Blue Badges for Temporary Disabilities

[Petitionforchange]

I dislocated my knee badly in November and I’m still on crutches and struggling with mobility. I feel strongly that a temporary ‘blue badge’ for parking could make a huge difference to me and many like me.
My idea is that this could be issued immediately by a doctor or consultant and stamped to last for a certain period of time. All patients with a short term mobility issue would be eligible. The suggestion is that the badge would be a different colour, perhaps purple, to denote it as temporary. It wouldn’t allow free parking but would allow the user to park in wider disabled bays.
if you’ve ever been on crutches, I’m sure you’ll appreciate what a difference this could make. Please sign my petition: https://c.org/VDfSWnj8hT

Exactly @@AppleKatie

I agree it would be a good. A temporary blue badge that would last for a set period of time, ie, one or two months. It’s acknowledging the person is (temporarily) less mobile, and not saying they are disabled.

But the whole process would take longer than it would for your injury to heal?

I guess if you were in hospital and had a broken limb or something they could issue like a two week pass or something for when you leave. And it looks totally different to a regular blue badge. That could work.

But it's really not likely to be a priority when the bill for long term disabilities is already quite high.

Simple maths
X = total number of badges
Y = proportion X which are fake
Z = proportion X which are NOT fake, but being used by someone's relative/friend/carer when they are doing something not related to the badge holder without the badge holder in the car.

Adding your temporary badges increases X numerically, so it would increase the actual numerical values of Y and Z too.
P = parking places would not automatically increase with X, so the numerical increase of X,Y and Z, would increase the number of people fighting for parking spaces, which would further disadvantage the long term badge holders who genuinely needed the spaces.

I didn’t say it was easy 😉
I would start with contacting your local council, ask them what wording exactly they need in a letter to prove eligibility. Then ask your GP to write a covering letter with this wording in. Not all applications take that long either, they can be processed much quicker depending on various factors, including the correctly worded proof. It’s got to be at least worth a try in the mean time.

And I saw an article which said 1 in 15 adults has a blue badge! I can't believe there's sufficient parking spaces to cover this requirement as it is

That’s exactly what I’m proposing @BillieWiper

I agree.

My mother, for example couldn't get one because her disability was classed as temporary - waiting for both hips to be replaced. Temporary can (and was) in her case several years.

Temporary ones should be signed off at the consultant level, not GP though and strict criteria applied.

If this means they're is too much demand on the system, then either we increase the number of spaces, or we raise the bar for everyone applying. It's not fair though that someone with milder mobility issues can get a BB, whilst someone with a more severe mobility issue can't get one because they will eventually get treatment for it, or may recover.

But your physical disability is temporary. People with permanent disabilities are still struggling massively, unable to get BB’s, those who do have one are very often unable to park in BB spaces due to the general public misusing those spaces. Yet you want to add hundreds more into the mix to compete for spaces, and those hundreds to get their BB’s quicker and easier than genuine permanently disabled people.

You feel nervous with your capabilities due to your temporary disability? Now imagine that every single day .. no let up, not knowing if you can park when you get anywhere, getting looks from people when you dare to park in a BB space. I could go on …

It can take weeks or months for disabled people to get a blue badge, and for those who don't automatically qualify through PIP/DLA it's a lengthy, bureaucratic assessment process. So it would be incredibly unfair to hand out instant badges to people with temporary injuries.

Obviously these temporary passes should be available to these people too it’s not an either or situation!

It's not a good idea. As others have said, disabled spaces are for people with long term disabilities.

DH broke his ankle a few years ago. Obviously he couldn't drive but it was easy enough for me to drop him wherever he needed to be and then go off and park the car.

The system is already abused enough. This would open it to further abuse

Could be good but I guess it's the cost/admin side. Also people recover from their injuries then the importance of such a scheme probably slips away from their minds.

But they're not, so ...

Maybe fix the system for disabled people first.

Well yes, this suggested change would make things very much better for my disabled husband.

Exactly this.

My daughter has an intellectual disability. She receives PIP at the enhanced rate for care and mobility. Physically she can move but not safely her impairment means she can very easily get lost.

We have never asked for a blue badge until her mental health problems became greater than her cognitive disability. Guess what she was turned down for a blue badge.

Lady at the council explained it this way. The department of transport deems that people with 12 points on mobility never go out alone and therefore do not need a blue badge.

We were told to apply again stating invisible disability that would cause psychological distress. We are still waiting, meanwhile the worse part of her mental health episode has passed.

It’s been tough. My DH had to park illegally in order to get her as close to a blood test hub as possible. Without a blood test psychiatrist would not prescribe her must needed medication.

No one is denying the system could be improved. However, that doesn’t negate the fact that a system whereby those who are temporarily immobile could also do with a little help. Surely, someone who is disabled and knows how beneficial it is to park near the shop entrance, can empathise with someone who is struggling with a similar, albeit temporary, problem. It shouldn’t be disabled v others, but people working together to help all in need.

The nhs asked for Dr's to be removed from the blue badge decision making process in 2011 as so many Dr's were put under pressure by their patients to say that they qualified and they felt it was too difficult to refuse. It was given to councils to administer instead. We were told it was a few each month, it turned out to be at least 5 a day, I can't see you scheme ever being approved for Dr's.

Absolutely not. I've been on crutches with a knee injury for several weeks and I'm permanently disabled with a condition that means I can't walk or stand without pain. Every day. It's not comparable.

Spaces need to be for disabled people, not those with temporary injuries. It's hard enough getting a space.

When we have actually disabled people waiting months for BB applications/renewals to process it’s hardly fair for temporarily injured people to skip the queue. It’s hard enough for disabled people.

It's horrible having an injury but temporarily a bit crook / on crutches etc is not being disabled.

And as these badges would be very numerous compared to BBs and necessarily easy to obtain they would be widely used by friends and family (as are BBs) and there would be no space left for disabled people.

Sorry OP - but I speak as someone who recently spent months on crutches, and has a disabled offspring (wheelchair user / mobility disability)

I hop you recover quickly.

I volunteered at a charity that assisted people in applying for Blue Badges. One gent I assisted had about 15 different medications daily and a sheaf of letters from his various consultants to accompany the 40+ page BB application form. There is no way the application process will be changed for anyone with temporary disabilities but are otherwise healthy

Of course they would full, Blue Badges have ID and traceability and have features that deter forgeries, and they are still abused. A few weeks ago there was a news article by a GP saying they never declined a fit (sick) note when asked for one because it was quicker /easier to just always say yes so we can assume that Dr's would do the same with temporary blue badge applications.

Just out of interest, why do you think people who didn’t need them would be so keen to forge them @KitchenColourandstyle? What would the huge gain be for people with no mobility issue, baring in mind that I’m not proposing free parking here?