Quote Originally Posted by Cataboo View Post
So... Am I being un-empowering to women if I give up my seat on the metro or a train to a pregnant woman? Or to old people? 'cause seriously, old people and pregnant woman could use the opportunity to stand up and train their balance skills and get their exercise and they really should just stop being lazy bums and avoiding it by taking my seat if I offer.

And when I see a handicapped person struggling with opening a door and walking through, I should just ignore them and leave them be, because even though they're handicapped, they can function just as well as the rest of society and they really should just practice doing it.

But as far as I'm concerned, it's common courtesy for me to offer my seat or to help someone struggling with a door or something - if they say that they're fine and they don't need help, I don't press.

Yeah, like all things in life, there will be people who abuse handicapped and pregnancy parking. That doesn't mean there isn't a good reason for it and we should take the option away from everyone. Because really, how much does this actually inconvenience all of you? How many people in NYC actually have cars? And when is it a benefit of having to drive through the city? ('cause frankly, anytime I've driven through NYC, I've been severely irked with everyone else there and stuck in traffic forever). From visiting NYC, I know I would really hate to be pregnant or disabled and navigating the metro system. Same with DC. It's hard to find the elevator access to the metro system.

I know at least in the DC area that there is very little designated handicapped street parking - basically you're allowed to park at a meter longer free if you have a handicapped pass...
Put that way, I can see how my comment didn't come across quite right; sorry about that. I guess I am just envisioning the people who will want to use being 3 months pregnant as an excuse to not walk a little bit from their car to wherever they're going, because they just don't want to even though they can. Those are the ones I see as being un-empowering. Not the ones who truly are having difficulty.