Dear All

What a strange day. Today I had my assessment for a Blue Parking Badge. I have become a recluse as my walking is now so limited and at 48 I still need a little independence, so therefore I applied for a Blue Parking Badge.

I was asked to attend a GP practice local to me but not the one I attend. I arrived and was asked to sit in a corridor. A lady came out to see me and she said she was doing the assessment. She told me that she wanted me to walk with her around the outside of the building and at the same time for me to tell her why I had applied for a blue badge. So very carefully we set off. The first hurdle was over a door step and down a ramp which I gingerly negotiated and then I told her about my RA and how it has limited my mobility, my first knee replacement in January, failing on two anti-tnf's and now waiting for my first Rituximab infusion.. I stopped a couple of times as my ankle is really playing up at the moment. We went around to the front door of the building and it took about 3 minutes in total. She then said she was a Physio by trade and that she was an independent assessor, did not have access to my medical records and would make a report to my local council about how I had walked the 100 yards and what I had told her. I would receive a letter in 10-14 days. And that was it ................

It all seemed very strange to me that they do not take into account your medical records and I really could have told her I was suffering from numerous ailments which I am not.

Has anyone else experienced similar?

Jackie
xx

Many many years ago - back in the seventies-my Dad applied for a disabled parking badge. He had very bad emphasema and could only walk very short distances. he was summoned to the council offices and had to walk a long way to find the right room. It took ages as he had to keep stopping. He was refused -basically because if was able to walk to the room he didn't need it!!! Moral of this story - if you are being assessed, be very careful .
Sue

Hi Jackie ,
well i am afraid you will have to wait and see ..
If you are on high rate mobility of DLA then you qualify automatically.
I haven't come across an assessment yet , but then it is down to the Local Authority( LA) to administer it .. see HERE
It seems like it is up to criteria that are set by the individual LA.

Quote from above link:-



"Important Information " could be considered as the fact that the day you were assessed was a good day , and also the fact they didn't take into account medical history.
However, as with all benefits, it is not the illness itself that affects your eligibility , it is the needs you have , in this case mobility needs.

Surprise surprise the Blue badge scheme is also "up for consultation " and ends on the 2nd July 2011 .. more info HERE

Rich

Good luck with your badge Jackie! Ive got one and its made a big difference. Fingers crossed she will have realised how much difficulty and pain you have walking and include it in her report.. Take care love Ceri xx

From what I am told with my council you just have to fill a form in and normally they asses you from that. I am at the moment wondering if I should apply for one, my OT keeps asking me if I have applied for one yet (have had the form since January), last time she asked and I said No she asked me why. I just feel that it's just another downward step in accepting this illness.

I have started (and I know I shouldn't) doing what I call blue badge watch. I look at someone getting out the car and walking away normally, whilst I am having problems getting out of the car and hobbling to the shop. I don't need to use a badge all the time and I wouldn't abuse it when I didn't need it, it's not in my nature to be like that. But when I am struggling I have to find a spot to park where I can get out of the car without banging my door on the car next to me. You know what I mean, the one, two, three then try to stand up. That is normally far away from the shop entrance, so I hobble down with feet and knees hurting, get the trolley, walk around the shop, even if I only want a few things I have to take the trolley back to the car, (can't carry bags because of my fingers and wrists) and then I have to walk back to the shop with the trolley to put it back in the bay, then back to the car. Not much fun in the rain.

A few weeks ago I witnessed a woman parking in the disabled bay, getting out the car with HIGH HEEL boots on, run, yes run across the car park because it was raining and yes she was displaying a blue badge..........I was not amused, standing there looking like a drowned rat!!!!!

Hope you get one.

Paula

Hi Jackie,

I fail to see how your council can assess anyone for a blue badge without taking medical history into account! Each council is a law unto themselves!

You really do deserve to get the badge and everything crossed for you,that you do get it!

Love, Doreen xx

Well since my last post I have to announce that after several months of the form sitting there, it's been filled in and sent!!!!!!!

I have really been struggling these last few months and enough is enough. I am due to have a steroid injection on Monday but because I have had a sore throat on and off for the last 6 - 8 weeks I was told by my specialist nurse to see GP to rule out an infection, she said they can't give me one if I had any sort of infection. Got an appointment with GP, sore throat ruled out but I told him how I was struggling and showed him my CRP readings in my MTX booklet, he told me I have to get something done about my Rheumatoid (I thought that sounded like I was becoming a robot). I asked if I did send off my form would he back me up. He said yes and left a note on my records. He said that my County Council (Nottingham) normally gets in touch with the GP of the applicant.

I saw my OT the following day and she's been telling me to apply for one for ages. I took the form with me and asked if I could put her name down as being the person at the hospital who I had seen during the past twelve months about my condition. There was not enough room on the form for her, the consultant, the specialist nurses, the physios and the ortotic people. She just took the form off me and before I knew where I was she had filled it all in. She put the information about her on it and she asked my questions of how RA affected my mobility and wrote down what I said adding things about RA that I would not of even thought of putting..........all true though.

I had to put my personal details on myself, I got the photographs done and it's been posted. I did ring up and ask where to send it, it wasn't clear on the letter, I asked how long it would take and was told up to 8 weeks, depending on how many applications they were dealing with. Was told that THEY would assess my mobility from what's been put on the form. I just said to the lady on the phone that if my specialist nurse says I need one, my GP agrees that I need one, my OT who I see on a regular basis told me to apply for one, how can someone at the council who knows nothing about about my medical condition and how I am, go against the medical profession, they are not medically trained and know nothing (I would think) about RA.

I think what Jackie had to do, walking around a car park is ridiculous, if they understood this illness they would know how much it can vary.

Hope Jackie gets one and I will let you know how I get on.

Paula xx

Jackie

When you say high mobility care, due you mean the high rate of the mobility part of DLA?

Paula x

I thought that was what you meant. I have read posts on the forum before when blue badges are being discussed and others have mentioned that their council will not issue you one if you are not receiving the higher rate of DLA for mobilty. I think that is wrong, especially now that being awarded DLA is so difficult what with all these cuts etc.

Lets look at it from a different angle. A friend of mine knows a lady who is a widow, a very independent lady who's got RA. She's also from what I have been told very wealthy, she's a multi millionaire, she's got a blue badge. The need for a blue badge is not means tested and she needs one. If she lived in Stafford in order for her to have some Independence and beable to go shopping etc she would have to claim DLA, do you think she needs it? Would it be right for her to take money that she obviously doesn't need from the state when all of these benefits are being cut, I know what I think.

I have recently read two articles in the Daily Mail on line about benefits and I have read the comments that people put. There is alot of people who think that when you've got a blue badge you are claiming every benefit going, even your car's been given to you. This bothers me alot, I am not at present claiming DLA or anything else. It worries me that if I get a blue badge people will and think the same about me.

Paula xx