To think there is not enough disabled bays for how many badge users there are

[thecherryfox]

I have been disabled my entire life, as a kid and even as a teenager getting access to a disabled space was a lot easier than it is now. I believe now with the intake of how many people can access a badge with many different conditions - the amount of disabled bays have stayed the same but the influx of badge holders have risen.

Between 2021-2022 there was a 25% increase in blue badge holders from the previous year, but there wasn’t a 25% increase in disabled parking spaces. It’s rising each year, but there is no increase in parking spaces.

I’m physically disabled and the difference between me not getting a close space often means I cannot physically go. I know people with ‘hidden’ disabilities like bowel diseases would feel the same about accessing a close space. I’m truly not blaming individuals for getting badges because if they at eligible they are entitled to one - but it’s within the government to know that an increase of blue badge holders should mean an increase of spaces for people to access.

@ThePineappleSeahorse It's not about what is more "valid", it's about some things only applying if you use a wheelchair. The problem is that while it is important to raise awareness about invisible disabilities, the (positive and necessary!) efforts to do that have unfortunately made things actually more difficult for wheelchair users. It's not our fault we have unfixable and intractable problems. We don't deserve to suffer MORE just because the issues are visible. Often we get treated as if being visibly disabled is a more privileged position, but that is a very simplistic viewpoint, and not actually true. (And I also have experience of being invisibly disabled, so I am not speaking from ignorance of that perspective either.)

So drop her off near the entrance then park

When people in wheelchairs can’t use disabled spaces as they’re all taken that’s not on. Every man and his dog seems to have them nowadays

In our muddle headed law there are two main types of disabled parking, Advisory Disabled Parking Bays which are marked with white lines and the word "disabled" painted on the road. They are often outside someone's home for convenient access. Although they're supposed to be used by Blue Badge holders, advisory bays are not legally enforceable, meaning that ordinary motorists parking in these spaces can't be fined. But it's expected that other motorists will respect these bays and avoid parking in them if they do not have a Blue Badge. Like that's going to happen.
Compulsory Disabled Parking Bays: in public areas are legally enforceable. They are marked with white lines, the word "disabled," and have a sign saying Blue Badge holders only. Only vehicles displaying a valid Blue Badge are permitted to park in these bays. They can be fined if they don't have a Blue Badge . Also, councils might have rules on how these parking bays are enforced. Making things worse about 20 percent of the badges displayed are either fake or stoken.

@WeylandYutani Many people who are pushed in a wheelchair need to be as near the shop as possible.

Well said! The best I've had is when I have DD with me and the P&C spaces are full so I use a BB space which I can as I have a badge, struggle to get her pram out the boot and be met with an old windbag who accuses me of misusing the space then my badge! Put her gas at a peep when I locked her dead in the eyes and said DD has caused my disability even though that's really none of your business (in my head I also said as I limped away I hope your next 💩 is a hedgehog 🦔) my god a youngish woman with a child who is disabled 😮 if she had caught me on a really bad day I would've just got in the car and gone home as I'm sick of the judgement 💖

Thing is varied types of BB don’t work because who polices it.

Oh you need to be near a toilet vs you need wider door openings.

It relies on people being sensible and considerate mostly. Some BB holders only need to use them during a flare up, it’s trusting them to not just abuse their own badge when not in a flare up, just as parents with children with a BB using it without them.

Again in a way if the driver isn’t a BB holder and the BB holder is an adult I don’t see why they couldn’t be dropped off at the drop off, car parked in a normal bay and then meet up either.

So drop her off near the entrance then park

She’s been dead for 12 years so that might be a tad difficult and inappropriate.

And again accessible spaces are not solely for wheelchair users. Other valid disabilities exist.

She did use a wheelchair sometimes too but sometimes she liked to try to walk(until she couldn’t go out without an oxygen tank)Regardless of her chosen mode of transport her blue badge was valid and not for people like you who know feck all about people’s personal circumstances and medical history, to dictate the use of.

Yes, they do all go the same way. People in wheelchairs or unable to walk at all are not the only 'worthy' people.

I'm 53 and have Autism, ADHD, Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and Osteoarthritis. I can walk a short way, but it's crippling. I can suffer a dislocation of my joints at any time, however, and then I'm fucked.

My mother has bowel cancer. She has a colostomy bag. She's not left the house in four years apart from medical appointments. If her bag goes into overdrive whilst at an appointment, then she will literally have shit pouring out of her stoma. She becomes very distressed when this happens and it wouldn't be nice to have her walking across a full car park with that on show. It's made her a shadow of her former sense. I've never applied for a BB for her because I have one myself which I can use for both our benefit. She does have a radar key, and would also be entitled to a BB in her own right.

My 13 year old DD has EDS, Autism, ADHD, Pernicious Anaemia, Hypothyroiditis and severe anxiety. When she has a meltdown (this happens a lot during medical appointments as she's subjected to all sorts of horrible procedures due to multiple other medical conditions) I can't just leave her as she would likely run into the road and be run over. As it happens, again, because I am a BB holder myself, I've never applied for one for her, but, like my Mum, she would be entitled to one herself as she receives the required level of DLA.

I wouldn't wish any of these conditions or ailments on anyone. They are restricting, upsetting, and worse still - as evidenced here - extremely misunderstood. It's totally crap when your life is turned upside down and doubly worse when people judge you and deem you 'unworthy'

Due to the combination of all of the above, we attend our local hospital around two to three times a week. It causes no end of anxious feelings as the car park is busy, and I arrive an hour before appointments just to make sure I can get a BB space as theres often a queue. I've had panic attacks and been in tears on numerous occasions before I got my BB. Ive also sat for hours in the passenger seat prior to having my BB as I used to get regularly blocked in on the drivers side in regular spaces. It's a shit way to live tbh, and nobody I know personally gets it. Almost everyone judges without a clue what my life involves.

@RainbowZebraWarrior It's you choosing to make it about who is "worthy". You are literally describing how people have different and complex sets of needs, which are not being structurally met. Take the silly validity language out of the picture, it isn't actually relevant or part of a strong argument in any direction. Look at who has real needs (which, yes, includes different groups and is complex), but there is no need to pretend they are all the same.

It's nothing to do with what is "valid" as a disability. All disabilities are valid if you're invested in that terminology, but some are more disabling or more relevant than others in particular situations. It does no one any favours to be dishonest about this. People in wheelchairs deserve to be allowed a sincere conversation about our needs too, and this validity discourse adds nothing.

You have so much going on, that you have to cope with@RainbowZebraWarrior . It just goes to show that people should not judge on appearances alone. Disabled people should be supporting each other, as another poster said earlier in the thread, not tearing each other down, over who deserves xyz more.💐

I’d find a blue badge really useful particularly at work - the parking spaces are limited and so they’re hard to book and you’re encouraged to walk or cycle or get the bus etc, there are blue badge spaces that are always free though.

My PIP assessment decided I can walk 50metres before becoming unwell, this isn’t enough to walk from my desk to the bus stop. In many supermarkets it’s not enough to walk from the nearest free space to the entrance, let alone then walking round the shop. But, 50metres is too far to be eligible for a blue badge, it would need to be less than 20 metres that I could walk to get the 8 points on PIP to get the blue badge.

The number of people I see with blue badges though does sometimes make me wonder if I should just have a go at applying anyway. I wouldn’t use it except when I really needed to or when there were plenty of free blue badge spaces like at work.

@PotatoFan if you wouldn't use it the rest of the time and detrimentally affect people who need it more then honestly, why not? Loads of people actually misuse them and cause genuine harm, and you wouldn't be. It's ridiculous that you don't have one given you do have real need.

Pretty sure I’d be declined given I genuinely can walk 50m without being ill at least half the time and cut off for blue badge is 20m, but am pretty close to just putting the application in to check for sure if it would be a no.

Gosh, aren't you all lucky to live in these miraculous places where there are always multiple empty disabled spaces? They're like rocking horse shit where I live.

I have the added bonus of being a wheelchair user, so if I can't park in a space big enough to lower my ramp, I have to leave. I've missed healthcare appointments, medication collections, gone hungry, and soiled myself, all on multiple occasions, because I can't park. It's joyous.

Maybe so, but the person I was responding to was of the "they don't look disabled" mindset about people who have BB.

@JubileeJuice but we are so lucky because our disabilities are visible!

Well obviously people who use wheelchairs should be allowed a say but I don’t think an appropriate solution is to say that other disabled people don’t deserve accommodations because you think that your need is greater. You really have no idea what people are struggling with. Their disabilities can be just as complex and real even if they can’t be seen. My pain and nerve damage was just as severe when no one could see it. It’s only because a body part is being affected by a different problem that its becoming visible.

And I’m likely to have to use a wheelchair in time. I’m about to try to find an appropriate walking aid of sorts which is going to be tricky as I can’t hold objects, carry or extend my arms for any length of time due to nerve damage there too so while it’s an option I may decide to go without my aid on some days even though I’m struggling because of the severe pain that results from using a tool/aid for any length of time but I’m no less disabled on the days I choose to go without. I’m just deciding between putting up with additional leg and back pain and weakness or even more severe arm and hand pain and weakness.

Well, exactly. I had invisible disabilities before they became visible, and although not being able to find a BB space was inconvenient and painful, I was still able to leave my vehicle and do what I needed to do.

DH has a BB for an invisible disability and if there are no BB spaces, he just parks in a standard space, because he can. I can't.

I've found in recent years that many other disabled people who aren't wheelchair users are really scornful of those of us who need wheelchairs. It never used to be like this.

And I do not have a blue badge yet, just a bus pass though I could probably apply now. I’m holding off but I won’t feel one bit bad about getting one if I’m accepted.

I’m dreading the process when the time comes though.

You have 12 hospital appointments a month ?

Might be location dependant as lots of disability spaces near us. That's never been a problem. For the person asking why you can drive with a blue badge...my parents don't drive but my sister and I take them out and use their blue badge when they getting out of the car. The worse thing I found was disabled spaces on a hill .. getting the wheelchair out, I helped mum out of the car to turn around to find said wheelchair moving away with breaks still on... luckily the number of members of public that help is amazing. And don't get me on disabled toilets which have two steps down to them ....

That's not many....dad was three or four times at week during his cancer treatment...and if on diagnosis it's every other day

Same here. Rammed car parks but lots of empty disabled spaces.

Yes. I have specialist physio once a week (it used to be three times a week - movement medicine) for my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome. DD has multiple medical conditions, so sees Paeditrician, OT, Physio, Orthopaedics, Podiatrist, and other therapies regularly and I take my Mum for cancer related appointments. It used to be 18+ appointments a month which was why I was making my point. Thankfully, we are only 5 minutes from our hospital, but we 'joke' that we live there.