% of non-disabled people who park in Disabled spots!!...

[CF93]

My wife is disabled and has blue badges. She can walk a bit, normally needs at least one walking stick though, but she's only 40 (and a young looking 40 at that) so we get lots of funny looks as she's not the stereotypical image of a disabled granny (especially from white van men) but what they don't realize is, walking more than a couple of hundred yards would leave her in bed ill for the next couple of days. You would never know to look at her though.

Appearances can be deceiving.

Frankly I hate it when people abuse disabled bays. If it's the middle of the night and there are two cars in a fifty space carpark and there are plenty disabled bays still free, it's not so bad, but during the day it makes life hell.

More than once we've gone to Tesco late (as in 11pm or later) because it's quieter so easier for her to get around, and not been able to get a space in the disabled bays because the night staff have taken them all. The management just said it's "safer" for the staff. What? The extra five yards under full lighting with several security guards by the store entrance able to see every space makes it less safe? Pfft. And I'm not talking about a small Tesco, I mean one of the really big ones with enough carparking to accommodate the M25.

A large shopping centre near us has about 60 or so disabled bays, I guess, but on a Saturday afternoon it's damn impossible to get one, sometimes they're being abused but even when they're not it's just not a good trime. All those people who are commenting about too many spaces, what time of what day are you going? Off-peak it's obviously going to be less busy but at peak times we've actually had to leave shopping centres and go elsewhere due to a lack of spaces.

 

[Tefal]

My wife is disabled and has blue badges. She can walk a bit, normally needs at least one walking stick though, but she's only 40 (and a young looking 40 at that) so we get lots of funny looks as she's not the stereotypical image of a disabled granny (especially from white van men) but what they don't realize is, walking more than a couple of hundred yards would leave her in bed ill for the next couple of days. You would never know to look at her though.

ok this is something i've always wondered, what about the walk around the shop?

or do you use one of those provided mobility scooters, or does having the trolley as a sort of zimmer frame help?

 

[jaybee]

My wife is disabled and has blue badges. She can walk a bit, normally needs at least one walking stick though, but she's only 40 (and a young looking 40 at that) so we get lots of funny looks as she's not the stereotypical image of a disabled granny (especially from white van men) but what they don't realize is, walking more than a couple of hundred yards would leave her in bed ill for the next couple of days.

I do not understand how the parking spaces being closer to the store help your wife? I am NOT being disrespectful I am asking because I do not understand. If she gets ill after walking more than 200 yards, then what does she do once she's got to say Aisle 7? Stop? Sorry I must be missing something here.

 

[jaybee]

ok this is something i've always wondered, what about the walk around the shop?

or do you use one of those provided mobility scooters, or does having the trolley as a sort of zimmer frame help?

Are you just asked the same but beat me to it.

 

[Tefal]

Are you just asked the same but beat me to it.

Beaten like a redheaded stepchild

 

[jaybee]

Beaten like a redheaded stepchild

LMAO

 

[Rainmaker]

I can't speak for CF93 or his wife, but going by the username I'm thinking she and I share a condition.

One of my disabilities is ME (CFS) and I have to be extremely careful how much energy I use. We don't recycle energy like normal folks, so whereas you can walk to the shop, play a little sport, make dinner and go to bed, we can't. Your mitochondria are constantly recycling and making energy (keeping your 'batteries' topped up), whereas in ME/CFS this process doesn't occur.

Because of this, once we've used our energy up we have to wait up to three days (experiencing several rather nasty side effects) for our ATP cycle to restart so we can get out and about again (or out of bed again, depending on the individual). It sounds far fetched, but if only! That extra walk across the car park can mean the difference between finishing a quick shop, getting home and managing to eat; or suffering a relapse and spending two weeks in bed feeling like you've got the worst migraine/flu/virus ever, all at the same time. Not fun.

 

[jaybee]

Makes sense. Thankyou

 

[fidget]

definately only 2, you need to look closer, the crosshatched areas are not bays

Definately 4, I took the photo

It's quite tricky to see because of the faded lines and illusion the perspective gives, but i've highlighted the spaces here:

The parts between the spaces are hatched to allow people to open car doors easily.

 

[kylew]

I think you're missing the point slightly, they are there for disabled people not for you.

do you use the other genders toilets if yours are full?

Wouldn't it have made sense to say "disabled" (accessible) toilets rather than "other genders' toilet"? It's not really a comparable example is it?

To answer that question, if the toilets are full, I'll happily use an accessible toilet, if some one who is disabled needs to use it while I'm in there, it's no different to them waiting if it were a disabled person using it.

 

[Cosimo]

Where do you shop there's always people with kids in the supermarket when i go

Big supermarkets around here and people leave their brats at home and they don’t do family outings to the supermarket. You must live in the sticks.

 

[Cosimo]

more annoying to me is people who drive 4x4s or expensive mercs and bmws who think they can make their own parking spaces were ever they want, and if they decide to park with the peasants in the normal spaces provided they are allowed to take up two spaces.

I usually take up one and a bit spaces. Don't want some peasant banging the car with their doors or car.

 

[Tefal]

I can't speak for CF93 or his wife, but going by the username I'm thinking she and I share a condition.

One of my disabilities is ME (CFS) and I have to be extremely careful how much energy I use. We don't recycle energy like normal folks, so whereas you can walk to the shop, play a little sport, make dinner and go to bed, we can't. Your mitochondria are constantly recycling and making energy (keeping your 'batteries' topped up), whereas in ME/CFS this process doesn't occur.

Because of this, once we've used our energy up we have to wait up to three days (experiencing several rather nasty side effects) for our ATP cycle to restart so we can get out and about again (or out of bed again, depending on the individual). It sounds far fetched, but if only! .

out of curiosity where did you get that explanation from?

Cause iiirc your body recycles about your body weight in atp a day (each molecule thousands of times over) so you'd be dead pretty damn fast if it didn't.

 

[Rainmaker]

out of curiosity where did you get that explanation from?

Cause iiirc your body recycles about your body weight in atp a day so you'd be dead pretty damn fast if it didn't.

I was simplifying it for the sake of brevity as the point was made well enough. FWIW typing out long forum posts after a difficult day can be as energy draining as physical exercise. If you Google 'ME mitochondria' or 'ME spoons' you'll get a better idea with some more technical data to back it up. I hope that's helpful and doesn't come across as dismissive.

 

[CF93]

I do not understand how the parking spaces being closer to the store help your wife? I am NOT being disrespectful I am asking because I do not understand. If she gets ill after walking more than 200 yards, then what does she do once she's got to say Aisle 7? Stop? Sorry I must be missing something here.

I can't speak for CF93 or his wife, but going by the username I'm thinking she and I share a condition.

One of my disabilities is ME (CFS) and I have to be extremely careful how much energy I use. We don't recycle energy like normal folks, so whereas you can walk to the shop, play a little sport, make dinner and go to bed, we can't. Your mitochondria are constantly recycling and making energy (keeping your 'batteries' topped up), whereas in ME/CFS this process doesn't occur.

Because of this, once we've used our energy up we have to wait up to three days (experiencing several rather nasty side effects) for our ATP cycle to restart so we can get out and about again (or out of bed again, depending on the individual). It sounds far fetched, but if only! That extra walk across the car park can mean the difference between finishing a quick shop, getting home and managing to eat; or suffering a relapse and spending two weeks in bed feeling like you've got the worst migraine/flu/virus ever, all at the same time. Not fun.

Bingo, Rainmaker, you and she do indeed suffer the same thing. jaybee, it's the inconsistency with ME that's the problem; Like I said, some days she will only use a wheelchair or scooter - but on others if she feels up to it she will try and walk at least a little bit so she feels more "normal". Bit difficult to hold her husbands hand form a wheelchair for example... On those days, the bays are invaluable.

Plus, if someone who is disabled with ME/CFS starts to recover, having the ability to use a bay rather than go straight to the bunfight for normal spaces helps ease them into "normal" life more gently, reducing chances of a relapse.

(Although, actually my username is nothing to do with it. I originally registered as "ColdFire" - my old Quake3 name - many years ago and never actually used the account, could never get logged on with it, so the CF is an abbreviation of that and the 93 is my old housenumber cause I couldn't think of anything more imaginative at the time!)

 

[Valentino]

Definately 4, I took the photo

It's quite tricky to see because of the faded lines and illusion the perspective gives, but i've highlighted the spaces here:

The parts between the spaces are hatched to allow people to open car doors easily.

Nope i'm not buying that. The extra bays you are claiming are significantly smaller than the ones we see in shot, yet this 'perspective' doesn't apply to the zebra crossing. The one furthest away is the same size at the one closest so the space shouldn't be this much smaller than the obvious bay.

 

[Tefal]

yeah the left two bays look like just a miss shape from when the car park was re purposed fro ma normal one to have disabled bays and so had a bit of spare space left over.

 

[MofoKilla]

lol @ that "monster truck" bet that is fun to drive

 

[razerbwfc]

I've never done this.

However, there is another way to conveniently park anywhere you want. Simply put on your hazards and park anywhere you wish. Outside a high street, the front of a hospital, even the middle of the motorway!

Lol

It tickles me when people do this. I see parents on the zig-zag yellows outside school with their hazards on all the time, because that obviously makes their stupid/dangerous parking perfectly acceptable.

No point getting wound up. People are lazy. They will disregard most laws/signs when it comes to parking as close to wherever they need to get to as needs be (usually with hazards on to negate said crap parking)

 

[Werewolf]

out of curiosity where did you get that explanation from?

Cause iiirc your body recycles about your body weight in atp a day (each molecule thousands of times over) so you'd be dead pretty damn fast if it didn't.

I'm not sure about the full explanation (IIRC the ATP thing is one of the things that has shown up as unusual in ME/CFS patients, another is some odd proteins in the spinal fluid*). but the tests basically showed that the energy production in ME/CFS patients at the cellular level wasn't what would be expected in healthy people - I think it was in a similar state to an athlete who'd just run a race (bad wording, but you probably get the gist of it)
Which ties in with what some ME sufferers have said over the years about it being like you have a faulty battery, you do something but don't recover the energy/get exhausted very quickly, a bit like a faulty car battery.


Back on topic slightly.
You can't judge how healthy someone is by looking at them getting in/out of a car
A lot of people have blue badges (which generally require at the very least a doctors signature, normally that you're in receipt of DLA), but look healthy because their condition isn't obvious, I wouldn't question someone who had a blue badge displayed but looked healthy because
A: It's not my job.
B: It's none of my business and I know several people who definitely need blue badges but look fine on the rare occasions they actually get out, at least when getting out of a car...




*IIRC a major US military hospital was running tests on GWS, and because ME/CFS have similar symptoms included them in the tests alongside a control group, and found in the preliminary tests that all 3 of the ill groups had proteins not found at all in the "control" group, and that some of the odd proteins were common across all 3 ill groups/patients, whilst others were found in only some of them (which ties in to the fact the 3 illnesses are similar).