Blue Badge scheme to be extended - MSE News

Mr_Mann

I agree with you about it being for those with mobility problems. However the reality is that having them DOESN'T qualify you for a badge even if you get the standard rate of the disability element of PIP. In other words limited ability to walk doesn't qualify even after these changes !
Lets hope more changes are made to help those it was originally intended for.

neilmcl

Mr_Mann wrote: »

Even with these changes people getting the disability element of PIP (formerly DLA) at the standard rate don't automatically qualify. Go figure ! How is it possible that those who have limited ability to walk weren't first in the queue when this review was made ? It's shameful and MUST be reviewed again, I hope there is support for this ?

Corrected that for you. Even if you don't meet the automatic requirements for a badge you can still apply if you have permanent and limited mobility, you just need go through more hoops that's all.

Robisere

This has, as usual with any Disability thread on the forum, turned into kicking people, most of whom have no defence against the blows. Both myself and my wife have a BBadge and both have Motability payments, both have severe walking difficulties due to spinal problems: I have a Motability car and am very, very grateful for the ability to use it and the independence it provides.


However, we also have a 24 yo gson who has Asperger's Syndrome. He holds down a very good IT job due to his high intelligence and 'tunnel vision' approach to work, in which he just performs a task until it is done. He even has his own flat, shops, cooks and cleans, but not until he took driving lessons did we learn that he has no spatial awareness and can never drive, or cycle. He had to be walked over routes to work, shops and medical facilities many times, until he knows the route. He cannot talk to anyone he does not know and will not meet their eyes. I think, as some sympathetic people have said here, that those who have never experienced any form of Autism within their own families, have no idea of the conditions. They vary across a wide spectrum. Even those afflicted with Asperger's, are different. For example, my dgs was often called to quieten a lad with more advanced, violent tendencies within his Asperger's, by his mum, a friend of my daughter. That lad had to be placed in a care home: his dad left years ago (as did my dgs' dad, no loss!) whilst my dgs has developed in many more ways than we expected. But he still has to be guided in certain ways, although he continues to mature at a slower rate than other 24 year olds.


Please, please do not assume that you know everything about who should or who should not qualify for the BBadge. If you have no experience with Autism, you can have no practical input.