As you observed, disabled parking isn't worth anywhere near the price they have to pay to get it, and I don't mean money. Life is tougher for them - maybe a just a little bit, maybe a whole lot. The parking slots and ramps are useful tools for people who often feel bruised and rejected by society, and are sometimes ignored as embarrassing or ridiculed by others. Sometimes they are even glared at or receive rude remarks for having 'special' parking, or resented by storekeepers who 'had to spend all that money on a ramp and wider door'.
The spots and ramps are a great help, but even then it is no picnic. The ramps are few and far between, and often are too narrow for a wheelchair and service dog at the same time. And even a ramp can be a major effort to haul yourself up with your arms, and roll back down while holding your shopping bag. In parking, there are often too few parking spots for the number of people needing them (especially when someone without a tag takes the spot 'just for a minute or so'). It doesn't even give them a wide spot for easy entry to their cars, as a lot of the time people just shove their shopping carts in the direction of the disabled spots because it is closer than the cart slot. This means that they have a dinged door, and 3 or more shopping carts to move before they can get into their car. And if the disabled person has a service dog, the parking and ramps are especially important.
Visit the site
http://members.cox.net/dogpartners/ServiceDogs.htm for an overview of service dogs, and the photo button at left for pics of the dogs in action. Imagine the years of training it takes to become a service dog trainer, including spending several weeks in a wheelchair yourself. There are 8,000 people in wheelchairs in Orange county alone, not counting people who need walkers, canes, or have other, non-wheelchair but very limiting disabilities. (One young mother of twins became a quadrapeligic in a car accident - forget about just shopping or working, imagine raising kids when you can't walk or move your arms!) They would all appreciate your courtesy and understanding.
Thanks for posting this thread and giving me a soapbox, Thai GI.