parent and child bays

[fairy1303]

Our local supermarket is always rammed. I have often had trouble finding a space. There are some parent and child bays and these are great when I have to take the baby - you need the extra space for the buggy and to be close to the supermarket etc etc.

Today when parking in them, the woman next to me sprung out completely childless.

I know I shouldn't get so annoyed sleep deprived and am anticipating biscuits galore - but she was still parked there when I left and I really wanted to let the supermarket know!

There were other spaces btw, just a bit further away.

Tondelayo - I can't afford to have my shopping delivered unfortunately

It is universally acknowledged that by the nature of disability, all people experience barriers to overcome. A wheelchair user cannot get into a non-accessible building, a person with a severe LD can't read the sign that says baskets only. If you can't see that, well then there's really no point in engaging with you.

Nobody has suggested everyone is in the same boat though.

But if someone is disabled they are going to struggle with things that able bodied people find easy. That is the whole nature of a disability.

I do agree that its very hard to get a blue badge!and yes things are limited because of disabilities. .im in pain allday everyday.
My aunt is unable to walk very far without pain.
However if you looked at me you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with me.
Iv had to leave my job id done for a decade last year because i couldn't stand up for hours anymore. I lost my new job this year because i couldn't concentrate cz of pain.
Docs answer is too load me up on more painkillers so im off my face....so im either unable to do my job or unable because im spaced.
Trying to find a new job is a nightmare as im so limited to what i can do.
Still wouldnt begrudge a disabled person to park in parent and child.sure there are people worse than me.
Parent and child are a luxury not a privilege.

Candy - I think there are a couple of cross posts here, I took exception to someone further up the thread making (in my view) a sweeping generalisation about disabled people facing barriers which means they couldn't shop on line (not my suggestion I hasten to add!) which I thought was rather insulting to disabled people. I also responded further up the thread that I have no idea what some people face and of course I can see all the points that you raise.

Mandy OK I read up and now I see. I am very passionate about highlighting that are barriers for disabled people that most will not even realise and it doesn't mean that disabled people are any less able to achieve but that there are more barriers to overcome. Of course, like everything in life, there are variations of disability and how people are affected.

P&C spaces just make it easier for people to get the car seat out (which should stay in the car) and leave the baby in it (when it should be out of it) and places to put pushchairs and bags (so really they are Parents and Their Stuff spaces).

I generally think people should take priority over stuff. So I think, if you're struggling because of you're trying to cart around mountains of inconvenient stuff, you should reorganise yourself so you don't need to struggle (for your own sake!) and could easily manage without using P&C.

People struggling with aspects of transportation for actual people are welcome to use them, in my mind.

I have 2DCs, and don't use them, because I thankfully do not struggle with transporting them.

someone further up the thread making (in my view) a sweeping generalisation about disabled people facing barriers which means they couldn't shop on line

Joins westie in banging head against brick wall.

speak for yourself Ida, I have never carried my DC round in car seats, but I still very much value space when I am getting them in and out of the car.

Its not a parents and their stuff space for me.

These threads get so many people frothing on both sides of the argument that it makes my head spin.

Here's my view: there would be zero need for P&C spaces if more people actually learned to park their fucking cars properly, and if their cars are too big for them to park properly, then they should leave the fucking things at home.

P&C spaces are nice to have (and I appreciate more with a toddler car seat than an infant one TBH) but the only time I've ever struggled to get my kid out of a car was when the only available space was between 2 cars parked so abysmally that I could barely squeeze myself out.

Tondelayo - is this some kind of game? You pick just a part of every post I make, repeat just that part, taking it out of context?!

Sorry mrsdevere I didn't think I was really being aggressive. I certainly don't wish to be.
But you do seem to have been on my case a bit. The comment about my friend's joke (however in-hilarious it was) for starters.
I see that the thread has evolved, but at its start it was a moan about mis-use of p&c spaces. This irks many people but it's like a red rag to a whole load of bulls on MN with various degrees of accusation about parents being entitled and precious.
The spaces are useful and in some cases offer a little extra safety for small children. No, they are not essential, in the way that disabled spaces are but on the whole that's not what's being said. I really don't think there's any call for such derision about them.

Un- hilarious. That'll teach me to use non- words.

Jassy. I can park perfectly well. But it's not possible to open both doors of certain cars enough to get 2 children out of the back.
Now some ppl might argue that I should get a different car.
But I don't need to if I use a p&c space. So if there is one I use it
And if there isn't I go home and order take out shop elsewhere.
That doesn't mean that someone "mis- using" it isn't a bit of a greedy selfish twat.

Hi Mandy
No, it's because you keep misrepresenting my post and it's bloody annoying. I did not make a sweeping statement or a gross generalisation.

Please stop misrepresenting what I have written. Either quote it directly - or - if you can't understand complexity or nuance or the differences between individuals & tendencies within groups / populations - then it ignore it.

Threal I don't get it, do you only go in your car to go to the supermarket? What about the vast abundance of places that don't have p&c spaces, e.g. beach parking, ncp car parks, or well, anywhere really? Do you not go there?

If you cannot get your car door open in a normal car space (assuming that the cars on either side are parked correctly) then you really need to get a different car.

Tondelayo - you first suggested shopping online for the posters earlier up the thread who used P&C spaces and then said I get why disabled people (as a population) may have more barriers to online shopping (age, income, computer ownership / ability, wifi access, socialising)

How, in saying that someone earlier up the thread had made a generalisation (in my view) about disabled people facing barriers to shopping on line, have I misrepresented what you said. Thats exactly what you said. And for the second time of asking, please stop being so patronising in suggesting I can't understand your posts. They're not exactly rocket science

Sorry didn't mean to cross that out, it should have been in bold to quote it directly as you requested I get why disabled people (as a population) may have more barriers to online shopping (age, income, computer ownership / ability, wifi access, socialising)

My friend's joke may not have been very funny but it was absolutely not in any way similar to making a joke about any one with a disability or an illness.
It was a jibe (made by my friend) about my inability to not pee or poo myself after having my PFB.

Threal, I don't disagree that someone able-bodied without a little kid who parks in a P&C bay isn't a twat. And I certainly have no views on how you, personally park.

But car parks these days are full of people who don't seem to have the nous to park within the lines, making life tough for the rest of us, including those trying to get kids out of a car while parking between two poorly-parked cars.

But Mandy statistically as a population people with disabilities do face more barriers. That's not a generalisation that's a fact.

You're right, it isn't rocket science.

Duchess. Honestly. I go everywhere. The only place I struggle with the doors/ dcs is in supermarket or shopping centre car parks. If I go alone it's not an issue because I am quite slight. Everywhere else the spacing is different/ better.
I do have another car. I tend to use it for "family" days out etc. it's bigger but better for door opening.
Is it bothersome to you that I don't park somewhere unless I have space to open the doors?