Now, imagine that you have a condition like mine, severe degenerative joint disease in your back and knees. You can walk and even stand for awhile. Maybe even in a small store, you can follow the above steps and not need a place to sit, but find a mega store like a full-service Walmart or something of a similar size.

You would have some alternatives. A lot of stores have scooters you can borrow, though they are usually being used or have been rundown and not recharged. You could get a shopping cart and lean on it while you traverse the store, something I often do.

I always have loved the movie, “Ben-Hur”. When the main character was sentenced to rowing in a galley ship, the ship’s speed was controlled by a man beating a drum with hammers. They had various speeds, including “ramming speed” and “attack speed”. When you are just shopping at a store, you end up walking at what I call “shopping speed”. It always results in a backache.

Neither is a very good solution. For me, I like to reserve the scooters for people less mobile than myself. I once read that in order to be eligible for a scooter paid for by an insurance company, you had to not be able to walk more than ten feet. I can certainly walk that much. I try to only use a scooter when the store is just too big for me to walk in one long stroll without hurting my back and knees.

Leaning on a shopping cart takes some of the pressure off of my back, but none off of my knees. Ever since the injury that ruined my back, it has been hard for me to walk at what I call “shopping speed”. For a long time, I just avoided going to stores. My wife did the shopping.

That’s not a very inclusive way to live, so I’ve made the effort to go to stores more. There are still major challenges for me. One thing that helps immensely is when a store has the occasional bench or chair.

It is a rare store that has such places to sit in the store proper. Sometimes they have them at the entrance or at a cafe, but not out on “the floor.”

A couple of weeks ago, I was in Fry’s Electronics in Wilsonville, Oregon. I was with a client who was buying a phone. He already knew what phone he wanted. The salesperson started the process and couldn’t get the computer to work. It took over a half-hour. I had just bought the same phone there the week before. It took about ten minutes. After fifteen minutes of standing in one place on a concrete floor, I’m just about done in.

I found a nearby washer/dryer on display and went and leaned on it. It helped my back while I was leaning, but my knees were still aching and as soon as I stood up, my back started hurting again. Other than the office chair section, the cafe, and the toilets, there’s not a place for a customer to sit in the whole place.

The worst configuration is at Verizon stores in my area. They have these extremely low-to-the-ground cushioned stools.  To sit in one, I have to bend my knees and back as far as I can without hurting them and plop into the cushion. As if that weren’t bad enough, when they called my name to come to the counter and be helped, I couldn’t get out of it. It was just a large square stool—no handles, no nearby railings, nothing but air and a wall behind you. As I struggled to my feet, do you think the salesperson offered a hand? I used to think that some kind of seat was better than none at all. I’ve changed my mind.

While I’m on the subject of sitting, let me bring up another indelicate topic—toilets. They come in various heights. When they are low to the floor, it takes a lot of effort to get up. Probably the worst feature of most toilet stalls in facilities is the toilet paper dispenser that is so low and close to the toilet that you can’t sit on the toilet straight ahead. What idiot designed a toilet stall like that? Probably one that never sat on that toilet before he/she decided where to place the toilet paper dispenser.

Come on, you people who do this stuff! There are a lot of people like me out there for whom shopping in your stores is almost an insurmountable obstacle. We have money too. Don’t you want to sell things to us?

In Oregon, some services for developmentally disabled adults are managed through state-approved brokerages that handle a certain amount of case-management activities and broker contracts between clients and providers of services. These service providers are sometimes offered reimbursement for miles driven at somewhere near the federal allowable mileage deduction. Miles claimed for reimbursement must be used with the client in the vehicle and while providing services that match a contract for hourly services provided. Among other things provided by the brokerage are bus passes for the local transit system, Trimet.

There are other things provided by the brokerage in terms of products and services, but these three are the focus of this review.

1. Mileage reimbursement to providers at a rate around $.45 per mile.
2. Hourly reimbursement to providers at a maximum rate of $23.72 per hour.
3. A bus pass for clients that currently costs $26 dollars for those who can qualify with Trimet as Honored Citizens.

I am such a provider. My clients/customers annually are reviewed for their services in meetings at the brokerage that I usually attend. In recent meetings, personal agents representing the brokerage, have expressed a sentiment that is now becoming policy. The sentiment is expressed in the following question:

Why should we pay for mileage when we already provide the customer with a bus pass?

On the surface, it seems like a fair question. However, like so many other “fair questions”, if one thinks it through, a lot of inconsistencies come to light.

Consider the following scenario:

A customer whom we’ll call Arnie lives near Clackamas Town Center in a suburb just southeast of Portland proper. He has an appointment in downtown Portland for which he needs support from his provider, whom we’ll call Ralph. Using Trimet’s Green Line light rail train, it takes an average of about 42 minutes to go from Clackamas Town Center to downtown Portland, according to Trimet’s online trip planner. According to Mapquest, it takes approximately 20 minutes by car to drive the 14 miles, using the fastest route.

Now do the math:

For a round trip, taking a car saves 40 minutes (20 x 2) over taking the light rail. 40 minutes at the rate of $23.72 per hour comes to $15.81, a time-based savings over the more time-consuming choice of taking mass transit. The round trip of 28 miles (14 x 2) at the rate of $.45 per mile is $12.60, reducing the savings to $3.21 for that one trip.

On any given work day for me, I am likely to make an average of three such trips with a client. With most clients, I usually work once per week, or about twelve trips per month. So, for one month, using my car for transportation, I would save my customer’s budget about $38.52 per month, $12.52 more than the cost of a $26 Trimet Honored Citizen’s pass for the month.

The numbers in this example are not typical of a trip in Portland. There are few to/from combinations that don’t require a transfer of some kind. Rather than a one-way trip taking 42 minutes by mass transit, it is likely to take more than an hour, but often about the same amount of driving time in a vehicle.

Here is another more realistic example:

Arnie has an appointment at his doctor’s office near Good Samaritan Hospital. It is 140 minutes round trip by mass transit including time waiting to transfer from light rail to bus. Ralph can drive the 32.3 miles and back in 48 minutes for a savings of 92 minutes times the hourly rate of $23.72 for a savings of $36.37. Ralph will be reimbursed $16.37 for the trip, saving Arnie’s budget $20. That’s just $6 shy of the cost of the Honored Citizen pass.

The realism doesn’t stop there. Ralph can drive from door to door. He can pick Arnie up at his home and deliver him right to the doctor’s office. On the other hand, if they use Trimet, once they arrive in Northwest Portland, there is still the task of walking from where the bus drops them off to the office.

To be fair, sometimes taking the bus does represent a savings. To see this calculated for all sorts of scenarios, use my easy calculator.

There are also differences that can’t entirely be measured in time and miles. For that 92 minutes saved in the last scenario, Ralph could be providing skills training services that can’t be performed while riding a bus or train.

While I am in my vehicle with a client, we can talk about anything related to his situation and the work we do together. There’s no one around to hear it. That ever important confidentiality is maintained. Not so for the entire 140 minutes spent on a bus or train. I can’t do much more than carry on casual conversations with my client. To do more than that would potentially reveal protected information about my client to anyone within earshot.

Now, if the concern in all of this is the environment, the dependence in this country on foreign oil, or any other arguments that extol the virtues of mass transit, the choice would be clear. Take the bus. However, the question that started all of this was, “Why should we pay for mileage when we already provide the customer with a bus pass?” The question, as posed, doesn’t really have anything to do with saving the planet, does it?

Sometimes, I am contracted with a client to help him learn how to navigate around on the mass transit system. At times when I am teaching that skill, going by bus is an easy decision. As long as we’re not going to places he already knows how to reach by bus, it seems taking the bus is the right thing to do. If, however, I am supporting him in an activity where he knows how to get there on the bus, I’m wasting valuable time getting there by bus that could be used to work on other skills.

The implementation of the new policies based on this ridiculous question will require me to justify why I drove somewhere instead of taking the buses. To me, it’s upside-down. Given the above facts, I should be required to justify why I wasted valuable skills-training time by taking the buses.

I am only with clients about once a week, sometimes less. For the rest of their 20+ days that don’t include me, they are getting around with their bus passes. The bus pass provides them with freedom, accessibility, and independence when I am not there to support them. That is the right answer to, “Why should we pay for mileage when we already provide the customer with a bus pass?”

None of the personal agents who are repeating this asinine question are able to identify just exactly who first asked it. It is always a mysterious “someone” who is coming up with this stuff. I tend to think that we only get “someone” as a reference because Someone doesn’t want to answer for it.

The scary thing about even writing this review for me is that the same Someone will probably also get the idea that because you can’t do real skills training while riding a bus, workers like me shouldn’t be able to bill for time on a bus. You probably read this and laugh, it’s so ridiculous, but I’ve seen that kind of thing over and over in this system.

Maybe I’m wrong, but I always envision a bunch of administrative types sitting around in a conference room because they don’t want to be at their desks working. They are asking questions like the one that prompted this review and no one “in the trenches” like me is there to explain the realities to them.

I just want to start by saying that there’s no other influence that could make me not enjoy a place if my grandchildren are present and having fun. The park was definitely fun. It was also very clean. The attractions and food options were of high quality and entertaining. The shows we saw were well-done.

Of course, here on this web site, the focus is on how well an establishment like Six Flags Discovery Kingdom does when it comes to accommodating people with disabilities. If I were giving a grade, it would have been a D.

So, here comes the nits I have to pick. If you’re waiting still for the Saga of the Soda, it’s still later.

We arrived in the early afternoon. Across the street from the park is the county fairgrounds. The fairgrounds parking lot also serves as overflow for the park. By the time we arrived, the regular parking lot was full. Coming from the north along Fairgrounds Drive was a traffic jam, complete with an injury accident. It was caused by people trying to get into the park’s parking lot. They were being diverted across the street to the fairgrounds.

We happened to know that thanks to cell phones and our son-in-law who was guaranteed a spot at the park because of his season pass. We went directly to the fairgrounds lot and saved ourselves some time.

As we waited in a long line to the front, I asked the person directing traffic if there were spots reserved for disabled people. She didn’t know. I asked the person taking my money. He didn’t know. I asked the person along the route to the parking area. He didn’t know.

So, we parked where they directed us, even with my parking tag hanging from my mirror in plain site. My wife wiggled it at him so he could see it. He just kept waving us into a spot.

Of course, using it was risking a ticket. See California Travel Advice.

So, we walked down the long aisle towards the park and saw a row of cars parked against the fence. My wife said, “Gee. We could have parked there.”

The man guarding the spots curtly said, “You have to have a disabled tag.”

“We do,” I said, annoyed.

Did I mention it was a gravel parking lot and my cane sometimes slipped on rock?

The path from the fairground parking lot to the front entrance is probably a good half-mile. Once you cross Fairgrounds Drive, it is asphalt. The troubling thing was that all along this path you could see faded paint on the asphalt surface where disabled parking once once. It had been replaced by the path to the front gate.

Why is it that establishments consider the disabled parking spaces the most expendable when things change? See Piles of Shame.

Inside the gate are some lockers. I had been carrying a backpack with medications and other stuff I might need but didn’t want to carry around. The locks are all electronic. You pay for a locker. The computer opens it for you and prints out a receipt with a code. When you want to open it, you go back to the computer console, put in your code, and it unlocks your locker. I made the mistake of putting the receipt in my wallet and then putting my wallet in the locker. That was my fault.

I went, hobbling with my cane, back to the main entrance area looking for a human being to help me. There were ticket-takers and photographers. I interrupted a ticket-taker and asked for help. They called someone to come help me.

Once we got that out of the way, we had a very enjoyable time with our family. My daughter and son-in-law wanted to ride on the whitewater ride, so we took the kids to watch Shouka. We got there late and had to sit in the back. My son-in-law helped.

We had to leave the stroller down below. When the show was over, which was great, we had to wait for our son-in-law to come help us with the kids. Before he got there, a security person told us we had to leave.

There we were with three kids under five, including an infant less than one year old. I had my cane, a backpack, and a hefty diaper bag. The nearest exit was down a flight of stairs. My wife and I had to get all of that down the stairs without any help. It was touch and go.

While our grandchildren rode a little elephant ride, I waited by a souvenir shop. In the shade of the shop was a nice woman in a skooter. I asked her about her experience there. She said that they got to park in a disabled space but that the shuttles that came to pick them up couldn’t accommodate her skooter. Finally a shuttle came that could. I gave her this web site’s address. I hope she will visit.

So, now what you’ve been waiting for:

The Saga of the Soda

I noticed people wearing a wrist band that said they were entitled to All-You-Can-Drink soda. I found a place that offered them. You pay $12.99 and get a green cup and one of the wrist bands.

I showed my wrist to the cashier. There was no way the band was going to fit around my wrist. My wrist is not just big because I am overweight. It has always been big, even when I was skinny. The last time I bought a wristband for unlimited something-or-other, it popped right off.

The cashier attached my wrist band to the handle of the soda. I assumed this was standard procedure when someone’s wrist is large like mine.

I planned on drinking a lot. I’m not accustomed to California weather and I like to keep hydrated.

When I was ready for a refill, I went into an area with a lot of food stands. Remember that I have difficulty walking and use a cane. Even more difficult for me is standing. So, I looked for a stand that had a small line.

I handed my cup with the orange band on the handle. The man said, “I can’t refill that unless you wear it on your wrist.”

I showed him my wrist and explained to him why I wasn’t wearing the band. He stepped back and put his hands in the air like I had a gun aimed at him. “I can’t refill it!” he said adamantly. It seemed clear to me that he’d call security and have me arrested if I pressed it any further. I was scaring the poor guy, though I was calm throughout.

I went to find another food place that had a short line. It was around dinner time and there wasn’t any that I could have managed to stand in.

While looking around, I noticed a small booth with a security officer behind it. I went to him and explained it, asking if there was anything he could do. He acted as if he were sympathetic, but all he could offer was that I go all the way back to the front entrance and explain it at the Guest Relations counter. I pointed out that I was disabled and that walking that far and walking back to my family was going to be difficult. I asked if there was someone he could call. He couldn’t.

I thought about going back to the corn dog shack where I had been refused and asking them to call someone, but considering how the man there reacted, I didn’t want to scare him anymore. Am I really that scary?

So, I walked around for the rest of my visit with my worthless green cup. When my family left, I told them I was going to Guest Relations to complain. Of course, Guest Relations wasn’t really near to the front of the park.

You see, when you have to get somewhere with the aid of a cane or a walker, what seems close to others is not close to you. I was determined to at least have my say, even if nothing came of it.

I arrived at a small counter with one woman, Theresa. Guess what? There was a line and nowhere to sit without losing my place in line. So, I leaned on my cane and waited.

When my turn finally came, I explained what happened. Theresa couldn’t do anything about it either. Theresa tried to reach the person who sold me the drink but she wasn’t available. I showed her my receipt.

She made a phone call and said that a food supervisor was going to come and escort me to a food place that would refill my drink for me. When the food supervisor arrived, I was in a great deal of pain from standing in line and waiting for her. My family was outside the front gate waiting for me.

I told her that escorting me to a place to get a drink would have resulted in me getting exactly two drinks for my $12.99 and that I already had to walk back the half mile to my car with my backpack, cane, and drink. She offered to carry the drink with me to my car.

At this point, let me say that I wish I had gotten the name of this food supervisor. She really did a good job of listening and empathizing with me. She was the highlight of the entire incident.

I believe she was sincere about the offer. To my objection that I would get only two drinks, she offered to get me a second cup and carry them both back to the fairgrounds parking lot for me. I declined. My family was waiting and I just wanted to leave.

She took my name and address and promised to send me some complimentary coupons for things to make up for my trouble. As of this writing, I haven’t received them, but there is still time.

Recommendations for Six Flags Discovery Kingdom

• Either restore nearby parking places for the disabled or equip all of your shuttles with the ability to accommodate disabled people.
• Have more benches in the shade. I had to stand a lot because there was a shortage of shaded places to sit. The shortage seemed the worse in the kiddy play area. Do they think that only older people whose kids are grown are disabled and may need to sit? What about grandparents? What about young disabled people with children?
• Better yet, have seating around that is specifically reserved for elderly and disabled people. Buses do it. Parks can too. There was a dolphin encounter pool. It would have been easy enough to have about three benches facing the pool and a sign saying, “Please give preference for these seats to the elderly and people with disabilities.”
• I tried to ride a ride but couldn’t stand in the line. I couldn’t see if they would accommodate me because of my disability. They don’t even say what their policy is on their website. Instead, it says to contact Guest Relations. Poor lone Theresa will no doubt get to you when she can. Put the policy on the web site.
• Is it really running a guest relations department to have one person at the Guest Relations counter on a day that is so busy that parking overflows into the fairgrounds? Have more than one person at the counter.
• Have a roving guest relations person. I should have been able to expect that the security guard I spoke to could have made a call and someone could have come to me to help me with my problem.
• There were several food places that had one window operating. If a worker sees a person with a cane or walker standing in line to get food, someone should come out, take the person’s order, and let the person go sit down. I saw a lot of people standing around behind closed off counters.
• This one is for the fairgrounds parking staff, which I assume is not part of Six Flags. Train your people about where the disabled spaces are and have them keep in touch as to availability.
• To be truly disabled-friendly, have a roving disability ombudsman type of person.
• Get longer wrist bands for your all-you-can-drinks.
• Give the food supervisor who helped me a raise.

Wal-mart has large sizes, but the largest I’ve ever found locally has been 2X. They don’t really have a big and tall section. They mix the larger sizes in with everything else. The signs on their clothing fixtures have one price for the garment and a higher price for the larger sizes. I think they ought out to have a big and tall men’s section.

I checked back at Kmart every few weeks to see if the larger sizes had returned. It wasn’t just the swim trunks that weren’t there. I searched for sweat pants for myself and a client who also needs larger sizes.

Then, about a month ago, I was in a Kmart and saw men’s swim trunks, basketball-style shorts, t-shirts, everything. Size went all the way up to 4X. 4X is adequate for me, though I sometimes like a 5X t-shirt just for roominess.

I don’t know why Kmart decided for awhile to not carry big and tall sizes, but I appreciate that they carry them now. So, they get a big Thank You from me.

So, here’s what I don’t understand:

Everyone is saying that obesity is rampant in America. As I look around, it seems to be true. As unfortunate as that may be, it seems that large clothing is a must. It seems to me that it would be smart for chains like Kmart to carry large sizes. Yet, there are dry spells in America where big people have to buy expensive clothing from catalogs and web sites.

One example of this strange state of affairs happened at the gym where I swim. They are always trying to sell t-shirts, hoodies, and such there. Walk in a gym sometime where they sell clothing and look at the sizes. 2X is about as high as you’ll find.

My gym orders a few items above 2X, but not many. By the time I look the table over, they’ve sold out of everything over 2X. I talked to the manager at my gym about it, and he said they couldn’t sell the larger sizes, so they don’t order them.

The funny thing is, after a certain t-shirt is around for awhile, they mark down all of that type to sell them. For weeks, these smaller sizes sit there unsold while people ask for the larger sizes. I don’t think that people really understand. I’ve speculated that it has to do with the large sizes costing more when they buy them and they can’t sell them at as much of a profit. I think it is shortsighted, though. Better to have articles of clothing that people want and will pay for than having to mark down all of the “regular” sizes.

I think that retailers are in denial about big people. Like many things we find unpleasant, people like to believe that America isn’t obese. Now, I think it would be good if we’d all live healthier. I’ve lost 50 pounds myself. I’m quite proud of that. I look forward to wearing smaller clothing.

Let me ask a ridiculous question that I think illustrates something important. What do they want really big people to do while they work at losing weight? Go naked until they can fit into the clothing that retailers want to sell?

Definitions of abuse have been added or changed for:  abandonment, neglect, verbal abuse, financial exploitation, seclusion, wrongful use of chemical or physical restraint, and sexual abuse. While no provision in the state’s definition of abuse seems unreasonable, this expansion may create an enormous workload for investigators as new reports come in related to the new categories of abuse.

It drastically alters some of the ways I work. Under the new law, after the first of the year, I may not be able to do some of the things I once did while teaching social skills.

For example, as a vehicle for teaching social skills, I take clients into the community to learn how to not only behave in public, but to learn to “fit in” in social situations. The kinds of activities I have used have included miniature golfing, bowling, pool, and other competitive sports. I have taught clients the fine art of “trash talk” that men often do when playing competitive games.

The new definition of verbal abuse says that I am abusing a client if “threaten significant physical or emotional harm to a person with a developmental disability through the use of  (a) Derogatory or inappropriate names, insults, verbal assaults, profanity or ridicule; or (b) Harrassment, coercion, threats, intimidation, humiliation, mental cruelty or inappropriate sexual comments (ORS 430.735 16).”

Though it may be far-fetched, telling a client, while putting on our bowling shoes, that I am going to kick his butt could be overheard by another worker and reported to APS as verbal abuse. Hopefully, in that situation, APS would tell the other worker that making frivolous reports is wasting their time. Still, it could happen.

Perhaps, for me, the ones that make me the most nervous are the definitions of abandonment and neglect. I only contract for certain services with clients. I also am limited in what I may do for clients through social worker code of conduct and ethics. Life skills training and helping clients learn social skills through community inclusion is very different than being a social worker who sits at a desk doing things like intake interviews and other not in-the-trenches jobs.

The abandonment definition says that I am abusing my client if I ”…[desert or willfully forsake] a person with a developmental disability or [withdraw] or neglect of duties and obligations owed a person with a developmental disability by a caregiver or other person (ORS 430.735 1a) .”

For some clients I have a contract for assisting with finding stable housing. With some clients, especially those with credit problems or criminal backgrounds, finding housing in the Portland, Oregon area market is nigh impossible. For more on this, see my blog post, A Shameful Dearth.

I have often found myself in the position of working with a client on a winter day when the weather has turned nasty. The client has no money, no place to sleep, and no prospects for housing. With this new legislation, I wonder if I could be charged with abandoning a client if I don’t offer him a place to sleep at my home.

Doing this would be a pretty clear violation of social work ethics around dual relationships and professional objectivity. Hopefully, the word “owed” in the definition of abandonment will protect me, in that I don’t contract with clients to provide stable housing, only to help a client find it.

Believe me, it is pretty hard to drop a client off on a street corner knowing he doesn’t have a place to live and it’s going to be a cold, miserable night. I have such a client this winter. In this town, he can’t so much as find a room in a boarding house because of credit problems and criminal background.

I see many other potential pitfalls for me as a provider of services in the new definitions. I suppose I will need to adjust again. State rules, agency interpretations, billing requirements, billable definitions, and many other things keep changing for me. In a lot of ways, it seems like the state is deliberately trying to force workers like me to give up and go find another profession. With each new burden, I’m seriously considering it. If I quit, will I be charged with abandonment?

A few months ago, right in the middle of her pregnancy, my daughter’s husband was transferred to California. We knew that we would be making the trip from Oregon when the time came. That happened yesterday.

Mother and child are doing well. He’s beautiful and we’re enjoying being here with the family. When we came to the hospital, I tried parking in regular parking spaces. They were all very narrow and required a bit of walking to get into the hospital.

So, I spied an open disabled space that was big enough for my vehicle and fairly close to the door. I parked there and hung my permit from the rearview mirror. I got lucky, because I didn’t get cited. I think that is probably because enforcement in California is probably no better than in Oregon.

So if I didn’t get a ticket, why am I so disgruntled? This morning, I wanted to make sure that I could use a disabled space in California. I went online and looked at the California Department of Motor Vehicles web site and discovered that there is no reciprocity in California when it comes to out-of-state disabled parking permits.

In order to park in designated spaces in here, I would need to plan ahead and apply for a travel permit by mail. It isn’t necessary to apply in advance if I want to make an on-line or telephone appointment. I would need to have a form completed by my doctor detailing my disability.

I don’t object to the necessity of a doctor’s verification of my need for a permit. I had to go through that to get my Oregon permit. I think it’s important that people aren’t able to get a permit for anything less than a verifiable disability that represents a need for accommodation in parking a vehicle.

I do object to having to go through it any time I want to travel to California. Since my daughter, her husband, and three of my grandchildren live here, I hope I’ll come here often. A travel placard in California is free, but is only good for 90 days.

I live in the Portland metropolitan area. Across the river from us is Washington state, where my disabled parking permit is honored. Oregon has the following policy regarding reciprocity.

Oregon recognizes disabled person parking permits that are issued by other states or countries for the purpose of identifying vehicles permitted to utilize parking spaces reserved for persons with disabilities.

So, for a Californian to visit Oregon, he only needs to bring his California placard. For anyone to use a space in California, he must get a doctor’s verification, fill out a form, then take it or mail it to the California DMV.

Today, we went back to the hospital to see our new grandchild. I parked a long way from the door in a space that would have been too narrow for my vehicle if it hadn’t been on the end.

After the hospital, we went to a grocery store. I tried to park in a normal space, but the driver’s-side door and passenger door were so close to the other cars that I had to move.

When it comes to disabled visitors, California has it wrong.

It’s campground is full nearly every weekend beginning in the spring through the fall. It closes in the winter. Camping at McIver State Park is a great and relaxing experience, even for people with mobility issues.

Of the fourty-four regular camp sites, one is designated for disabled use. Site number 10 has features making it a good experience for people who have mobility devices (mobi’s) or have difficulty getting around.

I spoke to a park ranger who said that they expect that people using the site will have a state-issued parking permit for disabled people. States other than Oregon are recognized.

If you plan to use it, get there by 7:00PM. If it is not taken by a person with a qualifying permit by that time, it will be available to others. Remember, though, that the park fills up and the spaces are reservable online. See the park’s web page for information. Generally, it fills up well in advance for weekends. During the warmer parts of the year, the weekdays also fill up quickly.

I did not reserve Site 10 for my visit there. I wish I had. Even though I get around with a cane when I have to walk far, I was reticent to take the site from someone who had a mobility device. It turned out that no one used site 10 the two days I was there. It definitely had some useful features for me.

Whereas most sites in the park are dirt, site 10 is paved and bricked for easy access to mobi’s.

For me, the best feature, and the one that made me wish I had reserved it, was the elevated fire pit. I could have pulled up a chair and built a fire without having to bend way over to the ground. I would have save a lot of misery and pain. This is a great idea!

On the down side, Site 10 has a couple of problems that the engineers didn’t foresee.

1. The water spigot is located on dirt, not easily accessed from a mobi.
2. The electrical hookup is also located on dirt.
3. The waste water receptical is on dirt and set back away from the road.

Site 10 is conveniently located near the restrooms and showers. It is, in fact, the closest site to the building.

The restrooms have a disabled placard next to the door. It seemed to me that the angles, weight of the door, and positioning of the stalls were all less than optimum for a wheelchair or mobility device. Not being in one myself, I couldn’t say for certain.

Never fear. There is a very nice shower/restroom specifically designated for disabled people.

I spoke to a park ranger about it. He told me that the biggest problem they have with it is that everyone wants to use it. They have a dilemma there. They don’t want to lock it, because that would add a burden to people who want to use it legitimately. Yet, if they don’t lock it, anyone can and does use it.

Since I have issues standing for a long period of time without a cane, I used the facility. It is well built. There is a toilet, a shower with a seat that lifts up, a removeable shower head, a sink, a mirror, and a sturdy bench of ample size.

I had some problems with it.

1. The door is metal and sturdy, which is no doubt a must for the weather conditions and security. However, I found it to be heavy. It might be a problem for some to open it. An automatic door would solve that.
2. When I went in there, I turned on the shower to give it a chance to warm up. That got my feet wet. I was still wearing my shoes. I looked down and I had muddied the floor. With my back problems, I was fairly hopeless to clean it up well. I put some paper towels on the floor and tried to wipe it up with my feet. It worked, but it was a lot of pain.
3. The shower had one of those seats made of wooden slats. I hate those. Not trying to be indelicate, but it pinches your bum pretty hard when you stand up. I think that the people who designed those never had to sit on them. It doesn’t matter whether they are made of wood or plastic. The slats hurt to sit on.
4. The hot water spigot in the sink is one of those that you push to start. It lasts about two seconds and stops. It takes a lot of pushing it to get it hot enough for shaving. Since there’s no seat in front of the sink, I had to stand there a long time leaning on my cane and pushing that faucet button before I could shave.

I saw what the ranger meant. While I was inside, someone kept practically running by it and trying the door. I kept hearing footsteps making the rounds between the women’s restroom and the disabled shower. When I finally emerged, she was waiting for me. I heard the footsteps running around. This was not a person who had trouble with mobility. When she saw my cane, she walked away. I’d bet she went back later.

Recommendations

I like to keep my recommendations fairly cheap and easy to accomplish. There are probably some more expensive remedies to the problems I noted. I don’t think these should be too difficult or costly.

• In Site 10, pave the areas around the water spigot, electrical hookup, and waste water reciptical.
• Fix the hot water spigot in the disabled shower/restroom so it runs for more than two seconds.
• Outside of the disabled shower/restroom, put one of those shoe brush things so people can wipe the dirt off of their feet before going in. In fact, this would be a great idea for the other restrooms and showers. I noticed that they’re always muddy too.
• Replace that awful seat in the shower/restroom with a more solid surface, i.e., no slats.
• When someone checks into Site 10, offer them a key to the disabled shower/restroom. If anyone else wants one and has a state disabled parking permit, they can get one too. Don’t be too stringent about this. As a provider of services around activities of daily living to developmentally adults, I have clients who need an attendant in the shower. The tiny shower stalls meant for everyone else won’t facilitate that. Just keep the thing locked and give out keys,with a deposit maybe, to those who need them. Shame on anyone who needlessly uses facilities meant for disabled people.

Summary

If you are in the area, do visit Milo McIver State Park. It’s a wonderful experience. The facilities for disabled people are superior. The park is really great. Thanks to the staff and hosts! They were terrific!

• Public transit systems
• Museums
• Retail chains
• Government policies, especially instances of federal, state, and local governments violating their own policies or the policies of higher levels of government
• Any incident where you are treated in a manner inconsistent with your rights

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I had to make a phone call before I went in. While I was talking on the phone, the white car in this photo drove up. It had the permit hanging from the mirror as required.

The doors opened and out poured three young people who showed no signs of having any mobility issues. They walked into the store and were quick and agile about it. It’s a scene I’ve seen a hundred times.

There is virtually no enforcement of the laws that reserve these spaces for qualifying disabled people. I have never seen a police officer looking at the windows. It is usually left up to private security forces associated with the establishments where the spaces exist.

At one large store in my area, disabled people do the policing. One man in a scooter would park behind a vehicle being driving by someone without a permit. When the driver tried to back up, he would call the police and charge the driver with assault.

I’ve thought about the idea of having a web page of shame for pictures of people who abuse these parking spaces. I don’t know much about the legalities involved. I doubt, however, that it would be much of a deterrent.

In Oregon, our highways and city streets are burgeoning with police officers writing tickets for speeding and other traffic violations. Municipalities are setting up cameras all over to catch people running red lights or going too fast The fines are low compared to the $450 maximum for illegally parking. I’m one who believes that enforcement of speed limits is based more on generating revenue than making the streets safer. I would bet that Oregon localities could make a lot more money writing citations for vehicles using disabled spaces illegally than they do setting speed traps.