Bestler | Parking tag for handicapped getting a makeover

There were a couple of pluses in the back surgery I underwent earlier this year.

I left the hospital, after 27 days, almost 30 pounds lighter. And I left with a handicapped tag for my car, good for five years.

Since then, I’ve put a few pounds back on. And, while I am much healthier, I have been unapologetic in my use of my handicapped tag.

It comes in especially handy at Wal-Mart and Publix and Lowe’s, places where I once had to park about a block or two away.

Costco is still a problem because most times the handicap spaces are already taken. Too many of us broken down shoppers using Costco, I guess.

I’m sure some people wonder about my tag. The space says “Handicapped Parking,” but as I walk briskly into a store it may be clear that I am not particularly handicapped. What can I say? I didn’t ask for a handicapped tag; the doctor at Roper Hospital gave me a prescription for it and I really did need it for a couple of months. Now not so much, but there it is.

I read the other day that the basic “Handicapped Parking” sign has become a subject of controversy, with a growing number of activists promoting a sign that treats handicapped people more optimistically.

Their sign has a forward-leaning man in a wheelchair -- one you might see in a wheelchair race -- with the words “Reserved Parking” instead of “Handicapped Parking.”

Supporters of the new sign say it emphasizes ability rather than disability and gives a message of independence rather than dependence.

I like the new sign for precisely those reasons, but it apparently faces an uphill battle. The current sign was designated the international symbol of disability by the United Nations in 1974 and is recognized throughout the world.

So far, New York has adopted the modernized version of the sign; Connecticut could become the second state to do so. Cities such as Phoenix and El Paso also are on board, according to the Associated Press.

At the same time, any deviation from the current sign has been rejected by the Federal Highway Administration and the International Organization for Standardization.

I guess, in the end, it’s much to-do about very little and if I did not possess a handicapped tag it’s one controversy that would have escaped me.

Now I gotta care. After all, I’ll be one of those forward-leaning users for at least four more years.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Bestler | Parking tag for handicapped getting a makeover."