Hmmm...  So you *are* a troll.  I've been trying to give you the benefit
of the doubt as a person who was overly opinionated and severely ignorant
about the realities of the disabled community.

Speaking from the perspective of 20 years or so dealing with the disabled
community and a like time watching Usenet trolls, I will comment that
there certainly are a few people who misuse the accessibility regulations,
just as there are word-gamers like yourself who post inflammatory messages
to get a bit of attention.  In many cases, I suspect the same
self-centered clue-deprived personality types do both.

In my professional experience with people having disabilities, most (like
Janet Wilder's post) don't *like* to take advantage of the regulations or
even bring attention to their problems unless necessary. Their own
impairment makes them sensitive to the impairments of others.  It's the
imbeciles trying to justify their own insensitivity or abusiveness who
think in the manner you posted.

My partner for example is mobility impaired in a manner similar to one of
the other posters in this thread. She has a parking placard from NC that
sits in her purse all the time. Her impairment is not symmetrical -- the
nerves in her left leg and those in her spine serving that leg are
seriously damaged.

Most of the time she can get into a store without using a curb cut, but
sometimes just stepping over a curb without a handrail requires my
assistance. On her good days, we look for a conventional parking space
near the entrance, but a 200 foot walk can involve her stopping and
resting about every 50 feet, leaving her vulnerable to someone in an
automobile not seeing her or losing control in the vehicular traffic way.
In an emergency, she might not be able to safely step out of the way.

When the near parking spaces are filled, I usually stop and help her out
of the car, then go park somewhere else.  I don't want her injured in an
accident an able-bodied person might have avoided.  She always gets a
shopping cart, even for brief stops, because she uses it as a walker to
avoid drawing attention to herself. She always asks me to hang the placard
no matter where we park, so people will know that the vehicle was being
used by a person with a disability.

She can usually get into and out of her van okay, but we had to buy a van
with electric seat adjustments, because sitting for a long time with her
hands on the wheel is very painful unless the seat is set exactly right.
When we're traveling with the big truck, I almost always have to help her
climb into the truck, even though her upper body is reasonably strong and
she can do much of the work pulling herself up with the grab handle and
lifting with her right leg. She can't climb stairs without handrails
because the damaged leg won't lift her safely without the rail for balance
as well as helping pull her up to the next step.

Of course, the biggest clue to your own bigotry is the presumption that
you can tell if somebody is "really" handicapped.  Trust me.  You can't.
Even if some of your friends are disabled.

Most of the time you can't detect even a serious disability unless you're
trained in what to look for and watch somebody for an extended period of
time, or unless someone actually is using an appliance like a walker or
crutches or wheelchair. People with disabilities are easy targets for
jerks like yourself because they usually want to appear as normal as
possible.

Unlike yourself.  

John Kinney