In a previous article, Matt Whiting said:
Paul Tomblin wrote:
Oh, and by the way. I bet fewer than 10% of the people who think they
"know" me know that I have this pain. I bet a lot of them "know" that I
don't really need to sit when I'm sitting.
I can't speak for folks who know you. I guess the question is to they
see you playing golf, mowing the yard with a push mower, etc. I've
known a number of people who do these things and more and then park
their car in the handicap slot at Wal-Mart. If someone can push a mower
or walk a golf course, then they certainly can cross 200' of flat
parking lot.

Like I said, I can "spend" the pain if it's worth it - so I can walk
around the field at Oshkosh for 5 straight days, providing I don't have to
walk at all for the following week or two. And I can mow the grass,
although I prefer my self propelled mower to a normal one. And I carry my
own kayak to the put-in from the parking lot. But that doesn't mean I
want to spend my daily pain allotment on walking around the mall.

The reason I don't ask for a handicap tag is that I don't think the extra
few minutes it would save in the parking lot is all that significant
compared to the hour or more of walking and standing a typical trip to the
mall costs me.

When I remember, I carry a cane as "protective colouration" - it doesn't
help me walk, but it does help justify my sitting down when there are
women standing. For really arduous shopping trips (like Christmas), I
sometimes get the shopping mall wheel chairs, but then I have to endure
"assistants" in the shops who ignore me, talk to my wife about me as if I
wasn't there, or who act like I must be retarded because I'm in a wheel
chair.

--
Paul Tomblin http://xcski.com/blogs/pt/
Diplomacy is the ability to let someone else have your way.