Hold Your Wheelchairs

I wish to explain my feelings about handicapped bathroom stalls and dressing rooms.

When I was pregnant with Zachary, I used to go out shopping with Cole and Ava. As I've mentioned before, they would be in the huge double stroller, which was not easy to maneuver in stores. It was even harder to maneuver when I was 5 months pregnant and 50 pounds heavier.

There was one day when I was in an Old Navy. I wanted to try some things on, so I strolled the mammoth stroller to the dressing rooms, with clothes draped over my arms. I got my number, and headed towards the handicapped dressing room, which was the only one large enough to fit my stroller and my body at the same time.

The dressing room attendant stopped me. "You can't go in there, that's for handicapped people".

I said, "But it's empty right now, and I need a big room, I can't leave my kids alone out here in the hallway".

To which she replied, "But what if a handicapped person comes in when you're in there?"

"As far as I know, there is no disease or handicap that gets worse if you're forced to wait 10 minutes for a dressing room. The handicap dressing room is not there so that a handicapped person can IMMEDIATELY use it. It's there so that they CAN use it when available. Handicapped people can wait just as well as I can. And looking at me, wouldn't you say I was pretty darned handicapped right about now?"

She failed to follow my logic, probably because she flunked out of school in the 4th grade, and said she was sorry but I couldn't go in there. So I asked her to please hold out her arms, I filled her arms with my clothing items and walked out of the store.

Folks, those large bathroom stalls and dressing rooms are handicap ACCESSIBLE. Which doesn't mean that they are non-handicap inaccessible. You and I are just as able to use those rooms. Handicapped people don't die from holding their urine, any more than you or I do. They don't die if they have to be patient, anymore than you or I do.

And while parking in a handicapped spot is against the law, peeing in a handicapped stall is not.

As much as I'd like to say that lack of patience is a handicap, I don't think the PA Dept. of Transportation would issue me a sticker for it.