Blue badge petition - please sign this petition.
- Thread starter beelady
- Start date
I've just applied for one on behalf of William. The disabled spaces are not always closes to where you need though - sometimes they are just wider/longer to allow wheelchair access, not necessarily closer to the door. I often just park in the "parent with children" spaces which are usually nearest the door of shops etc, and often sited so that you don't have to cross traffic to get where you are going, which is the big danger.
On our application the doctor put "alzheimers/dementia with hallucinations. Needs constant supervision and support" and that he can only walk 40 meters unaided. I put a letter in with it explaining that he walks extremely slowly, can't walk up hills, and because of his mental condition gets so confused outside that he doesn't walk at all outside without leaning on me. These are the sort of things that need to be taken into account. PS. over here, the parking permit is only valid for two years at a time.
On our application the doctor put "alzheimers/dementia with hallucinations. Needs constant supervision and support" and that he can only walk 40 meters unaided. I put a letter in with it explaining that he walks extremely slowly, can't walk up hills, and because of his mental condition gets so confused outside that he doesn't walk at all outside without leaning on me. These are the sort of things that need to be taken into account. PS. over here, the parking permit is only valid for two years at a time.
I've added my name to the list.
My mum did have a blue badge because of her Parkinson's, but it also later continued to be great when not just physical problems became an issue, but the ability to cope with the stresses of hospital/clinic appointments, and we really only had very limited time to manage what then became a major hurdle from all aspects.
Let's hope this is successful.
My mum did have a blue badge because of her Parkinson's, but it also later continued to be great when not just physical problems became an issue, but the ability to cope with the stresses of hospital/clinic appointments, and we really only had very limited time to manage what then became a major hurdle from all aspects.
Let's hope this is successful.
I have signed the petition
I remember the hassle I used to get from BB holders when I used to park
for a few minutes in a disabled bay so that I could let my wife out with her sister who was a severe problem with her dementia
I just wish there was some other system where these petitions got more publicity, it is disheartening to see the hundreds , if not thousands of petitions that have absolutely no chance of reaching the 100,000 required
So many people who have poured their heart into composing a petition ,
and those who have signed all to no avail
It would help if we knew that the minister involved was aware of the petition
A pessimistic view I know , we can live in hope but I have signed
Best wishes
Jimbo 111
I remember the hassle I used to get from BB holders when I used to park
for a few minutes in a disabled bay so that I could let my wife out with her sister who was a severe problem with her dementia
I just wish there was some other system where these petitions got more publicity, it is disheartening to see the hundreds , if not thousands of petitions that have absolutely no chance of reaching the 100,000 required
So many people who have poured their heart into composing a petition ,
and those who have signed all to no avail
It would help if we knew that the minister involved was aware of the petition
A pessimistic view I know , we can live in hope but I have signed
Best wishes
Jimbo 111
Signed. I would also say it's not just about lack of road safety awareness, it's often an issue of fundamentally not being able to negotiate the walk from car park to shops/facilities - a mental block just as crippling as physical disability. This can be particularly challenging in shopping centres with pedestrianisation, where all access points for vehicles are some distance away. And of course someone with dementia can't be left alone at all while the carer goes to park or fetch the car.
Town planners assume that a brisk two-minute walk for an able person is the norm and need to be be made aware of how difficult such seemingly small distances can be for someone with altered mental perceptions.
This is something I have flagged up in focus group consultations and will continue to do so. Well done for starting the petition.
Town planners assume that a brisk two-minute walk for an able person is the norm and need to be be made aware of how difficult such seemingly small distances can be for someone with altered mental perceptions.
This is something I have flagged up in focus group consultations and will continue to do so. Well done for starting the petition.
Tell me about it! Our nearest town is a city that has been traced back to about 914 or thereabouts. There's a new museum just opened, the scale models for which were done by a friend of ours - he does an amazing job on scale models of towns etc. for this type of project: http://www.historymaker.ie/. Anyway, yesterday I went in to check the museum out with a view to taking William there. But this is in the old Viking Quarter of the town - which is all pedestrianised! There is a disabled parking space within a relatively short walk with not too many steps of one entrance - but that entrance isn't open yet. The main entrance, the nearest parking of any kind is I was told about three minutes walk away - which in William's terms is about 15 to 20 minutes walk, and it's up a slope, which he can't do. So until the other entrance opens, I can't take him. But the receptionist assured me that once inside, the museum is mostly accessible to disabled people, they have lifts for most areas. There is just one medieavel (sp?) area with three or four steps where they couldn't put a lift.
Lifts are a whole other issue! It's good if your relative is happy to use them, but my mum is totally phobic of them and also became too confused to use escalators. This meant we had to stop going to the cinema, for instance, which is a multiplex in a pedestrian precinct with no fixed public stairs, just one very steep, glass-sided escalator with flashing lights in the treads, and, presumably, a lift for the physically disabled - all too challenging for mum.
Yet I'm sure the above qualifies that complex as "accessible" because of the lift and pedestrian walkways!
Sadly, we had to stop going into the town centre at all, because of the parking situation. The only places we could go together were pubs or out of town restaurants with a car park directly outside. The theatre (which she could no longer follow, but still enjoyed in the moment) has a multi-storey car park directly behind, which for most people is very convenient - but no on street parking that's not "disabled", and again the walk down from the car park amid jostling crowds and car noise, or through neighbouring streets full of drunken stag and hen parties at night was just too much of a strain.
Physically disabled people may also be confined to their homes because of similar obstacles, but at least their needs are publicly recognised now in law, if not always in practice; but those with dementia (and their carers) are often hidden casualties of town planning.
Yet I'm sure the above qualifies that complex as "accessible" because of the lift and pedestrian walkways!
Sadly, we had to stop going into the town centre at all, because of the parking situation. The only places we could go together were pubs or out of town restaurants with a car park directly outside. The theatre (which she could no longer follow, but still enjoyed in the moment) has a multi-storey car park directly behind, which for most people is very convenient - but no on street parking that's not "disabled", and again the walk down from the car park amid jostling crowds and car noise, or through neighbouring streets full of drunken stag and hen parties at night was just too much of a strain.
Physically disabled people may also be confined to their homes because of similar obstacles, but at least their needs are publicly recognised now in law, if not always in practice; but those with dementia (and their carers) are often hidden casualties of town planning.
My parents already had badges due to physical problems I didn't realise that dementia sufferers were not considered eligible. Thank you for highlighting this. Petition duly signed.
