Woman shouted at me for parking in a disabled spot

[AusMumhere]

I parked in a disabled spot at the supermarket today. A woman about four cars away shouted at me and said 'that's a wheelie spot'. I shouted back 'I have a permit'. She then yelled 'where's ya walker?'. I said 'not all disabilities are visible'. I hate confrontation of any kind.
Should I have walked away or should I have responded? I'm still in shock that I shouted.

At my former workplace, we did allow customers to park in PnC spaces if the BB spaces were full. I don't remember any parent kicking up a fuss like that bitch.

During the first lockdown, we had to create a place for customers to queue to get into the store on the underground car park. The safest was to block the row which included PnC spaces. One customer did moan about it. I said to her - we only can have 50 customers in at once and the car park was only about a quarter full (half of these cars were staff's cars) at it was as over the week, on average about 60% customers walked it or parked at another council car park.

You’d think, wouldn’t you, that we were all a bit better educated than this self-important twat (the woman, not you op!) and that the “not all disabilities are visible” message would have got through. But, I guess, you can’t educate mince.

maybe you should have shouted cheerily, “it’s ok, I’m blind!” as you got out of the drivers seat. Let her try and compute that!

You HAVE to display your Blue Badge on your dashboard to use a disabled parking space. No one has to demand to see it. If you do not display it, you can not use the space.

I know, but you get arseholes still asking to see the badge to make sure it belongs to the person etc. It is none of their business.

I remember that, and he was still arguing he was right in interview

My mum had a blue badge, no obvious disabilities but she had early onset dementia
Meant closer spaces and dad not having to try and get her across traffic etc

Parent and child spaces aren’t protected by law, so technically anyone can park in them. I’ve only ever done it on the few occasions when I can’t find a disabled space to get the wheelchair out, because l can appreciate that parents have the same difficulty with prams and baby paraphernalia as I have with the chair. But it’s amazing how many people don’t realise that P&C spaces are only a concession, unlike disabled spaces which are legally enforceable.

I often have people challenge me when I park in a blue badge space (with a badge displayed). I’m in my early twenties and they (so far) have all been fairly old. The best/worst I’ve heard ‘stop stealing your gran’s badge’ and ‘you’re too young to park there it’s for us older folk who need it’. They generally go quiet when I pull my wheelchair out of the boot and sit in it or start my rather drunk looking walking with crutches and an AFO.

Well, they are wrong anyway. It is for people who are disabled and have a BB, not older people.

You’d be surprised how many members of the public have challenged me and demanded to see and handle the badge, which they are not entitled to do. The reverse contains personal details and you only have to surrender it on request to police/parking official. Neither are they entitled to ask what your disability is, but they do. I think the problem arises because people think the badge should be on display permanently in the car and when they see people driving into a disabled space without one on display they get ahead of themselves. The advice on blue badges is not to leave them long term in the car. Mine lives in my handbag and is only displayed when I need to park in a disabled concession or where permitted on the road.

I'm missing a big chunk of leg post accident, my patella was stood on by a 650kg horse, then she slid down my leg, slicing it off for some distance. Normally and especially since I've lost a lot of weight, I'm better, but walking on pavements and going at any speed above a gentle stroll immediately makes me extremely lame. At my worst, I'm on crutches, other days I appear to walk normally (or so I thought, my DH tells me I walk incredibly badly) so yes, good and bad days and I can fake it reasonably well over a very short distance. Obviously some blue badge holders don't have 'good' days.

The reasonable answer to this is to point out that old doesn’t mean disabled. A better one is to give them the middle finger and walk wheel away !!

@AusMumhere

Another possible response for you to store in your toolbox for future use might be:

"Trunky want a bun?"

😉

I think for many disabled people a ‘good’ day doesn’t necessarily mean you don’t need to use a disabled space though. If the disability is permanent, there’s a limit to how ‘good’ it gets. Hence the need for the badge.

Can't remember if it was my DH who dealt with it or I read it on here about a disabled woman driving a Porsche and somebody claiming she couldn't possibly be disabled. There was almost a punch up!

When issuing blue badges, they need to also send a list of scathing retorts for recipients to use when idiots abuse disabled drivers.

It blows my mind that people are essentially envying a disability.

For sure, my issue will likely never resolve. One of the original issues was being unable to get in/out of the car without fully opening the door (knee just wouldn't co-operate) which is surprisingly difficult in some car parks. I could park at a far end, but sometimes, there just isn't space.

I have a blue badge, use a walker, but not a wheelchair; I can walk for a few steps, enough to retrieve my walker from the back of the car.
I drive an ordinary car, not a specially adapted vehicle.
If this self-appointed blue badge monitor had seen me getting out of my car, from her vantage point four cars away, I guess her perception would have been that I was an able-bodied person parking an ordinary car, but I was awarded the badge after serious investigations and medical evidence. If she came close enough to berate you, she was close enough to see the badge.
She needs to become better-informed, and not to jump to conclusions.

They don't envy the disability, that they won't necessarily have a clue as to what it is. They either want the space for themselves, or believe that they are doing a good thing by calling people out, who they feel should not be parking there. Either way, nobody is required to explain themselves, or give these people the time of day.

We were told that there is no laws about PnC spaces as they are optional. Anyway, you hardly see PnC spaces in council or private car parks. Only ones to shops, leisure parks etc.

Think elderly are jealous that they don't have a BB. If that was the case, 1 in 6 people would have one!

@SaltyPig I've told people to fuck off too, and it's almost always been pensioners. I am now in my 60s, but have years of experience of twats and disabled parking spaces, it was certainly worse when I was younger. See also disabled toilets.

@Rosscameasdoody I've used similar, but substituted "cunt" for twat. I have very little patience with these people.

No they are just likely to be carers or have been carers for elderly people with a Blue Badge and struggled to get a space, because they are filled with people who do not have a Blue Badge.

OP: I have a blue badge

Lots of annoying posters: do you have a blue badge?

Why should she? These people need telling. What's so terrible about a 'public spectacle'?