It is Tuesday morning, and forty-five-year-old Gloria Travaglena is on her way to the grocery store. She has a long list as her cousin and family are arriving tomorrow, and Gloria is planning a very special dinner. Upon arriving at the grocery store’s parking lot, however, she is unable to find a parking space close to the store’s entrance. Gloria, you see, was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis three years ago, and its debilitating effects have been accelerating. Her deteriorating motor skills make it extremely difficult, as well as painful, to walk very far. She has a special Handicapped Parking Tag, but even all those spaces are filled.
It seems to Gloria that available handicapped-only spaces have been dwindling in number in the last several months. Because of her physical limitations, she is consigned to circling the lot until one of those permit-only spots becomes available. Finally, a young woman exits the store and briskly propels her cart to the BMW sedan with the Handicapped Parking Tag hanging from the mirror, parked in a corresponding space. “Funny”, thinks Gloria, “the woman doesn’t seem to be handicapped in any way.”
She is not! The owner of that sporty sedan is one of the thousands of people in this country illegally using those special placards intended for those unfortunates who require a little special consideration because of an incapacitating handicap. This incredibly unethical practice has become more and more prevalent throughout the nation, and it must be stopped!
The fraudulent use of these placards has been on the rise for these last several years. We have all noticed it, have we not? There just seem to be more and more vehicles sporting those special tags, and yet we observe the owners of those vehicles seemingly in the picture of health. As the Sacramento Bee states, “Department of Motor vehicle records indicate about 10 percent of California’s licensed drivers also have disabled parking placards, a three-fold increase from the same rate 15 years ago” (“Today’s Final Rundown/Script,”2009). What are the chances that ten percent of that state’s population is legitimately sufficiently disabled to require these tags? Something is out of joint.
These unscrupulous individuals perpetrate this fraud in several ways. Examples from an investigation by the Massachusetts Attorney General’s office include “four major categories:
Fraudulent use of disability placards registered to deceased individuals; use of expired placards;
altered or counterfeit placards; suspicious placard use (i.e. placard use by relatives and associates)” (“Disabled Person’s Parking Placard Abuse: A Multi-agency Investigation.”2007, p. 2).
There are three main issues that contribute to this growing problem: 1) too many tags are being issued for questionable ailments, 2) they are valid for much longer periods than necessary, and 3) the tools for enforcement are lacking. Regrettably now, those with the sanction to prescribe the tags are of dubious authority. “Not just doctors, but nurse practitioners, midwives, and chiropractors can authorize the DMV to issue the placards” (www.sacbee.com. 2009). Many of these placards, then, are being disbursed for trivial ailments for which they are inappropriate.
In many states, there are two kinds of permits, permanent and temporary. The permanent ones are for those with severe physical disabilities such as loss of (or loss of use of) one or more limbs. These are valid for several years at a time before renewal is required. The tags for those with permanent disabilities in Texas, for instance, are validated in four-year increments (“Disabled Parking Placards,” 2009), which facilitates those who wish to appropriate one from a deceased relative. In Florida, a man receiving a temporary placard for a knee replacement says, “The duration of three years was a surprise; one year should have been plenty. … In conjunction with the renewal of my automobile registration came the free renewal of my permit for another three years” (Mahaffey, 2009, p. A10).
Finally, it is currently nearly impossible to crosscheck a placard to confirm that it is being used legitimately by the person to whom it was distributed. In many states, there is not yet a database that would allow a police officer to determine that the placard was issued to someone who is now deceased, for instance.
These fraudulent practices must be stopped. Many disabled persons have a legitimate need for these placards, not to mention the right to have access to convenient parking spaces to accommodate their disabilities. For every unscrupulous ne’er-do-well who monopolizes a space, someone in need suffers.
Fortunately, many states have begun the process of analyzing the particulars of the problem, and developed feasible plans to remedy. Some recommendations by a focused study in Massachusetts suggest cross-referencing Social Security records to identify placards given to now-deceased persons; creating a registry of medical records; pressuring physicians to be more diligent in their prescriptive practices and creating a database to track the legitimacy of “prescribers”; and reformatting the placards to include personal information, such as a photograph, to confirm the identity of the legitimate owner of the tag (www.mass.gov. 2007).
These are excellent tactical solutions, however, the primary mode of attack must be on a social level. People who see these transgressions must speak up and let the transgressors know that their actions are contemptible. Beyond that, witnesses must take action. Fortunately, a watchdog group has established a website for whistle-blowers. HandicappedFraud.org is a site that allows responsible citizens nationwide to do something about this problem by reporting these violators. By noting the vehicle’s license plate number, as well as the placard number and uploading this information to the site, the information is forwarded to the appropriate state’s Department of Motor Vehicles. The DMV can determine any patterns and, at the very least,
conclude whether a lost or stolen placard is being used.
Misuse and abuse of handicapped parking placards are contemptible acts that must be stopped. We must all look out for the Gloria Travaglenas of this country. They do not always have someone on their side, and so it is everyone’s duty to be their protectors.
References
HandicappedFraud.org. (2009). Home page. Retrieved May 14, 2010, from
http://www.handicappedfraud.org/index.php
Mahaffey, F. (2009, December 22). Handicapped parking too easy to abuse. The Orlando Sentinel, A10. Retrieved May 14, 2010, from http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=-1926158251&sid=1&Fmt=3&clientId=74379&RQT=309&VName=PQD
Massachusetts. Office of the Inspector General. (2007). Disabled person’s parking placard abuse: A multi-agency investigation. Retrieved May 12, 2010, from
http://www.mass.gov/ig/publ/placard.pdf
Sacramento Bee. (2009, October). Today’s final rundown/script. Retrieved May 13, 2010, from
http://www.sacbee.com/2009/10/20/2267301/todays-final-rundownscript.html
Texas. Department of Motor Vehicles. (2009). Disabled parking placards. Retrieved May 15, 2010, from http://www.txdmv.gov/vehicles/drivers/disabled.htm
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