To be utterly, utterly appalled by Nimbus/Access card registration?

[JelliedFish]

Personal information about my child’s disability is sensitive. I’ve already shared documents/proof with DLA.

In order to register for an Access card, I need to share details again. Photographic copies of doctors letters etc are requested.

Surely the government DLA/Carers allowance letter is sufficient proof already?

Then we come to the +1. This is very ambiguously worded, but it seems that different venues have different criteria as to what counts as a ‘+1’. Meaning that some venues acknowledge you as a carer, and others don’t. Therefore some give you free entry as a carer, and others don’t offer this as they have specific wording to ‘wriggle out’ of acknowledging your role as a carer.

But my biggest problem is that they try and persuade you to pay £15 to register with them!

So surely, they are making a business out of people with disabilities?? Why do you need to ‘prove’ your disability again for their business?

This just seems so wrong to me!!

My experience is the opposite, many people who go to (eg gigs, art events, think the most recent Van Gogh interactive exhibition, cinema. some leisure centres), are all aware of the concessions. I can't imagine anyone not even asking beforehand.

It's fair to say that people need to be proactive and find out for themselves.

I'm disabled myself and haven't previously applied for a nimbus card, although have had the free one at Merlin attractions. Theatres have just taken my word that I'm disabled. Really this leaves the system open to abuse, because anyone could have just said it.

Contrary to what the OP intended when starting this thread, I'm now thinking about applying for a nimbus card, to save having to keep taking medical letters to places like Merlin attractions.

I might be naïve, but I don't worry about them having letters that say whether I have Motor Neurone disease or Multiple Sclerosis or whatever else it is that means that I need to use a wheelchair and need someone to push it. They're not really going to be able to misuse this information, are they?

I bought a radar key to enable me to access accessible toilets, but didn't have to prove my disability. This means that this too is open to abuse. Anyone could buy a key.

It is a business, OP. As are those that offer medical alert ID bracelets and cards. By their very nature, yes, they are making money out of their target audience.

My experience has been that venues make their own rules about carers. Some will allow a carer free entry, some discounted entry and some nothing at all. Some will apply common sense in certain situations (eg. I have a young child in a manual wheelchair - it's obvious he needs a carer to push him in it) and others will apologetically say, I can see your DS needs help, but our company has a policy of only giving free/discounted carers to those who produce 'x' (and the evidence can differ at different venues).

Whilst I too resented having to pay for 'proof' of my child's disabilities, it has made entry to venues quicker and easier, and I don't have to worry about taking multiple forms of proof (like DLA letter, bank statement to prove address etc) out every time we go anywhere.

I'm not sure what resolution you're looking for. There are alternatives to the Access card, though I don't know how widely they are recognised. It would be great if the UK had national disability cards like some other countries, or like the new EU disability card, but we don't. My local authority doesn't offer any sort of official recognition for carers. They referred me to the local voluntary Carer's association who sent me a letter confirming I was a carer, but that has abolutely no value.

If you're upset at having shared personal information, ask for it to be removed and don't use the card. Check venues in advance and take other accepted forms of proof, or don't and pay full entry.

ico.org.uk/for-the-public/your-right-to-get-your-data-deleted/

The system makes me feel uncomfortable. I can get the need for something more when it comes to things like ride access passes as that undoubtedly got out of hand in the past.

however when places offer free carers access I do think that proof of DLA/PIP should be enough as to get those it has already been proven someone has care needs sufficient to be awarded or depending on award be eligible to have someone claim carers allowance.

my biggest concern is things like this put yet more hurdles in the way of people with disabilities being able to access things.

The alternative is to take proof of disability (e.g. PIP or DLA letter) with you to each venue you visit, and share your 'very personal data' with whoever is on the till/door at that venue on the day.

If you prefer to do that you can, and if others prefer to send the letter to Nimbus, get a card which lasts 3 years for £15, and then not share their info with each venue, they can do that. Either way it's the same info being shared either to one company, or to each company whose attraction you go to. You can take either option.

But it isn’t!!!

Have you actually done this as you don’t seem across this.

X brings a DLA letter (or phone proof) to a venue which illustrates they have a disability and doesn’t go into details. Person on door grants reasonable adjustments.

v

Y has to send pages and pages of diagnostic letters, a letter from the GP, a child’s EHCP etc off to some company in Derbyshire. This company then grant a card so that person on door will grant reasonable adjustments.

It isn’t remotely the same.

My point is that I don’t think there is widespread exploitation. Most people who are eligible don’t even have the foggiest notion of availability

I have never had anyone at a venue take more than a quick glance at the DLA letter. It’s not comparable to sending off all the information nimbus require.

when Ds is on his feed and/or in his wheelchair most places we go don’t even want to see the letter because at those times it is obvious he has care needs above his peers.

It's personally been a life saver for my daughter. She adores theme parks but struggled with queues due to her hip issue. Now she can go and not queue. We also use it for comic cons. It's £15 for 3 years. The best £15 we have ever spent.

Nimbus you just need DLA and fill on a form saying how it affects you and ideally a diagnosis letter or doctor letter.

It isn't actually excessive.

And we far rather it to showing Joe blogs at theme parks any personal information. Just a card has allowed my teenager to feel less stignatised too as she can just show it.

My daughter will also be using it for Disneyland Paris next year.

Me too.

Bring evidence > drive to place when everyone is in good form and feeling okay > quick glance and reasonable adjustments are implemented

has turned into:

Send copious letters and evidence off to some faceless entity in Derbyshire some weeks or Months in advance > Have them decide and ask for more information > Wait > Pay £15 > get a letter from a GP > wonder who the eff works there and what they are going to do or how securely they will store data > Receive card > drive to place > whatever reasonable adjustments a third party of non experts has decided that we need are implemented.

They are absolutely brilliant.

You show evidence once as a one off of dla and/or doctors letter and fill in a form.

Then just have to show the card for 3 years. It's brilliant.

Apologies for not being clear. The exploitation isn't by people who are eligible, it's by those who aren't.

We'll have to disagree about eligible people not knowing about concessions, as I said my experiences are totally different from yours.

I have done it yes, for the Merlin RAP. I sent child DLA, that's all, they didn't ask for anything else.

You are free not to do it and others are free to find it useful and do it. It's not compulsory but it being on offer isn't hurting anyone who doesn't want to do it, it's personal choice.

Exactly. The complaints seem to be that venues won't let parents in for free, even when the child has disabilities. As people have said over and over, ALL parents of children at theme parks, etc, are there as carers for their children. For once, you're in much the same boat as the parent standing next to you. Their child can't access the rides without them, either. So yours needing you there is not an additional need.

These things aren't reward schemes for having a disability or being a carer. They provide information on mandatory adjustments, is all.

There is a massive difference between being on a day out with a child with disabilities to being out with a child without though. It’s not about the child needing supervision but about spending your whole day being there as a carer rather than a parent which is horrible.

you may be spending your whole day watching out for signs of meltdown, or a medical crisis. Ready to leave at any time.

you may be watching feeding pumps and oxygen all day. you may be doing suction.

you may be clock watching for the next medication.

what you aren’t doing is relaxing and enjoying the day!

You've just told me everything I need to know about how much experience you have of having a child with additional needs.

This !! A millions times over !! A day out as a parent carer for a child with disabilities is not at all the same as it is for a parent of a child without any additional needs or medical needs !! I’d love to see the parent standing next to me in a queue to try and cope with everything I have to do on a day out with DD and her complex medical needs !!

Exactly. Those without experience don’t understand the issues involved in just getting out the front door let alone the day itself.

I am very sorry for writing that the way I did. Without going into whether the other parents would agree on "a relaxing day out", I shouldn't have tried to elaborate on what is a very simple point.

The point is that, where all children must be with a responsible adult, one child's need to be with a responsible adult is not an extra need.

However you word it it is very different when you are out with a child without disabilities.

it was only when I took DN (9 months older than DS) out for a day a few years ago I really appreciated the difference when taking out a child without disabilities.

All parents are carers. I have a disabled child and 2 without. If I was taking my non disabled children out I would need to pay entry fee. There is no additional expense to me taking my disbaled child to the same venue and paying for myself.
On the other hand an adult without a disability could go to a venue alone, some disabled adults can't access it without a carer. There is an extra expense there as it is usually on the disabled adult to pay for their carer to attend.
Great if some places are allowing you free entry as a carer but it is completely understandable that some places won't allow this as all parents will need to pay for themselves and their child/children regardless of the child's needs.

Thank you for apologising. I'm not sure we're going to get to a point where you realise the difference it makes when a child is disabled. I couldn't even take my baby to be weighed when DD1 was small. She couldn't walk, but she would crawl away as soon as I was trying to undress the baby (no buggies allowed in the centre). I couldn't go anywhere with her and my other children (before people say, she wasn't diagnosed with SEN until I had 3 children). It was so bad that Social Services provided carers as an 'extra pair of hands' in the afternoons, a few times per week, to bridge the gap between (special) school's end and when my husband came home.

We had to use a specialised harness, or a special needs buggy, if we were taking DD1 out. We had to have an adult assigned just to her, because of safety needs. She's 18 now and still needs 1:1 support in college.

She absolutely needed a +1 as a child - it wasn't just parenting. It was full on moment by moment supervision. She still can't be left alone at home, or go out of the house without another person now.

It's nothing like 'parenting'. It really isn't.