking it, gaming the system, etc. The UK is currently suffering under a growing culture that assumes people on 'benefit' are scroungers. As a disabled person, I rely on Mobility and Care provision through Disability Living Allowance (I work, so I claim no disability benefit, or similar), I've felt the chilling effect of the disability doubt zeitgeist.