The major problem with this kind of pattern is you're looking to establish edge-case boundaries, rather than the most broadly applicable standard. The attempt to document and "solve for every case just leads to overly complicated and disingenuous discussions. Our fascination and obsession with "accuracy and precision" as applied to human behavior is one that breaks down very quickly unless you're attempting to be hyper-rational, at which point, any rules assigned to human behavior break down.

In short, "use your best judgement."

Note: I think that we have passed the golden moment where "human judgement" had any kind of value. There was a long time where we (all humanity) were stumbling in the dark, and we have now stepped back into that cave. But for a brief, shining moment, the percentage of people who had critical reasoning skills was growing, and it was majestic.

Of course there are exceptions to every rule. Likewise, "don't talk loudly on your phone in public" is a rule everyone should know, but no one's going to judge you if you're talking loudly on your phone to 911 because you just saw someone get hit by a car.

Thats like saying ik murders bad but what if the guy you killled kidnapped your whole family and held them hostage, like nah shit well consider it being okay in that case, but that is a fringe case far from common

There are always outliers and exceptions to rules, they are usually not who/what is being discussed lol

The carts go back in the corral so they don't damage other people's cars, not for convenience. I'm sorry your friend is hurt but my property shouldn't be damaged because of that. And nobody's going to judge him if he leaves it next the handicapped parking space he was in. Anyway, all the grocery stores by me will literally send someone to push the cart and put your groceries in the car for you if you're unable. The cashiers will even straight up ask if they think you need help.

I think rules, written or otherwise, should have exceptions to account for extreme circumstances like this, but a lot of online people just go ‘No, if you don’t bring your cart back you’re a BAD PERSON no matter what!’.

To treat any rule as immutable is an idealist junk perspective. Rules, like all ideas, need to be applied to a context, and I personally don't see the point in codifying every possible exception. Law officials, programmers and others can tell you how Sisyphean that task would be.

So yes, there are exceptions (obviously!). If you're putting your cart back and you injure your leg, you don't have to crawl on your arms just to put it back. But we can still generally say "people should put their cart back after shopping" and it's clear that we're generalizing.

I think I understand what you are saying, able bodied people can easily forget there are others who have a hard time doing "basic" and "easy" tasks.

I agree with some of the replies you got about being unnecessary and time consuming to state every exception to something but I think that what you pointed out is still very valid. Depending on the culture people grow up in and their personal experiences, stating something like " disabled people sometimes are not able to put the shopping carts back" could be either extremely obvious for them or not at all. Some people will think it's just about not bothering others with a task that they could easily take care of themselves, others will think about safety like one of the replies you got talking about the wind (I've never thought about that one tbh), some will think about damaging people's property (cars) and others about not giving workers more problems. I think we can all agree that abandoning the cart is bad, even if we are thinking about different reasons, however a lot of people will just blame lazy people for leaving it anywhere and totally forget about disabled people not having other options because it isn't something that is a part of their lifes.

I wouldn't say that people not being constantly aware of disabled people having a harder time is inherently ableist, unless they do it on purpose of course, but bringing awareness to the existence of the many obstacles they face in different scenarios is important to make changes that make their life's easier. Abandoning the cart can also make disabled people's life harder, for example if it is blocking the safest route for mobility aid users or blind people, wich is something that able bodied people should also take into consideration (and most disabled people who need to leave it somewhere actually take into consideration).

Bringing awareness can make changes, maybe next time someone here sees someone with mobility issues they will ask them if they need help or if they need them to return the cart to its place, changing the place to leave the carts so it is next to disabled parking spots could be planned and requested to stores. Maybe some people will become more aware of the obstacles that others face in their daily lifes.