Not ALL disabilities are easily SEEN . . .

WOW. People never cease to amaze me.

Making assumptions as to whether or not someone is disabled, makes you look like an idiot. Not everyone with a disability, has a disability that is easily recognized. Not all disabilities are VISUALLY noticeable.

I was just reading a friend's facebook post about people getting tickets for parking in a disabled parking spot, with no proof of disability on their vehicle. PLEASE make no mistake, I AGREE that people should not be parking in those spots without proof that they have the right to park there.

However . . . I was saddened at some of the other comments regarding toilet stalls, ADA seats and shopping carts that were made.

One person wrote that her pet peeve was "able-bodied people using the handicapped stall in the restroom" when there were other stalls available and she couldn't understand why she was treated as if she was "some kind of hateful or horrible person" for saying something to the person who had been in there for a long time.

................Ummm, excuse me, HELLO, you ARE acting in a hateful manner. It's NONE of your business as to why someone is using that "handicapped" stall. Maybe the person using that stall needs a toilet that sits higher, so that they can actually get up off of the seat because of a back or knee problem. Or maybe they have a colostomy bag or a catheter bag and need the extra room, that the handicapped stall provides, to maneauver around to empty or change that bag. Maybe they have an anxiety issue and cannot tolerate small confined spaces without freaking out.

Someone else commented on people not putting carts back in the cart corral. Maybe the person was sick and had to come out to get food for herself and her sick family. Maybe that person was in excruciating pain and had to go out to the store for necessities because they didn't have anyone that could do it for them, and those extra steps were just not worth the pain.

Another comment was about a young male college student sitting in an ADA seat and how he wouldn't move for an individual with a walker to sit in his seat. Yet, the commenter with the other person felt the need to berate him and say nasty things about his mother, until he finally got up and moved.  How do you know that HE was not disabled. What gives you the right to expect someone to move just because you cannot SEE their disability.

People, we really need to take the time to think about the things we do and say to each other. What kind of example are you setting, as a christian, if you feel the need to act in such a NON-loving way? I understand, to some degree, the frustration that people may feel about the above items, but your frustration does not give you the RIGHT to be hateful.  Jesus did not act in such a way.  And if ANYONE had the RIGHT to act in this manner, it was HE!  Jesus told us to LOVE.  We are not to judge or assume.  It is NOT our place.

You see,  I have been on the other end of these scenarios. . . . .
  
I was the person with a knee problem, who needed the higher seat.  
I was the person in so much pain that the extra steps were just not worth it.  
I was the person who was sitting in the ADA seat, receiving nasty looks and hearing snarky whispers, simply because noone could SEE a disability.

There is a lot to be said about "walking a mile" in someone else's shoes. 
NONE of the above things caused someone to die. 
So, really, there is not any GOOD reason to be so indignant.