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

No one has said anxiety doesnt have life crippling issues. But thats a bit irrelevent to whether you need a blue badge.

Those life crippling issues are why some people with anxiety qualify for a blue badge if they “cannot undertake a journey without it causing them very considerable psychological distress”.

@x2boys

It’s not top trumps at all, but if you read the post I was referring to, it was very much comparing the needs of an autistic person to the needs of a paraplegic. Both equally ‘entitled’ to a badge but both very different conditions with different needs.

Sorry but I think an autistic person (who by the sounds of it has someone with them to assist) is more likely to be able to complete their shopping trip without a disabled parking space than a paraplegic who has to just park at the back for more space and wheel themselves through the car park you can’t pretend that’s not ridiculously insensitive.

@x2boys

It wasn’t me starting the ‘who is more entitled argument’ I was simply defending the physically disabled who took a bit of an unfair beating in that post.

Fair enough but autism is a huge spectrum a lot of people with autism wont be entitled to a blue badge but in my chids case who also has severe learning disabilities he absolutely is and he is not less entitled than someone with physical disabilities.

Op the rules don't allow everybody with anxiety to have a blue badge, it's for when you can't leave the house alone or without severe psychological distress. Is yours that bad?

I have MS and struggle to find spaces and even when I do, I still get busybodies giving me grief over the validity of my badge because I'm capable of standing.

Trust me when I say, if you have Anxiety then a Blue Badge is definitely not going to help

@CurtainWitcher

You have done yourself no favours returning to the thread

I have two children with Asperger's (hfasd)- they are super cautious, and pretty well behaved, but there have been times when each of them have dashed out into the road when they've been spooked.
You can never tell how someone with ASD will react when they're stressed/anxious/surprised.

I'm entitled to a blue badge for 2 of my children, I only use one for my younger child who has a physical disability. I say use I rarely get the chance of a disabled space. I usually have to park elsewhere, squeezed in like a sardine struggling to get my7 yr old son out of my car into his wheelchair. Do I judge ppl I see strolling to and from the disabled bay ? Yes I bloody do.

I say use I rarely get the chance of a disabled space. I usually have to park elsewhere, squeezed in like a sardine struggling to get my7 yr old son out of my car into his wheelchair. Do I judge ppl I see strolling to and from the disabled bay ? Yes I bloody do.

Please stop. The issue here is lack of provision, not people with disabilities.

Do I judge ppl I see strolling to and from the disabled bay ? Yes I bloody do.

If they don’t have a blue badge or they’re using one fraudulently, fair enough to judge but you must know how hard it is to get one. Someone who has a badge for a hidden disability is no less entitled to use that badge than someone else with a disability that’s easy to see.

@ElevenSmiles

I'm entitled to a blue badge for 2 of my children, I only use one for my younger child who has a physical disability. I say use I rarely get the chance of a disabled space. I usually have to park elsewhere, squeezed in like a sardine struggling to get my7 yr old son out of my car into his wheelchair. Do I judge ppl I see strolling to and from the disabled bay ? Yes I bloody do.

See, TFL have introduced 'please offer me a seat' badges for exactly this reason. Although they don't make a world of difference, before it would have been nigh on impossible for a person with a hidden disability to request that someone offers them a seat. That's not because they don't need the seat though. If somebody with one of those badges approached you (travelling alone and not with a disabled person) and for all intents and purposes they seemed fine, it's not appropriate to get annoyed with them for requesting it. I can't see how that's any different than the blue badge. If you see somebody without one or using it fraudulently then of course it's natural to feel angry but if they have a badge, you really can't assume that their disability is less limiting than those of your children. It doesn't work that way and at some point even disabled spaces become 'first come first serve'.

@ArriettyJones the shortage existed before due to an ageing population - this is not hard to research. You just want to discriminate against some disabilities. Pathetic.

@ArriettyJones also your system / suggestion is fundamentally flawed. You can't put "mental health" and then "physical" into two categories. For example, my disabled father doesn't need a wheelchair or aid yet is severely disabled - he doesn't need the extra space to get out the car.

Mental health can cause physical symptoms- for me I can faint easily / black out, stumble. Some I know struggle to walk properly.

@roarfeckingroar I've never met or heard of someone with an aneurysm, does this mean they don't exist?

I think it's absolutely ludicrous if people can get a blue badge for anxiety. I know somebody who absolutely struggles to walk and is in pain but got turned down for a blue badge.

@Viviennemary but then where do you draw the line at how disabled a person has to be? I'm asking genuinely. If a person with COPD gets out of breath quickly and requires a blue badge, would you expect that they'd be refused one because it's not as bad as your friend's disability? Can't the decision be left to the people who issue the badges without everybody's outrage and opinions getting in the way? I'm pretty confident they wouldn't award a badge for anxiety unless the deemed it to be absolutely necessary. Do you not think that's the case?

Dd gets a badge for asd, seizures and generalised anxiety but we don't claim it because she can walk and we don't need a larger space. (She does claim the bus pass because she's forbidden from driving)

[quote Pumpertrumper]@x2boys

It’s not top trumps at all, but if you read the post I was referring to, it was very much comparing the needs of an autistic person to the needs of a paraplegic. Both equally ‘entitled’ to a badge but both very different conditions with different needs.

Sorry but I think an autistic person (who by the sounds of it has someone with them to assist) is more likely to be able to complete their shopping trip without a disabled parking space than a paraplegic who has to just park at the back for more space and wheel themselves through the car park you can’t pretend that’s not ridiculously insensitive.[/quote]
Actually, if you read my post properly it isn't comparing the needs of a paraplegic to an autistic person at all
I said they both had an equal entitlement to a blue badge.
But the autistic person is judged far more because they are 'able-bodied'.
I said that it could be said that a person in a wheel-chair could be wheeled through the car park as a sarcastic comment if it is just space that is needed - park away from other cars.
But in reality that is not what should happen.
Nor should it happen that people with disabilities that are not physical be treated as in any lesser need.
The attitude to those with invisible disabilities on this thread is disgusting.

I have MS and struggle to find spaces and even when I do, I still get busybodies giving me grief over the validity of my badge because I'm capable of standing. Trust me when I say, if you have Anxiety then a Blue Badge is definitely not going to help*

This would be my concern. As you see here, people often feel entitled to question someone with a hidden disability on their use of disabled facilities, and it could easily make anxiety far worse.
My DH has a disability that's not hidden but not immediately visible and I've been shocked at the amount of hassle he has been given when using disabled toilets, or asking for a seat on the bus - often from passers by but sometimes from other people with disabilities who feel that they need help more. Op may well be less liable to stress if using a regular space.

I have now read the whole thread and am sorry I posted anything. I understood blue badges were for people with severe mobility problems. I wasn't aware of the new regulations.

I know somebody who absolutely struggles to walk and is in pain but got turned down for a blue badge

Then they need to appeal or submit a new application.

It's the same for any disability, the person who needs the Blue Badge or their appointee needs to provide medical evidence and also explain the effect of the symptoms of the person's medical condition(s) and effectively communicate how having a Blue Badge could make a vast difference to that person's daily life, e.g. it would enable them to safely access places they would not otherwise be able to visit/attend.

Blue Badges are not granted for a list of medical conditions, they are given because of the disabling effect those medical conditions have on that particular person.

I have MS too. Use a wheelchair, my anxiety is WAY more debilitating than MS.

Yes MS is shit but you just have to wheel yourself across a car park.. anxiety is a different game, its a killer and games changer. There was a time in my life I didn't leave my house, it wasn't MS it was fucking anxiety

@Viviennemary my son didn't get his blue badge under the new rules he got it automatically as he gets High rate mobility DLA under Severe mental impairment rules I don't care what anyone thinks ,I will damn well use a disabled space if available if anyone wants I question me than I challenge them to safely navigate a packed car park with a child who has absolutely no awareness of danger .