Flo and Friends by Jenny Campbell for February 25, 2019

Perhaps she is mentally handicapped; as are SO many using the handicapped stalls in the mens rooms

Two of my pet peeves; people who get a disabled sticker/license plate and do not need it and people who park in those spots and do not have the sticker/license plate…but, they’re only gonna be a minute doing whatever. Oh, three; people who think that you have to look disabled to need the sticker/license plate. (I had a friend with bad heart trouble and it sure didn’t show on her body.)

Um, she says “not all disabilities are obvious” but “clearly, she’s…”

So which is it? Clear or not obvious?

I would drop my step-father 90+ and polio cripple at whatever door and then park in the nearest handicap spot so he didn’t have too far the walk. Got dirty looks as I walked in. In DC I’ve seen diplomatic plates park there.

I have MS, you can’t see it but it’s always there. Same goes for someone with a heart condition, or fall risk. Don’t judge what you don’t know.

Just because she didn’t TELL YOU about her medical issues doesn’t give you the right to judge her!

For shame, I never took these two characters to be idle gossips.

Whenever i can’t find a Handycapable space with a cat not showing a tag i just call the Sheriffs department.They plug the plate into the computer and cat tell instantly if they are parked illegally, or if they just forgot their mirror tag.

On the other hand, my mother has a card (Both knees and R hip replaced) and tells me to use a HCP parking place. I usually drop her at the door, then I park in a “regular” parking place. When we’re done shopping, I get the car and pick her up at the door. I tell her that the card is for when SHE is driving and needs to park close to the door.

Hi. I have an invisible disability. A rare condition called Ehlers Danlos Syndrome. It’s a connective tissue disorder and it causes my tendons to be weaker than most. It causes me to dislocate multiple joints in my body if I even sneeze wrong.

I don’t want to be 37 and need a disabled placard, but I do. I don’t want to have hips that dislocate if I step wrong. But I do. And I don’t want my invisible illness to be a joke to people like you. But it is.

Every day I am judged by a world who sees a 37 year old person. They don’t see the days I need a wheelchair. They don’t see the six surgeries I had in the last three years. They don’t see the horrific pain each step I take causes me. They see me on the one day a week I feel up to leaving the house because I’ve run out of food and need to go grocery shopping and need to not risk having my hip go out in the parking lot. They see me on a GOOD day. And judge me.

To get a placard you need a doctor to fill out a form. You need a doctor to agree that you are disabled enough to warrant the placard. You don’t want to be young and need one, not just because being disabled sucks, but also because of the judgements you face from people who know nothing about you.

Not all disabilities are visible. Don’t judge what you don’t know. Choose compassion first.

I have Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. I am 44 years old. Look quite fit. When my muscles tire, my hip dislocates, my knee dislocated, my ankles dislocate. I have a short period of time I can walk. Part of my disorder also triggers orthostatic intolerance – meaning the longer I am upright, complications with my heart rate, my heart, breathing issues, passing out. I am familiar with how I need to pace myself to get simple tasks done. Adding any length of walk through a parking lot puts my health at risk, risks serious of injury from falling or joint destabilization.

Your hate makes the lives of people with chronic illness, invisible illness much more traumatizing that it should be.

Hey Flo, maybe she doesn’t tell you everything. Bunch of pompous old bats.