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August 7, 2008 8:00 AM

Disabled homeowner loses handicapped parking spot

Posted by Elizabeth Rhodes

Q: I'm a disabled senior and have a handicapped-parking permit for my car, which I parked in the handicapped spot next to my Kent condominium. Recently the homeowners board voted to turn our three handicapped spots into visitor parking instead. I've complained, but haven't gotten anywhere. Isn't this discriminatory?

A: Roxanne Vierra, civil-rights specialist for the King County Office of Civil Rights, says your board may be out of compliance with fair-housing laws requiring those who oversee properties to provide reasonable accommodations for residents with physical disabilities.

Since you have a state-issued handicapped parking permit, there's no question that you qualify for a parking accommodation, Vierra says. And simply assigning you another parking spot farther away isn't a solution, she says, because "the condo board isn't in a position to make a call" that one parking spot is as good as another for a person with disabilities.

So here's what you do. Make a written request to your board because this officially documents it. Tell them you have a disabled-parking permit and you want the board to make a reasonable accommodation by returning your former parking spot and enforcing it as handicapped parking for your use. Ask them to respond to you, in writing, within a reasonable amount of time, like 14 days.

"If they don't respond, or say no, they've turned down what is very likely a reasonable request," says Vierra.

Then you take your case to the Washington State Humans Rights Commission; its phone number is 800-233-3247.

Vierra says these situations often arise when the people making the policies don't know the law. She's found that once they do, they're usually quick to fix the problem.

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