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.

Are you entitled to a blue badge due to autism?

Can resist no longer.

Imo people with a blue badge should park in disabled bays or P&T if no disabled bays are available.

P&T bays should be further away from the shop entrance (that space should be for people who need to be close), but should be wider than normal bays and should only be for people with small children.

Supermarkets should have a duty to enforce their regulations and this would prevent everyone else getting annoyed about it all.

Wrt disabled loos. I think it is okay to use them if you have a pram (I wouldn't leave my baby unattented outside a cubicle while I peed. Apologies if that's tmi) or if you have a toddler that needs to go urgently and there is a massive queue outside the ladies or any other genuine need (like the person whose child is scared of the hand dryers).

I have been known to check if the mens loo is empty and take my toddler in there rather than risk an accident queueing at the ladies.

Why is it unacceptable to use a disabled toilet if it is empty?

P and T spaces are not really necessary. They are a luxury.

Cornsilk - they are a luxury, which is why they don't need to be by the entrance, but they are very helpful and so should exist. Nothing wrong with making life easier if at all possible

beccagrace2 - I totally agree with you in as far as not letting boys go into the mens toilet alone, was just using Dads as an example really, as IMO it is generally more accepted for Mums to take boys into the main ladies with them.

On Edge - IMHO it isn't acceptable if there are other facilities available as you never know when a disabled person who DOES NOT have the option of using a normal toilet may need to use the facility. I don't believe that a disabled person should be caused further discomfort by having to wait to use the toilet due to the fact the only facilities they can use are in use by someone who does not have a genuine need for a toilet with extra space etc.

BTW - you could only ever use it if it was empty anyway surely - I don't think anyone would be too thrilled if you tried to use it while it was occupied

Minxie - that would have made me so annoyed I might have stolen some traffic cones and rigged up a barrier. Ok that might have been a bit crap but something like that, x.

well i suppose there isn't much on telly, not like the old days of saturday afternoon wrestling... Suppose a girl's got to get her head kicked in kicks some how

I confess to using disabled toilets but am 32 weeks pregnant and sometimes just can't wait. Queues at ladies can be rediculous!

I was asked why I had parked in the disabled space and was showing a badge and not a disability - why should I have to explain that my bf is blind and there are her tickets and she is with me and certainly not allowed to drive, she hates walking to far especailly in new places where things might pop out and trip her over. But she is willing to swap with anyone that objects to her disabled badge and have there eyes and drivers licence

disabled toilet have hand basins where shorter childen can reach to wash their hands - not all ladies loo's have low enough handbasisn - or would you rather germs follwed - ask the place to get basins fitted at lower level in the ladies rather than just the disabled loo

LMHF - I do have a bit of a boring life if this is how I get my kicks eh? lol. Was going to say I tried watching Heartbeat on the sky plus but it just wasn't cutting it tonight but that would just out me as a real saddo - oh wait...

LauraKB, having used disabled toilets many, many times due to the infant changing tables being placed in them and/or in the early days needing to push a pram into them, I have NEVER come out of the toilet to find someone waiting (disabled or non-disabled).

I don't try to hang around in them but I think that it might, in some ways, be a bit patronising to assume that all disabled people who need the toilet would suffer a 2-3 minute wait terribly. While of course there are children and adults with learning disabilities who might need to use the toilet in a hurry and the toilet should, in an ideal world, always be available, if I was a gambling woman I would guess that statistically the odds of someone with a disability suffering terrible harm because of having to wait for a cubicle for a few minutes are slight. If the baby change facilities are in there, then.. It is a tricky one, but the people I know in wheelchairs (admittedly all cognitively able) would probably be a bit offended to be treated as though they couldn't wait for the toilet like anyone else. In fact, I've often heard one of my colleagues being very annoyed by people assuming e.g. that he needs the door to be held open for him etc

I did also once use a disabled toilet when I was pregnant because I suffered stress incontinence terribly and there was a queue of about 15 people to the M and S toilet and I just didn't fancy wetting myself.

Splashy - I nearly had to as well when pregnant with DD as I could barely fit into normal cubicles cos I had got so huge I could actually shut to door past bump - oh the glamour!

Ivykaty44 - I agree, my Dad would also willingly give his disabled badge to anyone as long as they were taking constant pain blah blah blah as well.

Arses - (love the name btw) I see what you mean, I agree they wouldn't suffer terribly but I just think its a bit rude (although not if the changing table is in there as in that case you would have a genuine need to use this facility, ditto with the pram and so on).

I mean I know I would be a bit put out if I had to wait in the ladies because all the toilets were being used by men who had their own toilet they could use IYSWIM. (I know this would never happen in real life but hypothetically)

'While of course there are children and adults with learning disabilities who might need to use the toilet in a hurry... '
How patronising - do you really think that people who suffer with incontinence are learning disabled?

I think the parent/child parking spaces are a necesity if you have more than one child because I kind of need somewhere safe to park one of them while i fasten the other in. In a normal place, you have to leave one in the trolley at he back of the car. For some reason the trolley's with children seats at Tesco don't have breaks

In the parent/child places you can keep the trolley next to you and stop it rolling off while you fasten one in.

That was exhausting. Anyone else find this? Or is there a clever nak to doing it that I havn't found?

(sorry about spelling etc, one contact lense and knackered)

You have to have been declared in need of a badge to have the badge and they are reviewed so if you see a blue badge you don't judge surely?

Cornsilk, did you actually read the rest of what I wrote? When I said 'in a hurry' with reference to adults and children with LD, I was meaning that behaviourally it might be much more difficult for kids/adults with LD to wait for a toilet in the event of it being occupied/understand why they needed to wait etc. I was adding it as a disclaimer to my main point which was that people in wheelchairs might find it irritating to have able-bodied people assume they couldn't wait to use the loo like others in the community.
AND I said I had terrible incontinence while pregnant, so hardly likely I assume that all people with incontinence are disabled, is it?

incontinent while pregnant is exactly the same as being incontinent and disabled of course.

"I mean I know I would be a bit put out if I had to wait in the ladies because all the toilets were being used by men who had their own toilet they could use IYSWIM. (I know this would never happen in real life but hypothetically)"

It happens the other way round in nightclubs sometimes, all the ladies in the mens loos!

Disabled toilets - sometimes if you have a buggy with you its hard unless you are prepared to go with the door open. Sometimes a toddler is totally desperate and you'd rather use diabled toilet than have a puddle of floor.

And some people have less obvious disabilities - eg I have IBS and if I need to go I need to go will use disabled toilet if i can't jump to front of queue.

re: parking, I wouldn't ever but when heavily pregnant I found it hard to open the car door in a normal space...

Honeydragon - that is a difficult one because blue badges are so widely abused, although I would NEVER challenge someone who was displaying a badge. A previous poss of mine had a blue badge after being diagnosed with cancer and she didn't look like anything was wrong with her.

Where I used to work 90% (I kid you not cos I knew most of them) of the cars parked for free on the street outside the office where it is normally metered parking but blue badge holders don't have to pay were being used fraudulently and intentionally so. [Angry].

I always park in paren.......

Ach, fuck it, I can't be arsed.