Disabled Parking Permits

Being able to convince a doctor, I needed a permit would be easy here in Florida. Convincing myself it was OK for me to have one, would be impossible. To my thinking, disability permits should go to people with mobility issues that keep them from being able to lead a normal life. My father in law had a disable permit the last 20 years of his life but never drove a vehicle the last 15 years or so. Florida allows a person to renew their drivers license, by mail for three 6 year periods, 18 year total. There was no way he could have passed the drivers test after the initial one, due to his heart and eye cataracts. His wife, my mother in law kept renewing it on "his" behalf. Her rationale was that she was shopping for groceries, etc. of which her husband would eat part of them. No amount of talking to her, by the family, could change her mind, that her using his parking permit was wrong. She claimed all her friends did the same thing and I suspect she was mostly correct. She was so incredibly angry, after her husband died, and his former doctor wouldn't renew the disability permit for her. It was another 10 years before she qualified for a permit.

I feel we are starting to see the same type of abusing the system, with the use of service dogs, here in Florida, now that you can get a permit for "emotional support" needs. If it makes a person less anxious, riding on a plane, with their dog setting in their lap, then Fido becomes a service dog. or eating in a restaurant, or going to a theme park, etc.

What started out as a legitimate need for qualified people, is being abused by others. With medical care being so competitive here in Florida, and the advanced age of the population, such as me, half or more of the population could probably get a handicapped permit if they wanted one. And many do want a permit, for close in, easier parking. Using someone else's permit, seems to be one of the biggest problems here, that they haven't figured out how to address.