"Don't abuse the privilege."
With more and more disabled people being added to the population I have a concern regarding the distribution of parking permits by physicians. I believe that many truly disabled people cannot get access to designated parking spots because nondisabled people have parked there.
I am writing as a physician to suggest a new campaign to try to limit the abuse of the disability placard system. Over the years it has become more and more obvious that the disability sticker is being abused . In my development there is even a physician who's not disabled and parks in one of only two available disability slots every day. Consequently when people who are really disabled come to the doctors office there is nowhere for them to park and the buses for the disabled block up the parking lot while they off load passengers. I also find it very irritating when I have refused to give a patient a disability parking sticker and they can go and get it easily elsewhere. Or patients come in and ask me to renew their disability parking because their other doctor always did it. Patients who need to be encouraged to walk are given disability stickers so that they don't have to walk!
A patient asked me to give her a sticker the other day because her mother walks so slowly.
Some of the ideas that I would propose are the following :
Doctors be fined for providing inappropriate disability
All doctors carry medical liability and their medical liability companies could send them a polite gentle reminder not to issue inappropriate parking stickers
Urgent care centers and hospitals should be encouraged not to fill out parking stickers but to encourage patients to get them from their regular physicians
Start a "" don't abuse the privilege campaign"
If the parking permit is being obtained for someone other than the owner of the vehicle do not give for more than six months at a time.
Educate physicians and let them know they are expected to be examples and act with integrity.
Educate the population as to what constitutes a real disability and that age alone is not a reason to request a disability parking sticker. People with seniors in their families can drop them at the curb and then go and park themselves. This is what used to happen and now everyone is clamoring for a parking permit which means that the truly disabled are not having access to these parking spots. I really don't think that designating more and more parking spots as disabled is the solution, it just gives people the idea or that they need to go and get a parking sticker so they have an advantage over others in the parking lot.
