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What has your experience been using accessible parking with cerebral palsy?
In this episode of Living with Mild Cerebral Palsy, I’m talking about something I have experienced plenty of times, the looks people give you when you pull into an accessible parking space before they have any idea why you need it.
There can almost be two separate reactions.
First, someone sees you sitting in the car and seems to question why you have a handicap placard at all.
Then you get out, start walking, and suddenly you can see the reaction change. Sometimes it almost feels like you have successfully proven that you are disabled enough to meet a stranger’s requirements for using the space.
It is a strange experience, but I have learned through conversations with other people who have cerebral palsy that I am definitely not the only one who has dealt with it.
That is one of the things I appreciate about being able to connect with other people with CP online. Experiences that once felt like oddly specific things happening only to you become conversations where somebody else immediately says, yes, that happens to me too.
For those of us who grew up before these online communities became so accessible, that connection can make these experiences feel a lot less isolating.
So I want to hear about yours.
What reactions have you received when using accessible parking? Do people stare before you get out? Does their reaction change once they see you move? And have you ever had someone go beyond the looks and actually say something to you?
Sometimes simply realizing that other people understand the experience can make a difference.
