To think there is not enough disabled bays for how many badge users there are

@PotatoFan if you wouldn't use it the rest of the time and detrimentally affect people who need it more then honestly, why not? Loads of people actually misuse them and cause genuine harm, and you wouldn't be. It's ridiculous that you don't have one given you do have real need.

I’d find a blue badge really useful particularly at work - the parking spaces are limited and so they’re hard to book and you’re encouraged to walk or cycle or get the bus etc, there are blue badge spaces that are always free though.

My PIP assessment decided I can walk 50metres before becoming unwell, this isn’t enough to walk from my desk to the bus stop. In many supermarkets it’s not enough to walk from the nearest free space to the entrance, let alone then walking round the shop. But, 50metres is too far to be eligible for a blue badge, it would need to be less than 20 metres that I could walk to get the 8 points on PIP to get the blue badge.

The number of people I see with blue badges though does sometimes make me wonder if I should just have a go at applying anyway. I wouldn’t use it except when I really needed to or when there were plenty of free blue badge spaces like at work.

You have so much going on, that you have to cope with@RainbowZebraWarrior . It just goes to show that people should not judge on appearances alone. Disabled people should be supporting each other, as another poster said earlier in the thread, not tearing each other down, over who deserves xyz more.💐

It's nothing to do with what is "valid" as a disability. All disabilities are valid if you're invested in that terminology, but some are more disabling or more relevant than others in particular situations. It does no one any favours to be dishonest about this. People in wheelchairs deserve to be allowed a sincere conversation about our needs too, and this validity discourse adds nothing.

@RainbowZebraWarrior It's you choosing to make it about who is "worthy". You are literally describing how people have different and complex sets of needs, which are not being structurally met. Take the silly validity language out of the picture, it isn't actually relevant or part of a strong argument in any direction. Look at who has real needs (which, yes, includes different groups and is complex), but there is no need to pretend they are all the same.

Yes, they do all go the same way. People in wheelchairs or unable to walk at all are not the only 'worthy' people.

I'm 53 and have Autism, ADHD, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Osteoarthritis. I can walk a short way, but it's crippling. I can suffer a dislocation of my joints at any time, however, and then I'm fucked.

My mother has bowel cancer. She has a colostomy bag. She's not left the house in four years apart from medical appointments. If her bag goes into overdrive whilst at an appointment, then she will literally have shit pouring out of her stoma. She becomes very distressed when this happens and it wouldn't be nice to have her walking across a full car park with that on show. It's made her a shadow of her former sense. I've never applied for a BB for her because I have one myself which I can use for both our benefit. She does have a radar key, and would also be entitled to a BB in her own right.

My 13 year old DD has EDS, Autism, ADHD, Pernicious Anaemia, Hypothyroiditis and severe anxiety. When she has a meltdown (this happens a lot during medical appointments as she's subjected to all sorts of horrible procedures due to multiple other medical conditions) I can't just leave her as she would likely run into the road and be run over. As it happens, again, because I am a BB holder myself, I've never applied for one for her, but, like my Mum, she would be entitled to one herself as she receives the required level of DLA.

I wouldn't wish any of these conditions or ailments on anyone. They are restricting, upsetting, and worse still - as evidenced here - extremely misunderstood. It's totally crap when your life is turned upside down and doubly worse when people judge you and deem you 'unworthy'

Due to the combination of all of the above, we attend our local hospital around two to three times a week. It causes no end of anxious feelings as the car park is busy, and I arrive an hour before appointments just to make sure I can get a BB space as theres often a queue. I've had panic attacks and been in tears on numerous occasions before I got my BB. Ive also sat for hours in the passenger seat prior to having my BB as I used to get regularly blocked in on the drivers side in regular spaces. It's a shit way to live tbh, and nobody I know personally gets it. Almost everyone judges without a clue what my life involves.

So drop her off near the entrance then park

She’s been dead for 12 years so that might be a tad difficult and inappropriate.

And again accessible spaces are not solely for wheelchair users. Other valid disabilities exist.

She did use a wheelchair sometimes too but sometimes she liked to try to walk(until she couldn’t go out without an oxygen tank)Regardless of her chosen mode of transport her blue badge was valid and not for people like you who know feck all about people’s personal circumstances and medical history, to dictate the use of.

Thing is varied types of BB don’t work because who polices it.

Oh you need to be near a toilet vs you need wider door openings.

It relies on people being sensible and considerate mostly. Some BB holders only need to use them during a flare up, it’s trusting them to not just abuse their own badge when not in a flare up, just as parents with children with a BB using it without them.

Again in a way if the driver isn’t a BB holder and the BB holder is an adult I don’t see why they couldn’t be dropped off at the drop off, car parked in a normal bay and then meet up either.

Well said! The best I've had is when I have DD with me and the P&C spaces are full so I use a BB space which I can as I have a badge, struggle to get her pram out the boot and be met with an old windbag who accuses me of misusing the space then my badge! Put her gas at a peep when I locked her dead in the eyes and said DD has caused my disability even though that's really none of your business (in my head I also said as I limped away I hope your next 💩 is a hedgehog 🦔) my god a youngish woman with a child who is disabled 😮 if she had caught me on a really bad day I would've just got in the car and gone home as I'm sick of the judgement 💖

@WeylandYutani Many people who are pushed in a wheelchair need to be as near the shop as possible.

In our muddle headed law there are two main types of disabled parking, Advisory Disabled Parking Bays which are marked with white lines and the word "disabled" painted on the road. They are often outside someone's home for convenient access. Although they're supposed to be used by Blue Badge holders, advisory bays are not legally enforceable, meaning that ordinary motorists parking in these spaces can't be fined. But it's expected that other motorists will respect these bays and avoid parking in them if they do not have a Blue Badge. Like that's going to happen.
Compulsory Disabled Parking Bays: in public areas are legally enforceable. They are marked with white lines, the word "disabled," and have a sign saying Blue Badge holders only. Only vehicles displaying a valid Blue Badge are permitted to park in these bays. They can be fined if they don't have a Blue Badge . Also, councils might have rules on how these parking bays are enforced. Making things worse about 20 percent of the badges displayed are either fake or stoken.

So drop her off near the entrance then park

When people in wheelchairs can’t use disabled spaces as they’re all taken that’s not on. Every man and his dog seems to have them nowadays

@ThePineappleSeahorse It's not about what is more "valid", it's about some things only applying if you use a wheelchair. The problem is that while it is important to raise awareness about invisible disabilities, the (positive and necessary!) efforts to do that have unfortunately made things actually more difficult for wheelchair users. It's not our fault we have unfixable and intractable problems. We don't deserve to suffer MORE just because the issues are visible. Often we get treated as if being visibly disabled is a more privileged position, but that is a very simplistic viewpoint, and not actually true. (And I also have experience of being invisibly disabled, so I am not speaking from ignorance of that perspective either.)

And likewise there’s a lot of ignorance aimed at people who do use wheelchairs. It’s pretty depressing to see the ignorance on disability forums and MN aimed at people with visible disabilities by people with invisible disabilities and vice versa when we should be supporting one other.

Shhh you’ll start a all BB holders don’t work benny fits thread

What I find amazing is that after dark BB spaces suddenly become a free for all in my area as apparently disabled people don't go out after dark 🤨 FWIW I am a BB holder and find it easier to go out at quieter times (also pick up bargains too!)

And there are other valid reasons too but that’s just one from my personal experience.

I’ve got to say that the ignorance around people with disabilities who don’t use a wheelchair really fucks me off. People who require/use a wheelchair are not the only disabled people who matter and their disability is no more(or less) valid than anyone else’s. And no you cannot tell who should have a blue badge just by looking at them. You cannot tell who is disabled.

Said as someone who has invisible disabilities and also physical disabilities that were near invisible but stlll very real for me, and which are now becoming apparent to anyone who sees me walking including complete strangers. I was still disabled even when I was the only one who was aware of it. The problems it caused me were still very real.

Where I live and other towns I visit regularly there is always loads and loads of free disabled spaces so I don't agree OP sorry

That particular shop we no longer use, others that aee closer we use the in shop mobility scooters or manual wheelchairs..or he stays home...I can park on the far side of the car parks and walk..

Have not found this at all but then I do most of my shopping at a big shopping centre and/or a retail park but find there’s loads of disabled spaces unfilled but hardly any parent and child spaces. Think it really depends on the area.

If your mum was being pushed in a wheelchair, then why does she need a space close to the shops?

Where I live there are always empty disabled spaces.

A lot of private owned carparks have plenty of free disabled spaces but blue badge holders can park for free on double yellow lines and most council owned car parks. If you are prepared to pay for parking you will find spaces in most towns.

Got inside and no one looked like they needed a disabled space. Yes people say “hidden disabilities” but how can they not cope with the car park but can cope with the inside of the busy Trafford centre.’

Presumably because they can stop and start. You can’t exactly sit down or even stand in the middle of a car park for a break, unless you want to be hit by a car, as my Grandmother with COPD did when she was out shopping. She stopped literally every minute that she walked when in a shopping centre and sat down for ten minutes or leaned against something. She still needed a blue badge unless she wanted to become a human speed bump.

What you describe does not need a disabled badge - they can walk just need extra care