The lack of subjects
 

Hi all,
I am sorry that I have not managed to get our new disabled section off the ground yet. It took me a while to get this section up on our forum, and then I ended up between hospital and the doctors again several times, and after that was by, I had to disappear for a short holiday to try and relax, and give my body a rest. Now that I arrived back last night, and with another good nights rest, I am now set off, stuck up in my office, going through the mountain of mail, phone calls, and other tasks that I have to do.

I am also going to try and get some stickys on the section, about changing road tax classation, and how to go about changing the vehicle classation on your v5 as well.

If there is anything else that anybody else can think about, please let me know.

Regards

Stuart Rintoul

Your 'subjects' may be few and far between My Liege, but we nevertheless await your input with baited breath.

will be watching this section with great interest. as I am a full time carer for my beloved Lynda, it's about time we had somat.the thing I would be interested to know is, when the paper tax disc goes how will that affect the people who. like ourselves are excempt from duty, I would assume that we just continue how we do now, on line.


ps glad your back and feeling better.

ron.

What about informative subjects like :-

Motability - Cars & Scooters & Wheelchair Adapted Vehicles.

Mobility Scooters/Wheelchairs etc.

Ricability - Cars & others tests etc.

Parking Permits -Usage , Home & Away?

Perhaps there is a lack of disabled people ?

In most town centres the only available parking spaces are for disabled badge holders, suggesting there are insufficient of the "less-able" to fill them. I used to think that the government was planning for more to come along, perhaps after a pointless arab war on behalf of america, but this seems to have been forgotten now we are all so much better off with the influx of foreigners putting up our house prices.

anyone think I could get a job writing for the daily mail ?

We had a bit of a discussion in The Lounge regarding disabled badges I seem to remember, and I get really pee'd off with the increasing numbers of holders, who aren't actually 'disabled ' but are simply old or fat or both.

I see them every day, trotting off to the shops whilst I get my walker or mobility scooter out of the car, and genuine wheelchair users have to chase around looking for a space - not the abuser's fault, it is the lazy doctors and the even lazier local authorities.

It's no wonder fit people get annoyed.

Lynda being a wheelchair user quite a lot of the time now has to witness these people who abuse the system, we would gladly shop anyone we saw using a blue badge they were not entitled to.they should be stamped on hard. also, one other thing that annoys me greatly is,why do these so called disabled people drive there mobility scooters to the shop. park the bloody things in disabled spaces the walk royund the sop carrying loads oif shopping.

grrrrrr. rant over for now.



ron.

Never actually witnessed the scooter thing, but there are loads of non disabled people using a badge to go shopping themselves, and that's wrong, but 'they just don't care, and if you say anything , they get abusive'.

an unfortunate side effect of plain bad manners mike, sad but true, whatever happened to being polite and helpful to your fellow man(or indeed, woman)






ron.

I have just experienced another dose of bad manners when I was looking for a disabled space at Waitrose, and on the fourth circuit of the car park a disabled space became vacant, but as I headed towards it, a yummy mummy in a 4x4 drives into it. I said excuse me but that space is reserved for blue badge holders , to which she replied ' go forth & multiply' and strutted off to store with a couple of 12 or 13 year olds in tow, laughing their heads off.

The car park attendant came by and asked me what was what, and then put a ticket on the yummy's 4x4.

Last I saw, as I went into the store, was a very angry yummy, mouthing off at an impassive car park attendant as he walked away.

Will she do it again?

Of course she will.






Ron,

I don't expect special treatment, in fact i am fiercly independent & decline most offers of assistance, but i do need to be able to use a ' disabled' parking space near the stores because I just can't walk more than a few yards really, so where I see this sort of abuse, I put on the 'grumpy old man' mask & try to educate them - usually a waste of breath.

never a waste of breath mike, if we stop complaining. we will end up with no voice at all. so as long as I see inconsiderate parking and abuse of disabled parking spaces I will jolly well grumble.




ron.

disabled
 

I am afraid I have to agree, that the way genuine disabled badge holders are being treated is a disgrace. I have to side with mike 700, as I was visiting hospital, for x-rays, ultrasounds and mri scans recently. After about the 7th lap of the parking lot, waiting for a disabled parking space, I came across somebody starting to reverse out the said space. So therefor I pull over to the side leaving plenty of space for the person to reverse out of, while indicating to enter the space. As soon as the person pulls away, and I start moving forward and turning into the space, a car passes me on the out side and straight into the space, almost taking out my front drivers side corner of my bumper. Obviously I stopped, and explained that I was waiting to enter the space, and that I was also indicating for the space. Unfortunately all I received was a pile of bad language, and told to f off. I did make a complaint in at the hospital, but unfortunately I do not think anything was done about it.

Mike 700, I have taken noted of your suggestions, and I will look into it. The same applied to anyone. If there is anybody that can think of something that they may like to see, please drop me a pm, and I will gladly look into it.

I am also on contact with CT Network on the forum at the moment, and hopefully we will see the first few sticky posts just shortly, with some helpful information.

Lyron, from what I have found out, yes we continue to do what we do online as far as renewing our tax discs. The only difference will be that we will not receive a paper tax disc. As I am sure you are aware, our information is held online anyway, so as soon as we have reapplied for our tax disc and then receive confirmation, we are then legal. For those of us who may have the paper tax disc when the new rules come into play, you can continue to display the tax disc until you renew the following year, or you can take the tax disc off of your windscreen, as your information will be held online anyway, but only after the new rules come into affect.

Regards

Stuart Rintoul

thanks for that stuart.



ron.

I too have a wife who uses an electric wheelchair, and we were in the local supermarket carpark yesterday, the dissabled bay next to us was free, this big RR drove straight into it young man in his 30s got out able bodied with young partner looked at my wife in the chair and just grinned and dashed into the store, no respect at all.

Info on vat free aids and how to get these, only by talking to dissability companies and the mobility expert at our dealers did we discover that because we have adaptions etc we can get the car vat free which made a difference but there is no information out there to help. This would have been a help in previous purchases.

We're lucky Stuart, our local hospitals don't charge BB holders, they stamp the ticket to get out if there are no dissabled parking left.

Hi Mike

I am surprised at your comments.

Being old can in itself can be a reason for disability, as can being fat. Being fat can be a side effect of a condition/medication.

Regards your second paragraph, and obviously setting aside the fit and able people who wrongly use a disabled space/badge, it must be noted that there are a multitude of conditions, whereby a person is 'disabled' yet not in a wheelchair. The condition is 'invisible'.

I therefore feel that what you write reinforces the incorrectly held view of ''no wheelchair - therefore not disabled''. Disabled badges are issued to people for a variety of reasons, not all of whom require a wheelchair.

By way of a single simple clear example a person with a heart condition may on the face of it appear to the casual observer to be 'fit and healthy' yet unable to walk any reasonable distance without adverse efect.

Regards

Phil,

I do appreciate & accept that there can be & indeed are hidden illnesses, and also that some overweight people have no control over their condition, but these are the exceptions, btw being old is not a disability.

The people I am talking about are those who jump in & out of their cars trot off to the shops, come back carrying bags of goodies,much more than I can carry now, *whilst others, walking aids visible or not, are left struggling.

I took little notice until I became disabled myself, so for non - disabled people it is easy to miss what *is actually going on, and the abuse of the Blue Badge Scheme.

Some examples of eligibility :

1.*you have a permanent or substantial disability which means you can’t walk or find walking very difficult
2. you are a driver and have severe upper limb disabilities
3. you are applying on behalf of a child over two with a permanent or substantial disability which means they can’t walk or find walking very difficult
4. you are applying on behalf of a child under three with a medical condition that requires them to be close to a vehicle for emergency medical treatment or transporting bulky medical equipment.

Others are :

Automatic acceptance ,

1. you are registered as blind/severely sight impaired
2. you receive the War Pensioners’ Mobility Supplement
3. you receive the higher rate of the mobility component of Disability Living Allowance (DLA)
4.you receive the mobility component of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and you scored at least 8 points in relation to the ‘moving around’ activity in the PIP assessment, or least 12 points in the mobility activity for planning and following journeys
5. you have been awarded a lump sum benefit from the Armed Forces Compensation scheme (tariffs 1 to 8). You have also been certified as having a permanent and substantial disability which means you can’t walk or find walking very difficult
6. you receive a government grant towards your own vehicle.

These are all based on mobility except for no 3, which can cover a multitude of things, but I can't see that the DLA higher mobility rate would be awarded simply for being old or fat, and the people I am writing about clearly are mobile.

Mike

Hi Mike

I am not talking about nor referring to people that abuse the badge system such as use someone elses badge for their own purposes which I think we all agree is very wrong, as I said in my post.

I am clearly talking about people that have a disability, have a blue badge and when using that blue badge are judged by other casual onlookers, even approached and even abused and deemed to not have any form of disability by these ‘casual onlookers’ none of whom probably have any form of medical knowledge, therefore not in any position to pass judgement, for any reason or simply because the blue badge user is not in a wheelchair.

Neither did I say being old is a disability…lol.., I said ''being old can in itself be a reason for disability''…ie with old age comes lets say conditions such as severe arthritis, or heart problems, which give rise to a person being less abled perhaps.

A point worth making, in my experience, is that some disabled people feel somehow that they have more of right to a blue badge, or more of a right to a parking space or more more of a right to 'special dispensation' than another disabled person because they consider the other person 'less disabled' than them and thus 'less worthy'. My grandmother had an orange badge due to being virtually blind amongst other things, but walked quickly and reasonably with good gait and posture and I remember many occasions other people, both disabled and non disabled confronted and challenged use of the orange badge.

The problem, as with a lot of things in life, is if someone sees another with ''something special'' that they do not have, that person questions the reason why the first has that ''something special'' and is resentful - despite the fact they have got that ''something special'' by having a serious medical condition.

I feel the majority of badge holders are genuine, with the problems of misuse arising from theft of anothers badge or misuse of anothers badge, rather than falsely acquiring one through faking an illness, which yes, has been known to occur.

On the subject of eligibility who do you consider more eligible for a disability badge - Oscar Pistorius who can probably run faster than a Volvo T5 to 100m, yet uses a wheelchair as he has no legs, or a severe asthma sufferer with a heart condition (subject to severe attacks and collapse after but mild exertion) that appears fit and healthy and who is seen nipping into the local shop and returning to their car with a few bags? - but isn’t a wheelchair user.

Regards

My mate had a son who had cerebral palsy, and was away at school except for weekends.

My mate & his health visitor wife used the son's badge every day of the week, and I can tell you tales of others I knew, indeed still know- so people, quite a lot of people cheat, I'm sorry to say.

My Father in Law had severe asthma, amongst other breathing & heart problems and there is no way he could trot off to the shops & back without everyone being aware of his difficulties - not a good example i'm afraid.

As far as the remainder of your last paragraph is concerned, There is no choice to be made, if both are genuinely in need, then both should qualify, but if one or the other can trot off to the shops & back, without it appearing to adversely affect them, you have to question the need for a badge.

As mentioned, there are far too many badges issued.

I agree Mike, and I say again, misuse is not in question. It is wrong. Plain and simple.

The keyword (and used by you) which I am on about is 'appearing'.

I know people, and have known people who are and have been in severe excruciating pain through disability (disability that cannot really be seen) and after a short 'trot into and around the shops' are physically and mentally exhausted.

A person does not necessarily exhibit outward signs when having even a physical disability, simply suffering in silence and coping with the pain that condition provides, and it is wrong and unfair for others to pass judgement as 'casual observers'.

Ok rather than use asthma as an example with which you say you do not agree,I present you with conditions such as myasthenia gravis (generalised) or another condition that may come under the umbrella of dysesthesia. MG for example may be in remission for the sufferer thus allowing easier and better movement.

There is I am afraid a misguided and wrong view that exists that to be disabled you have to be a wheelchair user, and disabled people that do not use wheelchairs, are unfortunately abused/critcisied as 'not being disabled enough' etc because of this.

Regards

We were discussing blue badges and the abuse thereof, not the disabled per se.

The rule is , and should be , that Blue Badges are for people who cannot walk more than a short distance, whether wheelchair users or not, and I agree that some people suffer less obvious ailments, but I say again, if you can trot off to the shop & back even though you may suffer some form of disability, then you maybe don't need a Blue Badge.

Perhaps then there would not be so many issued and fewer spaces needed, and also reduce the abuse of blue badges,

totally agree with that mike:thumbs_up:




ron.

I know..!!...and I am simply making the point that others observing may believe a 'misuse is in progress' when they see someone who 'appears' to be healthy walking a short distance, when in fact doing so is extremely difficult and extremely painful for them or perhaps on that particular day their symptoms are in remission and or are reduced - similar to you I suppose, when you say your symptoms are reduced when you drive.

Regards

volvorocks,
I have to agree with your statement, as although I am 6ft 4, and I park in a disabled bay, and can clowley make my way into the shops at times, and look healthy from the out side, I have spondylolysis and severe rheumatoid arthritis. I am awaiting 2 hip replacements and 2 knee replacements. Although I was able to walk slowly with out a walking stick, and am now having to use one almost constantly away from the home, and even have to rely on my crutches at times. Disability can cover a very wide amount of illnesses, and some, can affect people where the illness is not seen, i.e. It may look like people are walking normally. What really rattles me though is people using disabled bays and not putting up a disabled badge, and just walk off. With theses people, there is probably not a thing wrong with them, and are too lazy to walk any distance, so want to park as close to the shops as possible.

I am registered disabled. I have osteoarthritis in my knees, hips, spine, shoulders and neck. My hands and now my feet suffer in the cold and damp. Also in my spine I have ankylosing spondylitis and prolapsed discs. To get around I use my double elbow crutches. I also have a scooter that comes apart which is easy to transport. My doctor said in March 2008 that my arthritis is chronic and progressive. I have had the crutches since October 2008.

I have a blue badge, a bus pass for myself and one for my scooter. I had an eighteen month fight for DLA. It took back up from my doctor, occupational therapist, social worker and my partner who is also my carer before I got awarded full mobility allowance.

I have always worked and paid my tax and stamp, but when I went to get help, I had to fight for it.

If there is one thing I hate, it is the misuse of disabled spaces, whether it be someone fraudulently using a blue badge or someone able bodied just parking in a disabled space as they are too idle to walk a short distance.

I used to run, cycle, spar, pump iron and swim, so you could say I was fit and healthy. I am now over weight as I have poor mobility. If I could lose a stone or three, I would be happy. I don't drink or smoke and my heart, cholesterol level and blood pressure are ok, so I guess that's something.

Am I disabled by choice? No. Do I need a disabled bay by choice? No. Do I want sympathy? No. Just a smidge of consideration will suffice.

I will finish here, as I don't want to prattle on and on.

Hi Kevin,

Welcome from a Caerphilly boy, who's been to Aberdare many times.

We've had a few arguments on here about Blue Badge parking, and I'm with you, there are far too many normal people using & abusing Disabled only parking spaces , but what really gets to me is that ' most are fully aware of their abuse of the system' and secondly " They just don't care.

Know exactly what you mean about sport etc,?

Stuart, an apparent lack of topics does not equate to a lack of interest.

You really are doing a great job of promoting the issues that all of us Volvo owners affected by disabled issues face - both from getting this area on the forum set up, and from you excellent articles in Volvo Driver.

I'll admit, I applied for, and was selected for, the position of Disabled Register Keeper prior to you getting the job. I had to bow out as my disability, and those of my partner and mother got worse (I'm primary carer for all of us - bloomin "disabled central" here - we all live together, can you imagine!!) which meant that I felt I could not give sufficient time to the position.

I am so glad that you have taken on the role - and I congratulate you on your work so far - really very well done.

Keep it up matey - you are doing just fine.

With best regards,

Stick at it, it's worth it for those of us who do need a bit of help. There will come a time when a badge will be required by my wife or by me - she has bad hips and i have MS. I have already spent time on a walking stick(accident) but did not pursue a badge as i can get by. Yes it's annoying to see the abuse, but we have to get by. If it goes badly for me i could become an invisible user to!

Links to DVLA and such would be useful - not adverts for stair lifts though, we have standards you know. lol!

disabled
 

Thank you very much 940Graeme for your kind words. Recently, I have not managed to come on as often as I would like, and the Mrs is busy with work, and I am having to take our son Lee to nursery and pick him back up again, and that takes it out me just that alone.
I also forgot to mention that Heather passed her driving test last month, after holding her provisional for many years, I finally managed to coach her into doing something about it and with lessons and tuition from my self, she passed with only 2 minors, which means I am not driving the Zafira any more, and that the Volvo is now back on the road full time. I was out this morning at her, changing the fuel filter, as I never had time to do that when I serviced her last week. Now that's done, I just have the loose panels in the boot that are making a racket to sort, and I still have issue with the front o/s tyre rubbing on full right hand lock which I need to sort, and then that's me.

Just remember, everybody is welcome to help with the section, and if there is anything anybody would like to see, or add to the section just to contact me, and we can see what we can do.

Regards
Stuart

With reference to the blue badge and the abuse that goes with it.
Why is a disabled persons photo on the back of the badge when on display
And not where it can be clearly seen this has always baffled me and I did raise
The issue with my council when I last got it updated but they say it is a national issue as all badges must be the same

The lack of subjects
 

Hi..


Get rid of private cars in downtown areas. Thus will create accessible and safe downtowns.

The lack of subjects
 

Hi..


"It is very concerning that a lot of our young people are not being introduced to subjects by teachers with the necessary expertise in them,”

PREVENTATIVE VEHICLE MAINTENANCE

FWIW I’ve been a wheelchair user for 15 years now and this used to p1$$ me off immensely. It wasn’t until I was out with another wheelie mate that he reminded me that not every disability is obvious and each condition has its unique challenges. Not being contentious, just mindful of the fact that there are more than one type of disability and they’re not all visible as mine. I learned a valuable lesson in humility that day and I’m grateful for it.

Peace & love,

Steve Raspberry ;)

Mrs Familyman walks with a stick on a good day, and is a wheelchair user on a bad on due to MS. She rightly deserves her blue badge.

I don't have full use of my right arm and hand due to an incident years ago from. Which I've endured 3 operations and have a load of metalwork inserted. As a result I struggle manoeuvring into tight spaces so enquired about a blue badge.

They told me I'm not entitled to one with just one arm like that. If I had both arms like that, they say, then I would be eligible. I'm cool with the decision I was only enquiring and had no real expectations.

It does make me wonder thought about how daft the rules can be. After all, if I had 2 arms like that I wouldn't be able to drive in the first place:lol:

not quite true i once met a man in the garden centre who had no arms at all he was driving a converted ford galaxy with a turntable which he controlled with his feet steering by turning the turntable plate and tipping forward to accelerate and back to brake . he drove off quite smartly i was truly amazed by his skill operating the vehicle iv never seen him since but i always look out for him to congratulate him on coping with such a disability.

Well, I stand corrected.

id be curious to know the mechanisms for gaining entry, starting, engaging drive etc. Would be a fair bit of engineering there I guess.

proximity sensors operate door poppers. and foot switches to start and engage drive it was an automatic if doubt that an able bodied person would be able to drive it without some instruction and practice.