Chicago DUI lawyer wonders if tipsters should be deciding who is disabled

This Chicago DUI lawyer was on her Facebook page last night and ran across a thread discussing disabled parking scofflaws. Generally there are parking spaces designated for the disabled. There's even one across the street from my office. Now comes word that they are looking to catch folks abusing these spaces and are enlisting the help of tipsters to accomplish the job.

August 5, Chicago, IL

A program that allows citizens to file anonymous complaints on the Illinois secretary of state's Web site about people misusing parking reserved for the disabled has netted more than 100 tips since it launched in mid-June.

One recent report focused on a high school athlete who allegedly continued to use a disability parking placard after recovering from a knee injury, recounted Bill Bogdan of the secretary of state's office.

"He's back on the baseball team and hit a three-run homer for them in the game on Sunday," Bogdan said, describing the complaint. "If you don't believe us, check out the local newspaper."

The program, on cyberdriveillinois.com, had brought in 114 complaints that led to eight investigations as of last week, Bogdan said.

At first glance, this sounds like a great idea but do we really want tipsters deciding if you or a family member are disabled?

From my Facebook Page:

So now the state wants people to rat out able-bodied LOOKING people who use handicapped spaces. When did the general public earn a medical degree? A lot of people with neuro and other "hidden" conditions use the placards legitimately because their doctors said they need them. Now they'll have to explain themselves every time some busybody decides to report them?

You haven't heard?! We're all doctors now!

If you read the comments by the geniuses who responded to the Tribune story, you'd find that many people believe that 1. Only people in wheelchairs should get placards. 2. Handicapped people should never go anywhere when the weather is bad. 3. If you can walk thru the store to buy your items, you should be able to walk TO the store through theparking lot (um, cumulative effect? If you use all your energy getting TO the store, you have none left to go thru the store). 4. Obesity is never a handicap and any disease an obese person has that might be helped at all if they lose a few pounds should automatically disqualify them from getting a handicapped placard. 5. If you're wealthy enough, or lucky enough, to have a nice car, you cannot possibly deserve a handicapped placard.

That suggestion would impact my Mom, who has bad arthritis, but has a handicapped tag. Also, she had to submit verification from her doctor that she qualified. Shouldn't that be enough?

They're going after people who have the cards -- the idea is to find scofflaws who either got the card under false pretenses, or who got it legitimately for a temporary condition and then continue to use it after they're well. While I am all for weeding out people who truly don't deserve placards, I think the state needs to review theplacards in the system and ask doctors to verify that they're necessary or something. Asking people to tattle will only lead to humiliation and hardship for people whose cards are legit but who don't "look" handicapped to the average busybody in a parking lot.

You can see from the comments of the poster and the responses that folks understand immediately what can go wrong with a program like this. Somehow I suspect there will be far more reports than there are actual abusers.