Steve and list members,

Here in Illinois we faced this issue a few years ago.  the problem was that
the public saw many people with parking placards that didn't seem to need a
handicapped parking place and many people with disabilities that used them
found them occupied much of the time but didn't find that many people with
disabilities in the particular facility.  to clarify the eligibility
requirements, we decided to take a functional approach rather than include
or exclude whole categories of disability.  Here is our definition as taken
from the state statute:

DEFINITION: "PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES" (625 ILCS 5/1-159.1)
"A natural person who, as determined by a licensed physician:

(1) cannot walk without the use of, or assistance from, a brace, cane,
crutch, another person,
prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive device;
(2) is restricted by lung disease to such an extent that his or her 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;
(3) uses portable oxygen;
(4) 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 standards set by the American Heart Association;
(5) is severely limited in the person's ability to walk due to an arthritic,
neurological,
or orthopedic condition;
(6) cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest because one of the above 5
conditions."


If it were to be argued that blind people were included in this definition
it would fall under #1:

(1) cannot walk without the use of, or assistance from, a brace, cane,
crutch, another person,
prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive device;

It could be said that "cane" could mean a white cane.  However, a fair
interpretation would suggest that white canes are really not included as the
examples and the rest of the definition suggest assistive devices that
support the muscular-skeletal frame.  We are then left with the definition
of someone who relies on another person to travel.  Blind persons can have
this circumstance but generally not on a universal basis.  I understand that
our functional definition is being adopted by an increasing number of
states.  I hope that this clarifies matters for some.

Kelly


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