This letter is in response to Sarah Gilmour's letter about handicap parking on campus ("Handicap parking spots for disabled" SN 3/29). My best friend has a prosthetic leg and a heart condition that she has had since birth. When she wears pants (as she often does), you cannot see her prosthetic leg and, certainly, her heart condition is not visible.

She is a student at Georgia State University, where she often parks in the handicap parking spaces in front of the student athletic center, as her cardiologist has recommended that she work out regularly. She is able to walk (something that Gilmour assumes that disabled people can't do), but walking all over campus each day would be difficult on her heart, so she makes use of the handicapped tag given to her by the state of Georgia all over Atlanta and Georgia State.

I can't tell you how many times she has been harassed by people acting as the "parking-lot police." Several times, she has had to pull up her pants leg to prove that she is indeed "handicapped." It's rude and embarrassing for everyone involved.

While several people wrongly take advantage of handicap parking, those that have the state-issued tags have to prove, through a doctor, that their handicap doesn't allow them to walk far distances.

I suggest that Gilmour mind her own business. Or maybe even educate herself about the situation.

Rebecca Richendollar
zoology junior