Blue Disability Badges.

[Maywalk]

Disablement badges.

I dont know how many we have in this group that has to have one of these to put in a car if taken anywhere but due to the hips not healing after breaking them I have had one for well over 8 years now.

I have had a reminder that it is due to be renewed in October and there is 15 pages that one has to read and fill out according to ones ability to walk.

I am worse now than what I was three years ago but they want to know how many metres I can walk unaided.

OR if I use a walker how many steps I can take without getting out of breath and have to sit down. I have to send a copy of my wedding certificate that they have had aiready three years ago and write down exactly what is stopping me from walking without an aid.

It can be filled out on line BUT I dont feel inclined to pass my personal details on the net so I have printed the 15 pages off.

Now I have got to go and have another passport photo taken to send to them.

What a ruddy shambles and if this is supposed to be improvement I think the one who came up with the idea needs to find out IF they have a brain.

[laurie53]

It's down to your local authority, Maisie.

Before I qualified automatically I had to make a fifty mile journey to be assessed by an occupational therapist, one from social services not the NHS. (I was assessed as fit and had to ask for an independent review, which reversed the decision.)

If you get the Higher Rate of the mobility allowance (or a War pension Mobility Supplement) you qualify automatically.

My council uses my bus pass photo for my Blue Badge so I'm spared that fuss!

[Penny]

So sorry you have had such a lot of worry Maisie. Surely if you are already the owner of such a pass, one question,,,Any Changes...would be sufficient. I keep suggesting hubby applies for ne but he always puts it off, now I can see why. Take care. cheers Penny

[Maywalk]

Yes I KNOW it is Laurie and its from them all this has come about in Leicestershire.
What gets my goat is the fact that I have had one for the past 8 years and now according to the local authority one has got to prove that they cannot move very well.
Many of the questions are repeated more or less in most sections.
The mind boggles.

[Maywalk]

Hi Penny.
If you type in local authority of where you live for a blue badge it will most likely come up like this one.
Worth having a look BUT if it is anything like this a person cannot get a badge if they can still walk a certain distance especially with sticks or walking aids.

[laurie53]

If your husband is going to apply, Penny, he should get in quick.

This is an area subject to EU regulation and is something else that will change markedly after Brexit.

Not only will your disabled parking permit not be recognised on the mainland, but neither will your driving licence and we'll be back to having to get an International Driving Permit.

[Andere Richtingen]

I had no idea it is so complicated now. And why on earth would you have to produce your marriage certificate? Your marital status has absolutely no relationship to your abi!ity to walk! That's just plain intrusive.

When my late father got his, about 30 years ago, his GP wrote a letter to the local authority (Banffshire, Scotland) recommending that dad be awarded a badge and the LA sent an independent assessor - a qualified medical doctor - to visit him and ascertain how far he could walk/hobble with and without aids. Job done. The badge arrived in the post a couple of days Later.

We were living in the London Borough of Redbridge at the time and, not long afterwards, there was a report in the local paper that the council had appealed to GPs to stop making so many recommendations because a) they couldn't keep up with demand and b) there were too few designated parking spaces available for the hordes of people entitled to use them!

[dita]

Not directly compared with the above Maisie but never-the-less a very important issue if you have your medication delivered. If you require this service it now has to paid for either monthly or yearly-----unless you can arrange to have it delivered by post. Funny but no one seems to be very concerned about that fact, unless of cause you have disabilities, live in isolating areas and unable to get into a Boots, Lloyds are other Chemists.

[Maywalk]

I used to pay for it Dita but it stopped well over 18 months ago.
Whether it was because of my age or not I have NO idea.
I dont mind paying for it because I know I cant get out to get it.

[Maywalk]

I had no idea it is so complicated now. And why on earth would you have to produce your marriage certificate? Your marital status has absolutely no relationship to your abi!ity to walk! That's just plain intrusive.

When my late father got his, about 30 years ago, his GP wrote a letter to the local authority (Banffshire, Scotland) recommending that dad be awarded a badge and the LA sent an independent assessor - a qualified medical doctor - to visit him and ascertain how far he could walk/hobble with and without aids. Job done. The badge arrived in the post a couple of days Later.

We were living in the London Borough of Redbridge at the time and, not long afterwards, there was a report in the local paper that the council had appealed to GPs to stop making so many recommendations because a) they couldn't keep up with demand and b) there were too few designated parking spaces available for the hordes of people entitled to use them!

I have printed this part of the form for you to see Andere.

[laurie53]

Paying for meds?

What an outlandish idea!

[Maywalk]

Yes I WOULD pay for the delivery Laurie. That is all it was.
I did NOT have to pay for my prescription, just delivery.
Especially when I cannot get out to get them myself, but even that is no longer requested from my pharmacist.

[Andere Richtingen]

So it's all about identity?! It would be a shame to point out to them that they knew who you are the last time they issued the badge and, so far as you're aware, you are still the same person ... That would be unkind and might mean that some council factotum is made to go and do something useful instead of wasting other people's time!

All this proving of identity before you can see a doctor, deposit money, buy a house etc. etc but none of it makes any difference. There are still unknown numbers of people living here illegally and massive amounts outstanding in unpaid medical bills and motoring fines incurred by overseas drivers but why do anything about all that when it's easier to stress out innocent disabled people who are merely requesting a blue badge?

Good luck with the form-filling, Maisie x

[Maywalk]

Typical red tape which is getting worse every day Andere. Thought up by ruddy imbeciles who get paid an over the top wage to make a balls up for everyone.