The lack of subjects

[lyron]

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.

[stuartvolvo]

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

[lyron]

thanks for that stuart.



ron.

[Spitfire4]

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.

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by Mike 700

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.

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

[Mike 700]

Originally Posted by volvorocks

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

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by Mike 700

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.

Originally Posted by Mike 700

...btw being old is not a disability.

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

[Mike 700]

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.

[volvorocks]

Originally Posted by Mike 700

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.

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

Originally Posted by Mike 700

...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.

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

[Mike 700]

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,