Parking with a blue badge when looking "normal.."

dori2o

HB58 wrote: »

The best response I have heard to the 'But you don't look disabled' comment is 'You don't look stupid either but I guess looks can be deceiving...'

:T:T

I'll be using that one next time I get a similar comment.

A little off topic but I've recently had a problem with a neighbour over my application for a disabled parking bay.

There are double yellow lines outside my house that stop about 5ft further up the road. The lines come round the corner nearly 18ft.

There is clearly no need for these lines to come so far around the corner so when I sent in my application for a disabled parking bay I suggested reducing the length of them and putting the bay where they currently are.

The application was accepted but they rejected my request to reduce the length of the lines and will be putting the bay directly after where the lines currently stop.

The neighbour whose house is directly outside where the bay will be approached me the other day. She has found out about my application and the fact that it has been accepted in principle and went mad at me, saying it will affect her as she will never be able to park outside her front door again (she hardly ever can anyway due to the number of cars on the street which is too many for the available space on the road) and said she's taking this to her councillor and MP to object to the parking bay.

I really don't care if she objects or not as everyone ele I have spoken to isn't really bothered about it and can see why I need it, especially after having to park my car over 200m away from my house tonight. Considering the pain I get from having to walk 1 step, having to walk 200m was awful and along with the number of cars that are on the street now (terraced houses no driveays or garages) and the number of times I have to park so far away from my house, even on occassion 2 streets away, I believe I have enough reason to be granted the right for the bay to be provided, at a cost of course.

LadyMorticia

I think that any illness or health problem, whether it be physical or mental, can be deemed a disability if it affects your everyday ability to do normal things.

The_mangler

dori2o wrote: »

Funny you should say that, my Dad is disabled and most of his problems stem from 'splipped discs', or to give them their true name herniated disc.

You see he has 5 of them, 3 in his neck and 2 at the bottom of his back. He also has spondylosis, sciatica and IBS, all a direct result of the herniated discs.

These problems have arisen as a result of working 7 days a week for almost 40 years in a physically demanding job.

The discs are pressing on his spinal cord. He has had to have an operation to insert rods into his neck to prevent the problem getting worse and leaving him paralised (without the operating the Dr advised he would lose the feeling in most of his body below the neck within 18 months such is the degeneration of his neck). The nerves coming from his neck are being compressed by the discs and he has a permanent feeing of pins and needles in his arms and hands. This will never go away, the nerves have been permenantly damaged.

The discs at the bottom of his back are pressing on his nerves and he cannot feel the bottom of his legs. again this damage to the nerves is permenent and can never be fixed.

He can't walk very far, is in constant pain, can't hold a cup in one hand, can'tcut foodwith a knife and fork.

But, according to you it's only a slipped disc, he should sop complaining and get on with it........

I agree with you - I have spondilolysis and spondylolisthesis causing spinal stenosis - it can be a totally disabling condition.

24skins

Anyone who thinks that only wheelchair users are disabled and has such an astonishing lack of disability awareness that they've never heard of say, Down's Syndrome, is probably not worth listening to.

Ellejmorgan

dori2o wrote: »

Funny you should say that, my Dad is disabled and most of his problems stem from 'splipped discs', or to give them their true name herniated disc.

You see he has 5 of them, 3 in his neck and 2 at the bottom of his back. He also has spondylosis, sciatica and IBS, all a direct result of the herniated discs.

These problems have arisen as a result of working 7 days a week for almost 40 years in a physically demanding job.

The discs are pressing on his spinal cord. He has had to have an operation to insert rods into his neck to prevent the problem getting worse and leaving him paralised (without the operating the Dr advised he would lose the feeling in most of his body below the neck within 18 months such is the degeneration of his neck). The nerves coming from his neck are being compressed by the discs and he has a permanent feeing of pins and needles in his arms and hands. This will never go away, the nerves have been permenantly damaged.

The discs at the bottom of his back are pressing on his nerves and he cannot feel the bottom of his legs. again this damage to the nerves is permenent and can never be fixed.

He can't walk very far, is in constant pain, can't hold a cup in one hand, can'tcut foodwith a knife and fork.

But, according to you it's only a slipped disc, he should sop complaining and get on with it........

Me too I have had lower back surgery, have arthritis and sciatica, also have C5-C6 prolapse which needs replacement, decompression and fusion, have no reflexes in ankle or foot due to disk damage.This is permanant..
Can't walk sometimes or hold my baby, get excrutiating headaches, dizziness breathlessness due to blood vessles being crushed, and am incontinent..
Can't write or drive far, play with my kids, cook, clean or cut up my own food.
I can't go out on my own now incase I fall, have numb fingers, pins and needles in my arm and leg, feels like my collar bone is broken..
Will also need lower spine fusion..

I have severe depression as a result and have to sleep most days due to morphine..
I'm only 33 years old..

This poster who stated about disks is lucky i'm not in the same room as her..
My life is a misery and she makes light of it..
It's one of the most disabling conditions which never eases or will get better..

I'm:mad::mad::mad::mad:

Ellejmorgan

harveybobbles wrote: »

If you were registered disabled, on full DLA both rates, had a Motability car and blue badge and parked in a Disabled parking space, what would your reply be to a person who asks "Are you now going to limp" when you get out of the car?

The person who said this was an employee of the place we visited, which is a well known company.

The blue badge holder looks "normal". By this I mean they have no obvious physical impairment such as a limb missing.

The blue badge holder doesnt get out much due to disabilities. But this was a good day and she wanted to venture out of the house.

Needless to say she wont be going out for another few months after being treated to a comment like that.

Have put off applying for one but this thread has just made me realise I should apply..many thanks

chairkid

My son is disabled with a rare muscle wasting condition, so we have been putting up with comments and looks all his life, he will be 21 in May. We have a wheelchair adapted vehicle now and when we park and get out, the looks we get could kill you, till we open the ramp at the back and let him out. You could laugh because it is all ways old people next too you in a disabled bay with a stick and i do say its not only old people that are disabled. His friends who are mainly in chairs usually ask what they are looking at and cannot stand been ignored in shops (there chairs a big enough to see).

Lum

24skins wrote: »

Anyone who thinks that only wheelchair users are disabled and has such an astonishing lack of disability awareness that they've never heard of say, Down's Syndrome, is probably not worth listening to.

Even Down's Syndrome is more visible than some conditions that could lead to people needing use of disabled spaces etc.

I think a lot of the reason my partner gets so much grief is she chose to keep her car that she had prior to becoming disabled (a 1994 Nissan 200SX) and get a chair to fit the car rather than the other way around.

Apparently disabled people aren't allowed to have nice cars, they all have to drive around in a Renault Kangoo with a ramp on the back. It takes the combination of both the badge in the windscreen and the chair appearing alongside the drivers door before people go away.

LadyMorticia

Lum wrote: »

Even Down's Syndrome is more visible than some conditions that could lead to people needing use of disabled spaces etc.

I think a lot of the reason my partner gets so much grief is she chose to keep her car that she had prior to becoming disabled (a 1994 Nissan 200SX) and get a chair to fit the car rather than the other way around.

Apparently disabled people aren't allowed to have nice cars, they all have to drive around in a Renault Kangoo with a ramp on the back. It takes the combination of both the badge in the windscreen and the chair appearing alongside the drivers door before people go away.

We're the same. We have a Golf GTI Mk3 because it was all we could afford and we bought it from a private seller and we got a wheelchair to fit the car (although the boot isn't too small) and the looks we get when we pull up in the car are astounding!

Lum

Mk3 GTIs are quite fun, if you have a good one I'd be reluctant to give it up too. I know my old Mk2 Golf is the only front wheel drive car I've ever owned which my partner has actually enjoyed driving!

The reason she kept the 200SX is because she really loves driving that car, and wasn't prepared to lose that at the same time as losing the ability to walk. Luckily we had already converted it to an automatic, so it was just as case of getting a chair that would fit on the passenger seat.