I don't know who said it first, but rights are not pie! Someone getting something they need does not take away anything from you. But that's how dumbasses see it. I kept my trap shut when you wrote about not policing disability (because kind of guilty), but I know so many people that take advantage of getting a disable parking placard for a short-term matter...then milk it. Or use someone else's car with the disabled placard to park and then able-bodied amble into the store. Or request a wheelchair in an airport when it's not needed. And, yes, I know not all disabilities are visible, including heart ailments, etc. But sometimes you can spot the cheater. And I give them the stink-eye when I do. Also, Disney sucks. The only thing that will change their policy is a lawsuit and/or bad press. Cheers, Kelly. xo
Thanks Sandra Ann! That is an apt and delicious explanation. Now I am craving pie!
Ha!
I wonder if disability cheating is a slippery slope — that if you do it once with no issue it becomes easier and easier to justify in one’s mind. If it becomes more unacceptable to behave that way, perhaps it will become harder to do.
Everyone who sees me get out of my car would think I’m one of the parking placard cheaters. I don’t know how anyone would spot a cheater in that case. If someone gave me the stink eye, I’d be furious. In my experience I think the bigger problem is the jerks who take up a space who don’t even have a placard. Almost always a youngish, entitled male (I could use other descriptors here but I’m trying to be nice).
I live in Los Angeles. The tan fit guy who had knee surgery a year ago, but has a doctor buddy who will keep that temporary placard current is pretty easy to spot. He’ll brag about it at the club. It’s a game for them. And I’m pretty good at reading people. xo
Yes. And I hope that you noticed I acknowledge that not all disabilities are visible. When you know, you know. It’s not my job to police. But I will let someone who is obviously taking advantage know they aren’t fooling people. xo
I agree entirely that disability cheaters abuse the trust that organizations place on the public when they offer accommodations.
Disney’s experience with unscrupulous entrepreneurs offering vacation packages that included use of the queue for disabled people opened us, bona fide disabled people, to up to accusations that we are faking it as well. It also led some theme parks to use third party organizations, which was not only a marjor inconvenience or forced disabled people to provide personal information that we had no control over its use.
Sidebar: To their credit, Universal Studios has recently announced that they severed their relationship with such a third party agency.
Disability cheaters trying to access SSD and/or other disability related programs has had the same effect on disabled people. Government programs created extensive intake processes intended to weed out those frauds and that creates frustration for our people and delays in receiving benefits that we are entitled. For example, the Ontario Disability Imcome Supports Program (ODSP) offered the Province of Ontario (Canada) has a complicate adjudication process to verify the the claim of having a disability is valid before providing social assistance to the applicant. It is unfair to make those who need that support to wait for weeks before they have been deemed disabled.
One area that the disability cheaters does really concern me is in the area of employment. I once lead a dedicated recruiting initiative to reach out to disabled people for job opportunities with a major Canadian bank. I was always vigilant for those who would fake a disability to gain special access to those jobs I recruited for.I reviewed thousands of resumes and interviewed hundreds of applicants for that the supports my program offered. It’s been my experience that the suspects were few. Less than 1% of the overall applicants that came through my door. Even then, most those suspected “cheater” had some condition that was embellished rather than being an outright lie. I assume that most people who would cheat at theme parks or government programs find it harder to say “I have a disability” when trying to become an employee because they, inherently, are ableists and don’t want that “stigma” to follow them throughout their employment.
The bottom line is that regardless of the area, there are able-bodied people who make disabled people lives even less rosely because of their selfishness or out of desperation.
Thanks for reading and making the astute comment, Michael. My hope is that if there is less stigma about disability and more awareness of our real needs for support, then cheating will become less attractive and possible. Perhaps I am hoping big!
Having just been approved for SSDI in my third try, I can vouch for the fact that it’s got to be extremely hard to fake your way to approval. My case had over 600 pages of backup documentation; every one of my many doctors have consistent notes on my problem, and that was cited in my approval. I even had an expensive out of pocket test done that proved severe functional impairment and that arguably should have had me approved on my first attempt, but it took two denials and an administrative hearing to get approved. I am shocked that anyone can fake their way to getting approved, so I believe you that the fraud rates must be extremely low. The people who wrongly believe that fakers are able to easily obtain this benefit need to know this.
I don't know who said it first, but rights are not pie! Someone getting something they need does not take away anything from you. But that's how dumbasses see it. I kept my trap shut when you wrote about not policing disability (because kind of guilty), but I know so many people that take advantage of getting a disable parking placard for a short-term matter...then milk it. Or use someone else's car with the disabled placard to park and then able-bodied amble into the store. Or request a wheelchair in an airport when it's not needed. And, yes, I know not all disabilities are visible, including heart ailments, etc. But sometimes you can spot the cheater. And I give them the stink-eye when I do. Also, Disney sucks. The only thing that will change their policy is a lawsuit and/or bad press. Cheers, Kelly. xo
Thanks Sandra Ann! That is an apt and delicious explanation. Now I am craving pie!
Ha!
I wonder if disability cheating is a slippery slope — that if you do it once with no issue it becomes easier and easier to justify in one’s mind. If it becomes more unacceptable to behave that way, perhaps it will become harder to do.
I think there’s such an sense of entitlement involved that the only way to address it is public shaming. And I’m happy to lend a hand. LOL. xo
I wrote a post on the problems with disabled parking last year if you’re interested: https://open.substack.com/pub/amythetonic/p/they-paved-paradise?r=o3zsi&utm_medium=ios
Everyone who sees me get out of my car would think I’m one of the parking placard cheaters. I don’t know how anyone would spot a cheater in that case. If someone gave me the stink eye, I’d be furious. In my experience I think the bigger problem is the jerks who take up a space who don’t even have a placard. Almost always a youngish, entitled male (I could use other descriptors here but I’m trying to be nice).
I live in Los Angeles. The tan fit guy who had knee surgery a year ago, but has a doctor buddy who will keep that temporary placard current is pretty easy to spot. He’ll brag about it at the club. It’s a game for them. And I’m pretty good at reading people. xo
Sounds like we are describing the same guy, doesn’t it?
Yes. And I hope that you noticed I acknowledge that not all disabilities are visible. When you know, you know. It’s not my job to police. But I will let someone who is obviously taking advantage know they aren’t fooling people. xo
I agree entirely that disability cheaters abuse the trust that organizations place on the public when they offer accommodations.
Disney’s experience with unscrupulous entrepreneurs offering vacation packages that included use of the queue for disabled people opened us, bona fide disabled people, to up to accusations that we are faking it as well. It also led some theme parks to use third party organizations, which was not only a marjor inconvenience or forced disabled people to provide personal information that we had no control over its use.
Sidebar: To their credit, Universal Studios has recently announced that they severed their relationship with such a third party agency.
Disability cheaters trying to access SSD and/or other disability related programs has had the same effect on disabled people. Government programs created extensive intake processes intended to weed out those frauds and that creates frustration for our people and delays in receiving benefits that we are entitled. For example, the Ontario Disability Imcome Supports Program (ODSP) offered the Province of Ontario (Canada) has a complicate adjudication process to verify the the claim of having a disability is valid before providing social assistance to the applicant. It is unfair to make those who need that support to wait for weeks before they have been deemed disabled.
One area that the disability cheaters does really concern me is in the area of employment. I once lead a dedicated recruiting initiative to reach out to disabled people for job opportunities with a major Canadian bank. I was always vigilant for those who would fake a disability to gain special access to those jobs I recruited for.I reviewed thousands of resumes and interviewed hundreds of applicants for that the supports my program offered. It’s been my experience that the suspects were few. Less than 1% of the overall applicants that came through my door. Even then, most those suspected “cheater” had some condition that was embellished rather than being an outright lie. I assume that most people who would cheat at theme parks or government programs find it harder to say “I have a disability” when trying to become an employee because they, inherently, are ableists and don’t want that “stigma” to follow them throughout their employment.
The bottom line is that regardless of the area, there are able-bodied people who make disabled people lives even less rosely because of their selfishness or out of desperation.
Thanks for reading and making the astute comment, Michael. My hope is that if there is less stigma about disability and more awareness of our real needs for support, then cheating will become less attractive and possible. Perhaps I am hoping big!
Having just been approved for SSDI in my third try, I can vouch for the fact that it’s got to be extremely hard to fake your way to approval. My case had over 600 pages of backup documentation; every one of my many doctors have consistent notes on my problem, and that was cited in my approval. I even had an expensive out of pocket test done that proved severe functional impairment and that arguably should have had me approved on my first attempt, but it took two denials and an administrative hearing to get approved. I am shocked that anyone can fake their way to getting approved, so I believe you that the fraud rates must be extremely low. The people who wrongly believe that fakers are able to easily obtain this benefit need to know this.