*HOW AND WHEN CAN YOU APPLY FOR BLUE BADGE?*

[butty]

I HAVE BEEN TOLD THAT I AM ENTITLED TO A BLUE BADGE FOR DYLAN, ALTHOUGH I AM NOT SURE WHERE, HOW AND WHEN TO APPLY.
aNY KNOWLEDGE ON THIS WOULD BE GRATELY APPRECIATED.

I believe you can actually apply for a child from the age of 2, but it may be a long hard fight depending on your local council.

My dd, is now 3yrs10mnths and has only just got hers. I tried to apply not long after she was 2 and my councils argument was that there are many 2 year olds who don't walk well!

My dd has DS and has hyperflexed knees and wears AFOs as well as all the learning disability issues. I enquired again a few months ago (my 3rd phone call of trying for an application) and this time they actually sent an application to me. After writing several pages of information, OT reports, paed assessments, I was advised that it was only the "physical disabilities" that they took into consideration.

Eventually, we had an up to date assessment from our paediatrician and we got the blue badge.

If you get high rate mobility DLA I believe the route to a blue badge is much easier, if not automatic.

Don't give up- fight.

Good luck.

Sorry, phone you local council offices and they will direct you to blue badge applications!!

Some local councils have the forms and guidence on their website, I have just downloaded them for my son.

cheers for your advise.

Dylan is 3 on new years day and can only walk about 6 consecutive steps of which he has been doing for around 6 months but there has since been no progress so the physio has stated that we should try a splint for a year just on his right leg.

We will be getting the splint fitted next week, so i shall take things from there although i have been advised that this could digress him so shall have to wait and see.

The chances of him walking on his own are very fine as we were told at one point that he may never walk, but as usual he has proved them wrong!!!

i hope that one day he will walk unaided but until then i live in hope and on his sheer determination, he is a right character after all!!!!

if you get high rate for mobility then you are entitled to a blue badge but you have to get the high rate. If you get that you get the badge, pure and simple, don't let anyone tell you different, and believe me they will. I fought for mine and won and best thing I did.

i have just rung the local council and thay are sending me a form, but because dylan isnt on mobility as he is not yet 3, i have to see my GP to complete a form of which the council will decide at their discretion whether or not he is entitled to it.
I will keep u updated on the situ.

Butty.xx

I got mine (dd's) without any fight - thank God! It is about the only SN related provision I have ever managed to get without a fight.

I just attached a copy of the DLA Higher Rate Mobility award letter to the application and got the badge about a week later through the post.

This was only last month BTW - despite having the application form in my "to do" tray since November last year!

Hi Butty - I told our council that I wasn't going to put dd through a medical examination when there was plenty of paperwork already in existence stating her difficulties and the fact that she cannot walk. I sent copies of reports in with my application and didn't then need to see our GP, they just issued it. Might be worth trying if you have any recent reports. My dd was 2 at the time.

Hi MandM,

It won't be that simple for me as we have to get a docs report as dylan is not 3 till January, so knowing my luck, will probably get knocked back, i dont even know if dylan will qualify for the higher rate as he can do 6 steps although he wont and cant walk outside the house.
I have to carry him to and from the bedroom at night which is on the 3rd floor and the chances of him walking in the next 6 months are very slim, though not without want of trying!!

Hi Heartinthecountry,
I enquired about sending recent reports as i have plenty of them due to receiving dylans statement 2 weeks ago, but they stated that i would still need my GP to fill out the from, even though i explained that my son doesnt see him as he sees the pead etc... But their reply was that he would have his medical notes on his system.
Cant do right for doing wrong.
I think i shall do both, get the docs report and send all my tons of pages of bumph, seeing how much there is, they will probably give it to save them from all the reading!!!!!

HA Ha, will serve them right!!!

Sorry, did'nt mean to sound that vindictive or sarcastic to those who have to give the decisions.!!

butty, it was the same with us. I went down to the council offices in person and handed over the forms. I told them that it wasn't worth them getting information from our GP, as his info would only be as good as the last report from the paediatrician, and that I had enclosed a copy of that already. Instead they contacted Amelia's paediatrician and she did an up to date assessment.

Amelia can walk, so that is no reason for not qualifying.She does have physical difficulties, hence the AFOs, but to be honest our main problems are behavioural, sensory and linked with her learning disability-DS.

i shall wait and see what happens when i get the forms and make an appointment with the GP just to see what he says.
He doesnt really have any input with dylans medical problems although he has been our family doctor since i was a baby and he has always been great and understanding to the needs and problems of which has been put upon me in the last 5 years.
But then again, its up to the council and not the docs.

i am still waiting for the forms, and dontknow how long they take to arrive although the sooner the better!!!
Any one have any idea as of to how long they take??