Like many disabled people, I may sound like a stuck record, going on and on about parking.
The reason I do is because not being able to park near where you’re going has a huge direct, and often indirect, impact on your quality of life if you’re disabled.
Generally speaking, many disabled people will have issues getting around. When those mobility issues are made into even bigger hurdles to living life, it is easy to understand why barriers to parking impact so dramatically.
It is not just direct effects like some people using disabled bays thoughtlessly, or badly thought out parking restrictions, or even accidents such as that in the film in my previous blog.
There are also frequently indirect consequences that are not immediately obvious.
For example, my wife and I recently went to the theatre in Central London. Some car owners had illegally parked in the specially designated disabled bays. The place we eventually found to park was a 15 minute wheel from the theatre. By the time we got there, the play had started and we couldn’t go in late (getting to where the wheelchair spaces are would have caused huge disruption to the performance). We went home. Our evening was spoilt.
Knock-on effects like this are common and make life especially challenging.
