Question about handicapped parking
So I am not disabled myself (although I guess that depends on the definition of disability), but I have worked with people with disabilities all my life - in several different jobs over the years. There is one thing I always wondered about. It's in the past now, but I want to get everyone's opinion.
I used to have a role working with people with disabilities in their homes, and often helped them with grocery shopping. Most of the people I served had difficulty with ambulation and had a handicapped parking tag (none had their own vehicle, so the tag was for their helpers). They used the store scooters in grocery stores. Typically I would let them off by the entrance, help them get into a scooter, then park my car in a handicapped spot using their tag and join them inside. When we left, they drove the scooter right to the parking spot and got in. This commonly happened at least twice during the workday for me. It was honestly a very tiring job, but my heart was in caring for the people I worked with, so I didn't mind too much. However, when I would walk alone from the handicapped spot to the store, I often got dirty looks as if I was abusing a handicapped parking tag. Honestly it was pretty annoying and upsetting to me, who had a tough and underpaying job, and would have had to work even harder to get my car from the end of the parking lot and pick up my individual at the grocery store doors instead of having them drive the scooter to the handicapped spot after their shopping. Keep in mind that I did this sometimes multiple times per day, and probably 10x per week. It was mostly just dirty looks, I think only once someone actually commented.
As people with disabilities, do you see this as misuse of the handicapped parking tag?