to get really annoyed with non-disabled people parking in disabled spaces?

[LauraKB]

and the same for parent and child spaces.

Also the same for disabled toilets (not the parking in bit), especially when parents take their same sex children into them when they would be perfectly capable of using the normal toilets. I do however understand Fathers taking their daughters to a disabled toilet cos you wouldn't want them to go into the gents and they are too small to go into the ladies alone.

[sits back and enjoys popcorn]

Lol Fibilou, I am currently getting my tin hat out .

Was just going to expand on my toilet point (that sounds wierd) but will leave that til later.

Tin hat??

Kevlar vest and army helmet is safer round here!!

Ah well, it must have been at least a week... and it's so refreshintg to have it all on one thread.

Ok. I'll bite :)

How on earth do you know if someone is disabled or not? Did you ask? Did they give you a sarcastic answer? Or did you just see them 'walk perfectly normally'?

In terms of the spaces you can name and shame those parking there without badges by sending a photo to a twitter group

I have been here before and am promising myself that I will not wade into this one. Wonder how long I'll last...

Indigo, you're quite right - I generally don't ask cos I'm a bit of a wuss so just get quietly annoyed, and I do know disabilities manifest themselves in non-visible ways but it is hard to always give people the benefit of the doubt, which probably is unreasonable.

ChippingIn - possibly a school boy error there then, I'm an AIBU virgin you see - its my first time ever tonight lol. Can you tell DP is on night shift and DD is asleep?

Now, SGM, in the hypothetical event that you arrive at the disabled/baby change with screaming baby needing changing at the same time as a disabled person needing the loo, who has priority ? I this conundrum could lend a new angle to this tired debate

Laura, as an AIBU virgin you've skipped all the foreplay and gone straight to whips and chains....

Stewie - re changing tables I agree that is not an ideal situation but if that's where they are then you have no choice - pesonally I just try to be a quick in changing DD as possible if that's the case (easier said than done right enough).

YANBU when ineligible people intentionally park in disabled/parent & toddler spaces. I used to work for the parking dept of my LA and we used to get people coming in who'd been ticketed for parking in a disabled space in the evening or weekends, who genuinely couldn't see that they'd done anything wrong. We'd have to point out that disabled people aren't just disabled between office hours.....

As with disabled toilets, I confess, I have used them with DD but largely because 'normal' cubicles are too small to fit us both in! If I know the toilets are generously sized, I will always use the normal ones.

the problem with disabled toilets is that you dont have to display a blue badge on your person to use them!
its easy to spot if someone is taking the piss parking in a disabled space if they dont ahve a badge, but not easy to tell with the toilets so I wouldnt judge!

As an aside DS is not disabled but does have ASD and I take him into the disabled toilets if people are using the loud hand dryers in the ladies and he is refusing to go in... is that allowed? (neither of us 'look disabled')

Fibilou [embarrased face] - I didn't realise anyone remotely gave a shit about this apart from me! Oops didn't mean to be so controversial - will you rescue me if it gets too much?

My friend has blue badges for her car because her son is autistic (amongst other issues) and she quite often will not use the spaces she is entitled to (as supermarkets, she could use disabled and parent and child spaces) because she's sick of people yelling at her because her son does not have an immediately visible disability. I agree with the OP on principle, but it's too much of a minefield to actually confront people.

If noone disabled needs the loo can i use it?

LucyLouLou, I agree about it being a mine field which is why I don't confront people.

On balance it would appear that sometime IABU and sometime IANBU its just depends and I will probably never know the difference.

Minxie - Lol, but IMHO no, because you never know when someone disabled might come along needing the loo.

Fel1x - Please forgive my ignorance but what is ASD?

As an aside, how would you feel about a male carer accompanying a female diabled person into the ladies because she was desperate and the disabled toilet was engaged?

Laura, I should grab yourself some popcorn as this, as SGM says, is a regular AIBU topic. "Baby on board" signs is another one

I think I am going to tuck myself and the laptop up in bed and enjoy, lol.

They can wait - if not maybe a catheter is in order

People used to park in my mum's disabled space outside our house all the time. They also used to get snarky with me for parking her car there.

Judgy, judge, judge

i would not let my ds, 6, go in the filthy mens loo alone, what if a perv grabs his willie? why can a dad take a dd in the disabled loo, but mum not take a son. FWIW my ds did a huge poo outside next recently when they refused to allow him to use the loo, his sister told him to do it so he did!!