Two Years Remaining On Disabled Placard

ABOVE: My disabled hang tag expires two years from today

I got this disabled placard in May 2008, after three months in the hospital, following a massive hemorrhagic stroke.  At the time I still couldn’t move much of my left hand & arm but I was still getting back function so I was hopeful that by the time the permit expired I wouldn’t qualify for a renewal.  I have better stability now, I walk around the house often without my cane and sometimes without wearing my leg brace. But it is now clear to me that I’ve reached a plateau in my recovery, I’m permanently disabled.

When I registered my car two month later, in July 2008, they asked me if I wanted disabled plates.  I said no since I had the placard and I had every plan to not need the permanence of disabled plates.  When I renew my plates in July 2012 I will switch to disabled plates so I no longer have to remember to hang the placard when I park somewhere, driving with it hanging is illegal.

No doubt you’ve seen someone that doesn’t appear disabled using a permanent disabled placard.  Who qualifies for one?

Section 301.142.1 RSMo defines “physical disability” as listed below::

1. The person cannot ambulate or walk 50 feet without stopping to rest due to a severe and disabling arthritic, neurological, orthopedic condition, or other severe and disabling condition.
2. The person cannot ambulate or walk without the use of, or assistance from, a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive device.
3. The person is restricted by a respiratory or other disease to such an extent that the person’s forced respiratory expiratory volume for one second, when measured by spirometry, is less than one liter, or the arterial oxygen tension is less than 60 mm/hg on room air at rest.
4. The person uses portable oxygen.
5. The person has a cardiac condition to the extent that the person’s functional limitations are classified in severity as Class III or Class IV according to the standards set by the American Heart Association.
6. The person is blind as defined in Section 8.700, RSMo.

For a while 50 feet was a long walk for me but it is #2, above, that will always apply to me.

If I live as long as my dad did, 78, that means I’ll have 35 more years as a disabled person.  That is rather hard to comprehend as it has only been 25 years since I graduated from high school.

Despite my disabilities, I love my life.  I don’t want pity. I know so many people, able-bodied & disabled, have far worse issues to deal with. My life is charmed in comparison.

- Steve Patterson