Filling in blue badge form for anxiety question help

[granadagirl]

Hi
As mentioned I’m filling in my form on council website
The question are not really clear (to me) what there asking
Anyone able to help
So
What measures are currently taken to try to improve journeys for you between a vehicle and your destination
Enter description of measures taken to try to improve journeys ?
I’m not asking what to put, just what exactly they mean by it
Thanks

If there are any other reasonable steps you can take to manage your anxiety that will enable you to park without needing a badge then you should use them eg go shopping at less busy times, use CBT techniques that you use to manage anxiety in other situations. This will save the spaces for people who have no other means than parking with a Blue Badge of getting out or getting out with the people they care for. But if you have really, severe, disabling anxiety describe in your own words what happens to you when you're out and the impact on you.

I’m not sure a blue badge will help you tbh. This is coming from someone with a mental illness. You’ll get abuse every time you use it because you don’t look disabled.
When someone has a physical disability or have autism then people can ‘see’ the disability.
I’m not saying it’s right because it isn’t but you suffer with anxiety then I think could potentially make it worse.
Just answer the form honestly and how it affects you making journeys and how a badge would relieve it. Hugs

@seekingwaxwings

I have MS and can't walk unaided, and I have a blue badge. I still struggle to park near when I want to go because there aren't enough disabled spaces. I can't see this getting any better if able bodied people with anxiety can apply for badges now.

I am in a similar boat (can’t walk without mobility aids, can’t walk far with them, mostly use wheelchair).

I actually wish they’d make two types of blue badge and two types of disabled car parking space to accommodate the new rules; half with extra cross hatched space around for those with restricted mobility, and the other half normal sized spaces designated “disabled”.

The very least they should do is double the number of spaces to ensure there are enough to accommodate the new influx of blue badge holders.

It is noticeable that recently I am circling car parks a lot more waiting for a designated space to become free.

Do people not realise the criteria for eligibility has changed, some off comments on here!

Is anxiety a disability? I'm not asking if it's disabling, but is it classed as a disability in law (equalities act, protected characteristic type thing)?

@CommunistLegoBloc

Is anxiety a disability? I'm not asking if it's disabling, but is it classed as a disability in law (equalities act, protected characteristic type thing)?

It can be.

I have eupd and severe anxiety. I have come out of a supermarket crying, shaking and feeling like I'm going to pass out. I am going to apply for this so that I am able to get in the car as quickly as possible. I also walk with a stick for a physical issue. Anxiety can have a massive impact upon people's lives and for those with physical issues commenting negatively about blue badges for those with anxiety please realise that anxiety has many ways in which it affects a person and has physical affects.

Like many things anxiety is different for everyone. I have anxiety and wouldn’t need a blue badge to go out, other people who struggle to even get out of the front door due to their anxiety would undoubtedly benefit from having one. That’s why it is taken on a case by case basis.

My 10 year old has a blue badge, he looks “normal” we often don’t need to take his wheelchair out with us but having access to the disabled spaces makes life so much easier and makes some trips possible that would be impossible otherwise

@AnnaSW1

Do people not realise the criteria for eligibility has changed, some off comments on here!

I think the problem is the rule change has been implemented badly and caused issues for wheelchair users.

I’m sure you can understand that if you think for a moment.

For many being old brings with it the unfortunate bearded of not being able to walk more than 64 feet and then you can apply for a blue badge

But that doesn’t trump others or visa versa

There isn’t a disability trump card

ArriettyJones

Where is your evidence of this?

@Mehmen

I’m not sure a blue badge will help you tbh. This is coming from someone with a mental illness. You’ll get abuse every time you use it because you don’t look disabled. When someone has a physical disability or have autism then people can ‘see’ the disability. I’m not saying it’s right because it isn’t but you suffer with anxiety then I think could potentially make it worse. Just answer the form honestly and how it affects you making journeys and how a badge would relieve it. Hugs

you can't see autism!

Oh and eupd is classed as a serious and complex mental illness. Anxiety is often part of a diagnosis. Also your brain is part of your body. Without your brain you could not live therefore technically a mental illness is a physical issue.

@ivykaty44

For many being old brings with it the unfortunate bearded of not being able to walk more than 64 feet and then you can apply for a blue badge

But that doesn’t trump others or visa versa

There isn’t a disability trump card

Okay, so you’re throwing the “old” under the bus, but will you let those of us who are under 45 but are obliged to use wheelchairs to make a calm and maths-based point about the effect the new rules have had on our ability to get around @ivykaty44 There haven’t been many extra disabled bays painted. So people whose disability is anxiety are using the parking spots that wheelchair users and those with other physical disabilities used to use.

It’s not a question of “top trumps” it’s a shortage that’s been created by poor policy implementation. ?

@ivykaty44

ArriettyJones

Where is your evidence of this?

Where is my evidence of what?

You are the poster who has just randomly decided that those of us with mobility impairment must be “old” people.

I doubt I’ve said anything so random or daft.

There was a thread a few weeks ago about how terribly someone’s daughter had been abused for using a disabled bathroom with her non-visible disability. People wondered who would be insensitive enough to do something like that. This thread shows there is a lot more education to do on disabilities not always being visible. This type of demand on disability being visible causes so much anxiety and stress for vulnerable people.

OP, I wish you the best for your application.

Without your brain you could not live therefore technically a mental illness is a physical issue.

Um. This is not logical reasoning.

I think you're actually undermining your own agenda here. Mental illness should be taken as seriously as physical illness, but it is a distinct category. As it needs to be. To conflate the two is to do mental illness, its treatment, and people who have it, a disservice.

@fantasmasgoria1

I have eupd and severe anxiety. I have come out of a supermarket crying, shaking and feeling like I'm going to pass out. I am going to apply for this so that I am able to get in the car as quickly as possible. I also walk with a stick for a physical issue. Anxiety can have a massive impact upon people's lives and for those with physical issues commenting negatively about blue badges for those with anxiety please realise that anxiety has many ways in which it affects a person and has physical affects.

I’m sure personality disorders are very challenging, but they don’t actually effect physical locomotion do they?

So someone with a disordered personality or anxiety doesn’t actually need the wide band of yellow cross hatching that those of us with wheelchair hoists need, do you?

Hence my suggestion for two categories of disabled parking bay; if you have a blue badge due to MH you don’t need one of the larger spaces, so more spaces could be arranged in the same space, if a two category scheme was implemented.

Anyway I agree with @ArriettyJones that if the conditions that allow a BB are broadened (which is not what I'm debating) then there should be more spaces. Rather than adding a load of people to the roster and putting pressure on the already lacking existing spaces. It's not the fault of people with any type of disability, rather the policy makers' shortsightedness.

As I severe anxiety sufferer myself and someone who drives for a disabled lady, I personally would not apply for a badge for myself as you are more than likely to get lots of abuse when you park up and walk off, that would make my anxiety so much worse as I hate confrontation. I’ve parked up in disabled bays to pick up the lady I work for and have had abuse from people. Others don’t understand that disabilities aren’t just physical but good luck with it, hope you get it if it helps you, anxiety is life ruining.

Apparently, there were too few disabled spaces even before the change was implemented a year ago. Central government need to pressurise, incentivise and/or fund local government to do something.

www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/cars/article-7402741/There-30-Blue-Badge-holders-disabled-parking-bay-England.html

This is an awful thread. I do hope OP never comes back. What a nasty bunch.

I've never heard of someone wanting a blue badge for anxiety.

gotothecooler I think it shows that society has a long way to go before accepting that anxiety is a real health problem and that it hampers sufferers everyday live’s in ways that non-suffers can’t ever imagine.

I think you would need to state what are you doing at the moment, so an obvious answer would be park as close as you can do the building. Or you get home deliveries, or get a friend to assist. You would probably also then have to justify why you need a blue badge and why what your doing isn,t enough. So You can to always park close to the building, Not every where does deliveries, you don,t want to relly on others. (For example.)