Mother, 33, who needs a walking stick after suffering chronic nerve damage is told by council she can’t have a Blue Badge because she is ‘not disabled enough’
by Ivashkin
Mother, 33, who needs a walking stick after suffering chronic nerve damage is told by council she can’t have a Blue Badge because she is ‘not disabled enough’
by Ivashkin
14 comments
Should have wrapped the walking stick around the officials bonce
Did I just slip into an alternative reality or is the Dailly Heil running a story criticising officials for not proving a state benefit?
Don’t want to sound like a dick, but obviously there is a sliding scale to this stuff, with a cut off. How else could it work?
Why does needing a walking stick automatically qualify you for a blue badge?
To be honest, though, the criteria for a blue badge is a bit strange.
All blind people are entitled to it, but most of us don’t have any mobility issues Which is why I don’t have one And Although some use the extra space for the Guide Dogs, I’m not sure that’s what it’s intended for.
appeal. they did this with my old man and he appealed and they got him one straight away
You get a blue badge if you claim the mobility component of PIP. It’s a passported benefit. So it isn’t the council, it’s the PIP assessors.
It says something about the system when most people are successful on appeal. The process is a chore.
Posing in the photos. Doesn’t look like she struggles that much with walking.
Not that I’m saying she shouldn’t have a badge, but there are plenty of people with mobility issues who still don’t meet the bar for a blue badge. It’s not for being disabled, it’s for having a certain level of mobility issues. It is possible for people with walking issues to still not meet the criteria. And the criteria were tightened because so many people were taking the piss and abusing the system.
We had a similar situation, ended up in front of a panel. Without having specifics, only one of the 3 board members agreed we needed one. We asked the reasons the two voted against. Because the issue, had at one instance, not happened, this meant it wasn’t an every day issue. When we explained, again, yes that one time it didn’t happen but the other 364 days a year it did, they said we need to tick “everyday” for you to be eligible. I asked then person, why did one person vote yes then? Is that because 364 days a year is the same as every day for all intents and purposes? They wouldn’t answer. It was a grim experience to be honest to put your troubles and issues out in such detail and honesty to strangers, to ultimately, have them do their best to say no on any technicality they could find.
The whole system is flawed and is just a postcode lottery as to whether or not you would fit the criteria. It really should be centralised or at least have just a single scoring system to determine if you’re eligible.
Didn’t even need to finish reading the title before I guessed the source
My mum has walked with a walking stick since she was 30 thanks to arthritis, she can’t take the go to pain killers because she’s allergic, she’s been refused knee & hip replacements because she’s too young, she’s now 65, more than half her life has been spent in pain. She had never had a blue badge or even bothered asking for one because if they say no to life changing surgery they’d say no to that