Although the diagnosis remains something of a mystery, Ms. Alterman had injured her back in such a way that searing pain was tormenting her left leg, accompanied by spasms in both her leg and back. She flew home, using a wheelchair to and from the airport and, in short, had become a member of that group called “temporarily disabled.”

        Pain medications, a pain management device, physical therapy, and time have enabled her to progress from wheelchair to cane, to short stints in her Montgomery home unaided. Now that the pain is beginning to subside, however, and normal functioning is within her foreseeable future, the 46-year-old National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health epidemiologist has gained some new perspective on her fellow humans.

        Noticing that she was trembling and having difficulty, for instance, workers at Pipkins Market, a small produce store in Montgomery, insisted on being as helpful as they could. When she asked the owner of Tishbein Pharmacy if she could rent a wheelchair for one day, he offered to lend one.

        “Janice, the security guard where I work, saw that I was very shaky with the cane,” Ms. Alterman says, “and walked with me from my car to the building on many days to make sure that I didn't fall.”

        When her doctor approved a temporary “handicapped parking” placard, she believes she encountered another kind of attitude.

        In a recent letter, Ms. Alterman writes of her experience at the Montgomery Department of Motor Vehicles:

        “They told me to take a number and wait. I explained that I didn't feel well and that they did not have a chair in which someone with a back injury could sit. I then asked if I could have one of the chairs that had some cushion and back support behind the counter. It was not being used.

        “The supervisor said no, they were not allowed to move the chair, I could take the red chair — that had no back support and little cushion. I tried sitting in the red chair, but it was too painful so I clung to the counter, shaking with my cane. I waited while they called numbers from 9 to mine, which was 17. I hung onto the counter for approximately 25 minutes.”

        Temporary disability can magnify both the kindness and the insensitivity in others. Ms. Alterman believes that workers in the private sector have responded to her situation with kindness, while public servants were rude and discourteous.

        Debby Back, office manager for the Montgomery Department of Motor Vehicles, said that the leather chair behind the counter was simply too large to move around to the “service” side for Ms. Alterman to sit in it. Ms. Alterman, she said, did not appear to be in any physical distress “except that she was angry.”

        To get a handicapped parking placard, an individual needs a doctor's prescription and to complete the required form at the Department of Motor Vehicles.

        Prescriptions can be for six months (temporary disability) or five years (permanent disability).

        Ms. Alterman wonders why the motor vehicles office couldn't have faxed the required form to her physician, and thus saved a bit of time and inconvenience.

        Debby Back said that forms can be faxed to physicians upon request, and that another person can bring the form to the Department of Motor Vehicles and be issued the placard on behalf of the person with a disability.

        Communication obviously needs some fine tuning. And, for the record, none of us can ever judge another's pain or disability by looking at them.

        Toni Alterman is not expecting to need another placard when hers expires in six months — but maybe her protest can encourage customer service people, both public and private, to exercise a bit more compassion.

       Contact Deborah Kendrick by phone: 673-4474; fax: 321-6430; e-mail: dkkendrick@earthlink.net.
       

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