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Author Topic: Handicap Parking Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 12-04-2005 02:28 AM                     So I am staying at an Extended Stay hotel. The entrances to the rooms are outside. There is parking all the way around the building, with 3 "walkways" to get to either side. In the front where I need to park are 8 handicap spots. I have only seen 2 cars parked in these spaces. I had to pull in the back, and I parked next to a minivan. On it's sliding passenger side door was a big sticker that said please park at least 8 feet away, because it is a handicap van with a wheelcair lift inside the side door. There are no ramps in the curbs at the back of the hotel. What would you do? Leave 2 spaces between them and you, or ignore them? The handicap spots in front take up about half of the parking, and like I said the majority of them are always vacant. Not a big deal, I parked about 50 feet away, but it is one of those WTF questions. Rick  |  IP: Logged Tim Reed Better Projection Pays Posts: 5246 From: Northampton, PA Registered: Sep 1999 posted 12-04-2005 03:25 AM                       I'd figure the handicapped person wasn't around and the driver was off duty or something. I'd try to park away if possible, just in case, but I wouldn't worry too much about it if I couldn't. If they need the space, they should be using the one(s) reserved for them. Handicrapped toilets are a similar situation. A lot of people don't realize the stalls are just wheelchair accessible, they're not reserved. I go straight for them. And I've yet to see anyone in a wheelchair waiting to get in. In fact, I can't say that I've ever SEEN a wheelchair in a public restroom. I have to wonder about these laws, though. In one truckstop I frequent, they have wheelchair stalls in the upstairs restrooms!  |  IP: Logged Christian Volpi Master Film Handler Posts: 349 From: Arlington, NE Registered: Apr 2004 posted 12-04-2005 09:30 AM                        If they are handicaped then they should park in the handicap zone. We can't park in their spot, so they shouldn't be able to park in ours! Just Kidding.  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 12-04-2005 10:27 AM                     The thing I don't get is, the sign on this vans window says please dont park within 8 feet of the side of it. So if they really park in a handicap spot, does this mean they should expect no one to park in the spot next to them? Even if the next spot is a handicap, there isn't 8 feet between the spots. If I park 8 feet away, then I am taking up 2 spaces and I become the asshole Tim, I had to meet a salesman at a theater one morning about 15 years ago. They claimed that all of the signage had to have braile on the signs by law. I basically told them BULLSHIT! what will they do, walk around the theater feeling the walls until they find a sign? I don't think so, they would come with someone, or they would ask for help. I also told him in all my years, I never saw a blind person come to see a movie! (no pun intended). I was not making fun of blind people, I was just being a smartass to a salesman trying to take advantage of a situation that in my eyes was unreasonable.  |  IP: Logged Paul Mayer Oh get out of it Melvin, before it pulls you under! Posts: 3836 From: Albuquerque, NM Registered: Feb 2000 posted 12-04-2005 11:48 AM                        Actually, they're beginning to restripe the handicap parking spaces here to provide wider access. Basically a space about as wide as a pedestrian walkway now has to be on the right side of each handicap parking spot. The feds are being really slow about mandating this change, to minimize the impact on the properties that must provide those spaces. Same thing goes for the ongoing conversion of all public sidewalks to be wheelchair friendly. All new construction of curbs and all existing curbs at crosswalks must eventually provide ramp areas for wheelchair access. Again, it's going very slowly in the established neighborhoods but with each passing year I see more and more street corners converted over.  |  IP: Logged Mike Blakesley Film God Posts: 12767 From: Forsyth, Montana Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-04-2005 11:49 AM                        I think braille signs are stupid too, but it is required on restroom signs by the ADA. I guess the thinking is, a blind person might be able to find their way to the rest room area just by being directed by someone or being familiar with the building, but often the two restroom doors are side by side so having the braille signs makes it easier to use the correct door.  |  IP: Logged David Stambaugh Film God Posts: 4021 From: Eugene, Oregon Registered: Jan 2002 posted 12-04-2005 12:07 PM                        Handicapped parking spots here are extra-wide to accommodate vehicle chairlifts. There's a new federal courthouse being built in Eugene, a major deal here. During the planning stage, there was a huge public debate over wheelchair access. The main public entrance will sit kind of high due to site requirements, so it isn't going to be easily accessible to wheelchairs. No problem - The GSA proposed an elevator on one side of the building for wheelchair users. That fully complies with ADA guidelines. Not good enough! It's demeaning to wheelchair users if they can't use the front door! Advocates for the handicapped demanded and got a L-O-N-G gently-sloping switchback ramp in front of the entire building. I mean like 800 feet of sloped ramp or some crazy thing. On those 98 degree summer days, or when it's cold and raining, what wheelchair user is going to push themself up 800 feet of open-air ramp when they could use the elevator? Duh?  |  IP: Logged Richard Hamilton Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1341 From: Evansville, Indiana Registered: Jan 2000 posted 12-04-2005 01:32 PM                     Not to sound mean or sarcastic, but if a blind person went into the wrong restroom, would it really matter? My first public restroom experience in China was at a local bar. They only had 1 restroom. I walked in and noticed a girl following me in. There were only 2 stalls, so I hesitated, and she just walked right on into the first stall. Not a big deal. I guess it's just the culture you are raised in.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 12-04-2005 01:53 PM                        Years ago in Germany I went in to the men's room and my mother into the ladies room. When inside, there was no dividing wall between the two. Apparently there was only one room originally; later the men's room door was cut in alongside the women's when tourists had "an issue." Louis  |  IP: Logged Scott Norwood Film God Posts: 8146 From: Boston, MA. USA (1774.21 miles northeast of Dallas) Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-04-2005 02:36 PM                        Somewhere I have the sign to the old GCC corporate screening room (pics are in the gallery); it said "Screening Room"--complete with braille translation underneath! Really!  |  IP: Logged Richard Shults Film Handler Posts: 5 From: Cadillac, MI, USA Registered: Jul 2005 posted 12-04-2005 04:08 PM                     quote: Richard Hamilton I also told him in all my years, I never saw a blind person come to see a movie! (no pun intended). We had a blind guy come to see "The Passion of the Christ." It wouldn't be that big of a deal if you speak Aramaic and Latin, though I doubt this guy did because he had his wife describe the movie to him as it was happening. Thankfully the auditorium of people (only about 20 or so) were pretty understanding because that would be a lose-lose situation if someone complained about it.  |  IP: Logged Louis Bornwasser Film God Posts: 4441 From: prospect ky usa Registered: Mar 2005 posted 12-04-2005 05:29 PM                        I fielded a phone call from a do-gooder (on behalf of a large circuit). This person thought that "something should be done" so that the blind could enjoy a movie with their friends. They wanted me to start a discussion on a second audio channel for "description" which I knew had no future, at least in the short term. With program audio already present, and with the second channel of description it occurred to me that we had reinvented RADIO; which is what I told her. Louis  |  IP: Logged Mike Spaeth Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1129 From: Marietta, GA Registered: Jul 2000 posted 12-04-2005 06:50 PM                        When I was managing a theatre in Mankato, MN ... there was a blind woman that came every week to see a movie. She walked with one of those "feeling" sticks. All you had to do was tell her what auditorium # she was in and she found it herself ... didn't want or require help from anyone ... not even to carry her popcorn.  |  IP: Logged Phil Hill I love my cootie bug Posts: 7595 From: Hollywood, CA USA Registered: Mar 2000 posted 12-04-2005 10:05 PM                  quote: hhot Ricky! Not to sound mean or sarcastic, but if a blind person went into the wrong restroom, would it really matter? Not unless they couldn't find the TP and felt around and "fingered" your face with their un-wiped hands...YUK! That reminds me of when Helen Keller was at a party and the host asked: "What's the difference between a shower curtain and toilet paper? Helen replied that she didn't know. The host replied: "OH! SO you're the one! I also agree with Mike and with the lady in his post. She ***IS*** really cool! I get sooo sick and tired with ALL PC people and their spiels!  |  IP: Logged William Hooper Phenomenal Film Handler Posts: 1879 From: Mobile, AL USA Registered: Jun 99 posted 12-05-2005 01:47 AM                        I have always wondered about those hand capacitance button panels in elevators with braille labels around them.  |  IP: Logged

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