Dear Mel
The orange badge system in the UK - which Alison has already referred to -
is ripe for review, and I have written to the GP press on this matter on
several occasions. What happens is this: the patient applies to their local
authority for the badge, and the authority then writes to the GP for
confirmation that the patient has a condition which is permanent and which
prevents them walking more than a certain distance unaided. The trouble is
that this is one of the many occasions when the GP is required to act as the
patient's advocate (their usual role) but also - in this instance - the
arbiter of a particular situation. Plainly if the patient's condition is not
permanent, such as a post-operative recovery period, then the patient can be
advised accordingly and the badge refused, but all too often the situation
can boil down to a difference of opinion between doctor and patient on just
how far they can walk without help. I must say that in this situation,
because I am anxious to maintain my support for the patient in the longer
term, I err on their side and coutersign the form, as to do otherwise is
just not worth the hassle.
What is really required to avoid these situations is a third party
assessment unit, totally divorced from the GP himself, which would have the
right to say Yes or No in an objective way. This obviously requires far more
funding than the government can afford, and the status quo remains.
One thing which might improve the situation would be a passport style
photograph of the disabled person on the pass itself, to avoid other members
of the family using the pass and the vehicle when the disabled person is not
actually present. Again, this review is slow in implementation.
A documentary television programme in the UK some time ago did exactly what
you and your wife did, and challenged those who parked in disabled areas to
prove their disability. Unsurprisingly they got exactly the same mix of
responses as you yourselves did, including the hostile reactions on
occasions.
Robert
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
> Recently my paraplegic wife and I were sitting in the parking lot of a
large
> shopping mall and thought that we would carry out an informal survey in
> Denver of the use of parking bays reserved for the disabled. We were so
> shocked that we separately or jointly repeated our little study at a few
> other shopping malls and this is what we found over a period of three
months:
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