To be annoyed that I get glared at for having a blue badge

[Sparklebelle1024]

I try not to let it bother me but I’m young ( 35) and I have a blue badge because I have a few health problems which put me into the category of disabled and entitle me to pip and a blue badge. I do work (only part time as that’s a struggle but I do it for my own mental health but I think even that might have to go soon but I’m trying to last as long as I can) and almost every time I pull my car into the disabled spaces I get dirty looks and “badge checked” by the older generation and it’s ALWAYS older people !! It’s like younger folk can’t have disabilities!! Yet I can literally go from being okayish one day to hospitalised the next (I have a very understanding manager) and my car is a lifeline. I do try to brush it off but today I had a run in with an older man and he asked to see the photo on my badge to prove it was mine, I obviously told him he’s not entitled to that information and it’s not an elderly badge it’s a disabled badge and I cried when I was driving home.
it’s not fair…. I’m sick of being judged because I’m not “old” and don’t “look disabled” whatever that should look like. I know it shouldn’t bother me but it really genuinely does. So AIBU to be annoyed at being judged by the older generation because I use a badge I’m legally entitled to??

So you’d just sit in your car unable to get out if you saw someone exit a car in a BB space and stride off?

Good for you, and your colleague. You obviously do realise, I presume, that we are all different? Your colleague is well within her rights to tell her private medical business to complete strangers, and others are well within their rights to ignore nosey, entitled people.

It’s harassment full stop !
And it’s judgemental!
lots of people do it !
I have a blue badge I look glamorous and I had a traffic warden hover over me whilst parking and his co worker ready to pounce !! When I’d parked I displayed my blue badge !
They then both left but whilst checking me out a guy parked on double yellow lines !!!
It’s very rude ! To be judged on what u look like or your age !

Not sure what the problem is. It’s literally a traffic warden’s job to check that parked cars have the right permits. He didn’t accuse or approach you.

Yes i understand this !
But would I have parked there if I didn’t have a badge in front of a traffic warden 🤣

I get glared at all the time.. i simply do not care! i have mobility issues and bowel/bladder problems which means i sometimes need to make a quick exit from the car which i need the car door open fully to do so and close to facilities if needed.

They would not hae given me the badge if when i applied they didn't think it necessary.

No I just see cowards, bullies, impatience, entitlement, and excuses.
I'm sorry your brother has to deal with being paraplegic but there isn't a hierarchy of disability for parking rights as he will know.
I'm not paraplegic but also in a wheelchair with a number of issues and like your brother simply can't leave my vehicle without a hatched space, and have to either queue or go home if I can't park, and may 'need' the space your brother or the OP or any other disabled person may be using.

My needs give me absolutely no right whatsoever to ask another disabled person with a blue badge displayed."if they are entitled to be there" because I need their space.
It makes no difference if they are fully quadriplegic, bagged and wired, or look young and without viable disability, or anywhere in-between. There is no entitlement to harass other people.

Well, he’s the traffic warden. No doubt he does his job using his experience of how people behave. He’s probably also on some sort of performance metric that says he has to check all occupied disabled spaces.

What are you on about? Clearly he has priority over someone who doesn’t have a blue badge, which is what I was talking about!

And there is no harassing. It’s a simple question “do you have a badge for that space?”

Wrong. The culprits, as you put it, are the ones who take it upon themselves to question, and make an outing, unpleasant, for the disabled person just trying to go about their business. Why do you think that is okay?

Can you show me where you said your brother is challenging people parking without a blue badge rather than whoever is parked in the space he wants?
Because it isn't what you have said, regardless of what you mean, and this thread and most of us here are talking about others challenging disabled people parking with our blue badges displayed, because of their perceptions of if we should be entitled to.

Yes. What is so hard to understand? Why would they not be able to "stride off"? Does that make them not disabled, because they could? As long as they have a BB, that is the end of the matter. If they did not have a BB, I personally would not challenge them either.

TBF parking wardens, BB enforcement and police are literally the one set of people who are entitled to be suspicious and demand to inspect your badge regardless of if you're oozing glamour or less wonderful things. 😂

We exit our car and “stride off” many times a day because it isn’t a “can’t stride off” badge.

My bil started wearing shorts due to all the abuse he was getting about his blue badge, you can't miss his prosthetic leg now!

Yes if they have a blue badge displayed.

I have high level needs, and that person with the same badge allowing them to park got there first and appears to be in much better shape than me. They may well be doing better than me, or may be silently dealing with a different set of struggles, or also may die soon still appearing to be doing better than me, because appearances can be deceiving, and yes it's also possible it just isn't their badge, but I'm not going to interfere with them to demand they prove themselves to me, because the chances are that it is their badge and I'm not going to be a dick on the off-chance it isn't.

You're probably a bit sensitive to it but the people "checking" are checking to see if you have a badge and are entitled to park. Once they see the badge they then don't bother you anymore.
You met one crank. But you could have encountered him elsewhere for any other reason he took issue with.

I think people who check that people parking in disabled bays are entitled to use them are not doing any harm. Although I'm not sure I'd confront someone NOT entitled to park there. Because someone who pulls into a very obvious blue badge space and doesn't have a blue badge aren't going to GAF if some old dear tells them they shouldn't park there.

If someone "checks" that you have a badge then you should simply smile at them. After all, they're looking out for people like you and ensuring those parking in the spaces are entitled to be there.

I can say what I like @CassandraWebb. It's not for you to police my language when my friend is happy with how I respond. Just like it's not for the busy bodies to police people with blue badges.

Try reading the thread again, if you did in the first place. Posters clearly state why it is a problem for people to take it upon themselves to be the BB police. Are they not getting through, and being heard?

I have two friends with blue badges.

One is a woman in her early 50s who looks just fine but can't actually walk unaided. You don't see it until she's taken more than 3 steps. She feels like you.

One is a man in his 30s who drives a white works van as he's a carpenter. He takes great delight in telling people to get fucked if they are arsey to him, but is polite back to polite enquiries. The moment he turns to the side in his seat to get out the van, they can see he's literally crippled. He has a benign tumour on his spine and it's a degenerative condition as it's inoperable but growing. He uses a mobility scooter for any walking further than our street.

People need to butt out.

Nah, not when it happens every day. Mind your own business. If there's a blue badge, that's enough for you as a MOP.

Patronising twaddle to tell people to smile and accept it gracefully.

Hi my friend is in High court and they have just offered her 15k to settle before the hearing. She is representing herself and we need to know how she refuses this and what would be a reasonable reply… think she is looking more for 100k +

You need to start a new thread, this is the wrong place for that question.

Yep, and when they see the blue badge they then mind their own business. Only 1 man has ever questioned her.

Unless everybody pulling into a blue badge space should have everyone around them avert their eyes? Members of the public checking that the car is actually displaying a blue badge is what keeps most people out of these spaces if nobody checked, nobody would care and anybody would just park where they liked.

Jeez, everyone is so aggressive these days. When smiling at someone is seen as a problem!!

It speaks volumes, as far as I am concerned, that the posters encouraging disabled people to be gracious, smiling, and grateful for the BB police crusaders, have no idea of the lingering effects that being challenged repeatedly can do to them. Posters have said how it can affect them so much, that they curtail going out, or may wear clothes that show their disability, so that they can go about unhindered by these people. How depressing. Who do they think they are?, and the posters on here defending these people, is frankly disturbing.