Asking for common courtesy

Reader's Forum - To the editor;

I am the mother of a special needs little girl attending Caldwell Road School in Cole Harbour. My daughter has been going there since Grade Primary. She is now in Grade 6.

I am trying to open people's eyes and minds to our plight.

I live out of the area, so I take my daughter to school every day in a wheelchair accessible van with a ramp. My problem is not that there isn't any handicap parking, there are two spots. My problem is that everyone uses them.

Sometimes someone is parked there, other times someone just pulls in to drop off their kids. Either way, I cannot get my child out of the van when I can't get in to park.

Sometimes the people are parked right over the line, or on the line, making it difficult to get my daughter out, as I have no room.

I have to get in the back to un-strap her wheelchair, then go out to the other side to get the ramp down. As I turn the corner of the van, I often find a car has pulled in there in the same spot as me and I can't get her out.

One person actually asked me to wait while she let her perfectly healthy kids out of her car. No, she was not handicapped either.

One day, I tapped on a man's van window while he was sitting in there waiting for his kids and I politely asked if he knew he was in a handicap parking spot, he said "yes," but didn't move until he saw a teacher's assistant bring out my child.

I can't believe how inconsiderate and disrespectful people can be. Obviously they don't realize how much stress they are causing me. They also don't realize the kind of message they are sending to their own kids - that it's OK if you're in a hurry.

I am a single mother on a tight budget, which makes life extremely difficult, but add all the little things like parking and dealing with all that goes with it, and a special needs child, is sometimes almost more than I can bear.

Please, next time you are about to park in a handicap spot, think what it might mean to someone that is actually handicapped. I always try and be mindful of others and I would appreciate the same courtesy.

M. Buell, Dartmouth