I'm not offering this as advice, but purely how I get around the horrible heavy steering issue.
You are right. The Speed Sensitive Power Steering offers greater assistance the slower you are traveling. If the ABS ECU decides to throw a wobbly when you are traveling at say 50mph, then you will have limited assistance, even when parking. It wont reset itself until it decides to work again after start-up, which (in my case) is hardly ever).
What I do to rectify this, is to put the car into gear as soon as the engine fires, and plant the throttle momentarily. It will only work if you lose traction for enough time that the ECU throws a fit again before it's finished its own diagnostics (less than half a second of wheelspin-ish). It will then restore the Steering to a low speed setting (Maximum Assistance).
Again, I dont offer this as advice. The Transmission has a failsafe which wont engage gear unless it feels it's 'able' to do so, but still. :-?