AIBU Proof of disability is fine ?

[Itsamission25]

My previous post was about an incident regarding daughter ( 9 in wheelchair ) being refused the wheelchair space on a bus in favour of a toddler in a stroller and a sleeping baby in a stroller.
anyway, I have tried to gain some online support regarding the company and also put in a complaint with the bus company but this has caused a debate about invisible illnesses.
apparently companies should not be allowed to ask for evidence of disability ? I find this a bit odd. There is certain things that annoy me now about this for example how anyone can buy a disabled toilet radar key, how sunflower lanyards ( I think ) are readily available for anyone so lose there authenticity I find.
now my daughter has a wheelchair - yes and has a physical medical device that is visible, however we still need to show evidence for things like blue badge / parking. Carers tickets / ride access at theme parks etc.
surely this is correct, I have never had an issue with needing to. If you took away the rights of companies or organisations being able to do this surely everything would just be abused ?

Take a photo of your blue badge then.

We carry a printed copy of ds we laminated and also have a photo on my phone.

I agree. Wholeheartedly. There are some people who won't, but most people will.

or then claim their baby is disabled 😒

Are you suggesting babies can’t be disabled?

Well, they're clearly wrong. As I am regularly asked for proof if I want to access disbaled specific services.

I can't get a BB despite getting enhanced rate ADP (Scotland) so if I want to prove disability I have to use my award letter, possibly diagnosis letters.

I keep a scan of them all in my notes app on my phone just in case I need them. I don't really have a problem showing the front page of the letter that shows I get ADP but I wouldn't want a random person having access to the rest of it because those details are personal.

I don’t know about the answers regarding having to send pip letters etc to get access cards and carers concessions maybe an easier way that the access card thing would be a card that was sent with the pip letters which was a basic card of picture and this person is entitled to pip/ DLA

@grandmaintraining

You may be entitled to a disabled bus pass (for free bus travel). You usually need 12 points in mobility to automatically get it, or for council discretionary assesment, a form completed by your GP.

the answer to the blue badge comment though is exactly you do show proof because you have to show prof when applying for a blue badge so that is your proof

I didn't show any proof to get my blue badge, I just had a conversation on the phone with a really nice lady who granted it to me then I sent my payment.

@EsmeSusanOgg they wasn’t saying it wasn’t happening they were debating whether it was correct that it did.

Another one saying I don't think asking for proof for radar keys is helpful.

Yes, it might prevent a few chancers who order a radar key on Amazon. But it would also prevent people like me, with IBS. Bad enough my work concluded it was a disability when they assessed me via occy health. Currently pretty well managed. Certainly not eligible for PIP or a blue badge or anything like it. But also sometimes it's not well managed, or it hits me while I'm out. And then I need a cubicle with a sink inside, and I need to use the loo urgently or I will end up shitting myself.

I guess we could come up with some form of bureaucracy where we come up with a form and then I go and have (another) GP appointment at my short staffed GP and then they send the form off to the council who then send me a radar key. But that would probably cost an absolute minimum of £50 per person to administer and that's probably massively underestimating is. So for a problem I don't think really exists (vast numbers of non disabled people buying and using radar keys) it seems like a massively excessive solution.

Most places accept your yearly update letter which I don’t think has all of your personal information on. I believe it only has your level of entitlement. That’s what I used when I went to Alton Towers.

@Augend23 i just think the radar keys are pointless and a mission !
my daughter will never be able to access one independently where as if there was no radar key she probably could …. The radar key is so readily available that removing the radar key might make it more accessible for Lots considering they readily available and anyone can buy one.

I always carry my eldest's PIP letter and younger 2's dla letters in my handbag at all times, it's just part of the standard kit we always take everywhere along with inhaler and spare hearing aid batteries. I'm absolutely fine with showing that to anyone official like a bus driver or someone on the admissions gate at a theme park.

However my middle son, despite being obviously autistic to anyone who speaks to him for longer than 10 minutes, has no proof of any disability at all. It's getting more and more difficult to manage and although I know there will be some people who abuse it and I hate that with a passion, I'm also very grateful to the attractions/facilities that offer help for disabled people with no proof required because it means that my child can do something that he might not have been able to do otherwise.

@elliejjtiny this is not a dig in anyway more of have your tried this.
you say that it’s obvious to anyone that speaks to him for more than 10 minutes does that include school and other services ?
you don’t need to have a diagnose to apply to DLA but school reports etc help and a letter from them that know him. Even letters from say a general paediatric doctor you have voiced your concerns to or GP. Access cards do not base it on DLA etc either but accept reports from others with or without diagnosis x

What?! We haven't even managed to apply for a blue badge yet (despite dc needing it) because the application is so complicated and the evidence they ask for is manifold! We certainly haven't been given the option of a chat with someone on the phone, send payment and bingo!!

I agree

I think it’s council dependent. That’s what happened with me too. Though at subsequent renewals, once I had to take my PIP letter and the second time (last year), I just had another phone call, said I still received PIP and that was it!

In my council you'd just take the letter with your diagnosis to the council offices and they'd issue you the radar key.

I’m the opposite, we have a blue badge for ds but I try and not use blue badge space if I can park elsewhere and there isn’t loads of disabled spaces as Ds doesn’t use a wheelchair so we don’t need a larger space

I’ve not been but apparently Disney in Florida you don’t have to show proof to get the ride access pass like you do at the theme parks here, in fact I heard it’s illegal for the parks to ask. Apparently how it works well is because impersonating a disabled person is a crime for which someone can be imprisoned so people tend not to

We don't either but my son has severe mental impairment,so if the blue badge p!aces are nearer the shop we use them or the parent and child places whatever r is safer for him watch mumsnet implode,though if you suggest you would use a parent and child place ! My son is nearly 13 but looks about nine so nobody questions it ,I'm not going to.put my child at risk though I need to.keep.him.safe .

Yup, so I have to get a GP to write a diagnosis letter (essentially the same as the point I made, because it still requires an appointment/the GPs time) and the council still has to employ a person who spends at least a portion of their time giving out radar keys. Still not actually a good use of public funds.

Or I could buy one for £2 on Amazon. (Or abolish the whole thing entirely as the OP suggests.)

We have these threads regularly. Always the same...

Every time I say we need to redesign the buses to make them more flexible for buggies and wheelchairs to fit more on. Good examples on the continent.

I agree with OP. Countless, COUNTLESS times I have witnessed disabled toilet's permanently left open in the last 12 months ( radar key no longer needed ) Trafford Centre/Cheshire Oaks/Shopping malls. When it's eventually my turn and the person using has come out 9/10 its a group of girls.
I went to a show and had to wait 15 minutes for the disabled loo. When the door finally opened, 4 friends, middle aged women/laughing/drinks in hand all left the loo together.
There was another at least 10 women behind me queuing because. the " normal " toilet's queue was too long.

I fully understand there are " invisible" disabilities, but get a RADAR KEY then, like I had too.
Don't start leaving all the disabled toilets unlocked, because THERE ARE hidden disabilities, because they are being abused.

People ARE abusing the system. A system originally designed to help disadvantaged/vulnerable & disabled people. A card, letter, badge, doesn't breach confidentiality, I'm happy to show anyone.

An 'invisible' disability shouldn't equal no medical evidence required

What ‘proof’ is there? I have multiple disabilities but I don’t have a certificate that says ‘I am disabled’?