as some of you know, I'm in a wheelchair. A couple weeks ago some ignorant ******* parked his car for a couple hours right in front of the curb cut that's in front of our building. He parked at an angle so his car was also in the reserved parking space that my brother-who also has problems walking-has (I can't drive) When he FINALLY moved his car and I could get out; I passed him in the parking lot and yelled at him. He apologized and asked if I'm ok now. I just said in an angry voice, "NO!" and drove away. Later I posted it on Facebook and said "Hopefully he got the message!" My mother answered the post and yelled at me that I was wrong and that I should apologize to the guy. I started to think she's right because the guy doesn't live in the building and never saw me before. But then I remembered he saw me sitting on our front patio in my wheelchair, so now I think I was right.
How many agree with me?

If he parked at an angle & took up 2 spaces then you should've called the cops especially if one is reserved for the handicapped. 2 hours is plenty of time to put a ticket under his windshield wiper and if it's against the law to park at an angle like that then it would've been a double-whammy. Your mom is wrong, you don't owe him any apology.

I think that you were right, but your approach was wrong.

Is it possible that you took his actions a little too personally? I don't think the guy thought, "I'm going to park here and mess over treky and all the wheelchair users!" Seriously, if it bothered you that much you could have called the cops like Zoneboy suggested instead of getting all steamed up about it.

Again, I'm not saying the guy was right. I'm saying that you didn't have to have that confrontation at all. What would you have said or done if instead of offering you an apology, the guy pulled out a gun? You have to think about that kind of stuff these days, especially in your situation.

Sometimes people see you, but they don't think about the way their actions effect you or what your life is like. Many people don't (metaphorically) walk in other people's shoes unless they have to.

As you stated this guy was ignorant for whatever reason. Maybe he was lazy or didn't care. Then again maybe he has never had to think about how important handicapped parking is because he's never been around anyone with a physical disability. Since the guy did offer an apology I don't think he was a lost cause.

You didn't teach him not to park in handicapped spaces. You just gave him an negative experience with a wheelchair user which will make it even harder for the next wheelchair user he encounters.

I think that you were right, but your approach was wrong.

Is it possible that you took his actions a little too personally? I don't think the guy thought, "I'm going to park here and mess over treky and all the wheelchair users!" Seriously, if it bothered you that much you could have called the cops like Zoneboy suggested instead of getting all steamed up about it.

Again, I'm not saying the guy was right. I'm saying that you didn't have to have that confrontation at all. What would you have said or done if instead of offering you an apology, the guy pulled out a gun? You have to think about that kind of stuff these days, especially in your situation.

Sometimes people see you, but they don't think about the way their actions effect you or what your life is like. Many people don't (metaphorically) walk in other people's shoes unless they have to.

As you stated this guy was ignorant for whatever reason. Maybe he was lazy or didn't care. Then again maybe he has never had to think about how important handicapped parking is because he's never been around anyone with a physical disability. Since the guy did offer an apology I don't think he was a lost cause.

You didn't teach him not to park in handicapped spaces. You just gave him an negative experience with a wheelchair user which will make it even harder for the next wheelchair user he encounters.

What a wonderful sensitive response, Gidgetgrape. And Charles, your response to call the cops is short, sweet and effective.

Treky, it's easy to take these affronts personally; but the BEST way is to be cool and practical about jerks who double park esp. across a handicapped space. A nice big fine by a cop( in NYC the car might have even been towed) would have taught the clod A STRONG tangible lesson to not double park again.