Months later, ALS patient gets disabled parking spot she sought for freedom to simply leave home
More than four months after a Chicago woman battling ALS was told she couldn't get a disabled parking placard in front of her home, the sign is up and her life is about to change.
Armenia Rodriguez has been fighting for a disabled parking sign for months. ALS made her feel like a prisoner in her own home.
Now the street sign that was finally installed on her street is giving her newfound freedom.
"I may not have my legs to work for me anymore, but I'll have a way to be out and about," she said.
Rodriguez was diagnosed with progressive paralysis in 2024, and spent most of the past winter trapped inside, in part because every time she leaves, it requires about half an hour of switching wheelchairs and her husband, Sam Vera, installing a heavy ramp to the sidewalk.
It wasn't worth the effort of leaving the house if her husband lost the coveted parking space right out in front.
"Only to doctor's appointments, I didn't really go anywhere," Rodriguez said.
She reached out to CBS News Chicago in December. When she tried to apply for a disabled parking placard in front of her home in Bridgeport, she was originally told that, because a disabled parking permit zone already existed on that block, there wasn't enough space that met installation requirements for her own spot.
"Why can't my whatever days left, time left, however you want to phrase it, be easy?" she said.
Rodriguez had to get her alderman's office to override the denial of the permit she sought, then the space had to be approved by the Chicago City Council.
After sifting through all that red tape, it was finally installed just in time for summer.
"She went though so much, and a lot of stuff that she didn't know. We were just going by what people were telling us to do, and it shouldn't be like that," Vera said.
"It shouldn't have to be that hard for anybody with a disability to maneuver, you know, especially somebody with ALS," Rodriguez said.
When it comes to streamlining the process for others in the future, the city said they plan to make the paper application digital this year. It's unclear when that will happen.
Meantime, May is ALS Awareness Month and Rodriguez will be celebrating by rolling in ALS United's Walk ALS event.
Fittingly, she also just got another bit of good news. The Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities approved her request for a home lift, and will pay for the whole thing. So she won't need a big heavy metal ramp anymore to navigate the stairs to the sidewalk.
"I tell my husband, he tells me, 'Babe, we did it,' and I go 'Yeah, we did,'" she said.
The Walk ALS event is taking place Saturday, May 30 at Cantigny Park in Wheaton. And it's not too late to register if you're interested.
