Can you get disabled parking for your child?

[NiteNicole]

My daughter has dystonia that impacts her right leg.  Sometimes she walks fine, but often she does not.  She uses a walker.  I was wondering if I can get disabled parking on her behalf but I can't find anything on my state website about children (Louisiana).  Sometimes when we got to plays or the zoo the walk from the parking lot can be REALLY long.  On a good day, it's exercise.  On a bad day, it's torture.  She's five, I can't put her out at the door and go park, you know?

[treeoflife3]

My best friend in high school used forearm crutches or a wheel chair and she had a handicapped pass.  I'd always joke about how I only went shopping with her to get the best parking :P

[Guinevere]

Yes, you should absolutely be able to get her a special parking tag. You can pick up the form at your local DMV, and then you'll need to take it and have it filled out by her primary dr before submitting it back to the DMV.

When we applied for our DD, we discovered that our state also requires the applicant to either have a Driver's License (yeah, obviously my now-4 yo doesn't have one of those) or a State ID card. So now DD has a State ID card, which listed her weight and height at the time (too funny, b/c she's such a peanut) and has a picture of her on it. We were mailed the parking tag several weeks. I believe we've had it for a year or so now and it is valid until 2014.

Your child would clearly qualify b/c of limited mobility, but I just wanted to let other parents know who might be reading that children with other disabilities can qualify, as well. For example, DD has Down Syndrome and does not have impaired mobility (quite the contrary, in fact), but she definitely has impaired judgment and extremely high impulsivity. In short, she's a severe bolter. What prompted us to seek out the parking tag was that she has suddenly pulled away from one of us and run headlong towards moving cars in parking lots, only narrowly missing being hit on several ocassions. Bad scene! Having the option of parking closer to the entrance of wherever we're going is absolutely a huge safety benefit for DD.

Anyway, until I asked her ped, I never knew that she might qualify for the parking tag, b/c she is ambulatory, so I thought I'd share the information, in case it helps anyone else.

Guin

[NiteNicole]

Thank you so much, and thanks for sharing so much info.  If someone searches this topic in future, this will pop up and they'll know a lot more than I did!

My husband was convinced it had to be the driver but I couldn't see how that made any sense at all.

[philomom]

Yes, but be sweet and only use it when your kid is with you. Okay?

My dd is eligible for one but doesn't want it yet. She thinks the spots should go to kids worse off than her.

[laohaire]

Originally Posted by philomom 

Yes, but be sweet and only use it when your kid is with you. Okay?

My dd is eligible for one but doesn't want it yet. She thinks the spots should go to kids worse off than her.

LOL, she should explain that to my mom. My mother CANNOT UNDERSTAND why I don't have a handicap placard. (I have low vision and use a white cane - ETA: No, I don't drive). There's really no part of me that wants or needs one. But my mother got a placard for my father because SHE wanted one. I'm not even clear how my father qualified, maybe bursitis in his knee? Argh!

But OP, yeah, no way it's just for the driver. Mention this to your husband: one of the benefits of disabled parking is the extra space on the side (for mobility equipment, like a wheelchair). It doesn't make sense that only the driver would get access to that benefit. Frankly, if it was only about making the driver comfortable, how comfortable would the driver be having to manipulate a wheelchair next to the parking spot to help their passenger out, when it's crammed next to another car? Also, don't forget that handicap parking has been around a lot longer than so-called handicapped drivers.

[KatWrangler]

Originally Posted by NiteNicole 

Thank you so much, and thanks for sharing so much info.  If someone searches this topic in future, this will pop up and they'll know a lot more than I did!

My husband was convinced it had to be the driver but I couldn't see how that made any sense at all.

No, your husband is incorrect.  We have disabled plates because of my daughter Gabrielle.  Now if she isn't with us or not getting out, we do not parking in the handicap spot.  Only if she is getting out.

She wears braces on both legs.

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by philomom 

Yes, but be sweet and only use it when your kid is with you. Okay?

This really should go without saying, but it's true that I've seen people misuse the disabled parking tags from time to time. I think this is the minority, though. The people who REALLY annoy me are those who park in disabled parking with no sticker or license plate at all! Not cool, you know?

Anyway, the tag DD has actually has HER photo printed on it very prominently, so it would be relatively easy to tell if someone were using it improperly. But I know not all of them have this. In our case, I fully expect (hope?) that when 2014 rolls around (DD will be 8 then), we will be over the worst of the constant bolting and won't need to renew it. :)

Guin

[NiteNicole]

Originally Posted by philomom 

Yes, but be sweet and only use it when your kid is with you. Okay?

My dd is eligible for one but doesn't want it yet. She thinks the spots should go to kids worse off than her.

Ha!  As if she would let the wheels of the car turn without her in it!

[philomom]

Originally Posted by Guinevere 

This really should go without saying, but it's true that I've seen people misuse the disabled parking tags from time to time. I think this is the minority, though. The people who REALLY annoy me are those who park in disabled parking with no sticker or license plate at all! Not cool, you know?

Anyway, the tag DD has actually has HER photo printed on it very prominently, so it would be relatively easy to tell if someone were using it improperly. But I know not all of them have this. In our case, I fully expect (hope?) that when 2014 rolls around (DD will be 8 then), we will be over the worst of the constant bolting and won't need to renew it. :)

Guin

Sorry. I have a friend with a disabled child and she really gets worked up when she sees able bodied folks jump out of a handicap parking spot. Her kid has cerebral palsy and braces on both legs.

[LynnS6]

Originally Posted by NiteNicole 

My husband was convinced it had to be the driver but I couldn't see how that made any sense at all.

My parents have one because my mom is blind. They actually just got it about 2 years ago, and don't always use it. But as she ages, she needs more help navigating, and it just doesn't make sense to drag her through a snowy Minnesota parking lot, so I'm glad that they've got one. But since she's blind, there's no way she could be the driver! We joke about her driving, but it really is just a joke.
 

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by philomom 

Originally Posted by Guinevere 

This really should go without saying, but it's true that I've seen people misuse the disabled parking tags from time to time. I think this is the minority, though. The people who REALLY annoy me are those who park in disabled parking with no sticker or license plate at all! Not cool, you know?

Anyway, the tag DD has actually has HER photo printed on it very prominently, so it would be relatively easy to tell if someone were using it improperly. But I know not all of them have this. In our case, I fully expect (hope?) that when 2014 rolls around (DD will be 8 then), we will be over the worst of the constant bolting and won't need to renew it. :)

Guin

Sorry. I have a friend with a disabled child and she really gets worked up when she sees able bodied folks jump out of a handicap parking spot. Her kid has cerebral palsy and braces on both legs.

I understand to a point; however, as I have already noted, there are a number of different disabilities which meet the qualifications for a disabled parking tag, and not all of them 

involve the person having limited mobility. So just watching someone jump out of a vehicle in a disabled parking spot may not really tell you the whole story.

I don't know, having multiple children with SN has brought many, many things along with it, but probably the most significant change for me personally is that I am now way less judgmental of people in general. So often there may be things going on with someone and they just aren't overt, or what is visible can be misunderstood. Anyway, I suppose there *are* a subset of people out there who apparently live to misuse their family's disabled parking tags, just as there is a subset of people in every area of life who don't do the right thing, but I still think (hope) they're in the significant minority.

Guin

[NiteNicole]

My daughter may appear to be doing pretty well on the way in the store and I may have to carry her out.  You just never know. 

[beenmum]

 I have had one for my DD since she was 4 months old (she had alot of equipment I had to carry around.

Now she has one b/c of her visual impairment ans bilateral leg braces.

You can get one b/c her mobility is unpredicatble and impaired and it is a safety concern.

I know people who've gotten them for autism and cogntivie delays also.

[beenmum]

I get yelled at all the time b/c people dont realize my DD is blind. I do get upset when I have to pack 10 yards away with my VI kid who wears bilateral leg braces and the person who took the last one looks far far more able (as in they arent the disabled one. The disabled person remains in the car)  then my DD is.

Edited b/c I wasnt clear, sorry.

Edited by beenmum - 4/10/11 at 8:21am

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by philomom 

Originally Posted by Guinevere 

This really should go without saying, but it's true that I've seen people misuse the disabled parking tags from time to time. I think this is the minority, though. The people who REALLY annoy me are those who park in disabled parking with no sticker or license plate at all! Not cool, you know?

Anyway, the tag DD has actually has HER photo printed on it very prominently, so it would be relatively easy to tell if someone were using it improperly. But I know not all of them have this. In our case, I fully expect (hope?) that when 2014 rolls around (DD will be 8 then), we will be over the worst of the constant bolting and won't need to renew it. :)

Guin

Sorry. I have a friend with a disabled child and she really gets worked up when she sees able bodied folks jump out of a handicap parking spot. Her kid has cerebral palsy and braces on both legs.

Your friend does know that there are conditions where a person might be fine walking into the store and nearly collapsing by the end of shopping, right?

And that a lot of the time the person won't know whether it's going to be a good trip or a bad one until they have to leave early due to horrible pain?

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by beenmum 

I get yelled at all the time b/c people dont realize my DD is blind. I do get upset when I have to pack 10 yards away with my VI kid who wears bilateral leg braces and the person who took the last one looks far far more able then my DD is.

And do you stop every car with a disabled tag and ask about why they have a tag and find out if your dd is more mobile than them before you take one of the accessible spaces?

I'm not seeing how you'd expect the person who took the last space to even know that someone else was about to come along who had a more visible disability.

(Now, if it's a person without tags, I totally support calling the cops.)

[sapphire_chan]

Originally Posted by philomom 

Yes, but be sweet and only use it when your kid is with you. Okay?

My dd is eligible for one but doesn't want it yet. She thinks the spots should go to kids worse off than her.

Are the number of spaces available in public places based on the number of issued tags? If they were, getting a tag and not using it could open up more spaces for the other kids. =D
 

[Guinevere]

Originally Posted by beenmum 

I get yelled at all the time b/c people dont realize my DD is blind. I do get upset when I have to pack 10 yards away with my VI kid who wears bilateral leg braces and the person who took the last one looks far far more able then my DD is.

See, I don't get upset myself b/c I figure, if you (or your child) have met the criteria for a disabled parking sticker (and it's not the easiest of things to do, honestly, they don't just hand them out right and left), then you have as much right to park in those spaces as someone who has visible signs of mobility impairment. Isn't being the parent of a SN kiddo hard enough some days without judging others as to who has it harder?  Goodness knows we're judged enough by the outside world as it is; it's a little disheartening to read that we're also being judged by the SN community, too, as to how disabled we appear. :(

Guin

[NiteNicole]

Originally Posted by philomom 

Yes, but be sweet and only use it when your kid is with you. Okay?

My dd is eligible for one but doesn't want it yet. She thinks the spots should go to kids worse off than her.

I'm sorry, I've been thinking about this comment.  I tried to make a joke about it but really, it's bothering me.  It was just totally unnecessary.  It's taken me 18 months to admit that things are probably never going to go back to normal, that this can not be cured for her.  I assure you I'm not trying to scam myself a place just a little bit closer to Target but I'm not trying to raise a martyr who won't ask for help when she needs it, either.  Sometimes she can not walk.  Even with the walker, it's mostly just keeping her from falling.  Sometimes, like now, she appears to walk fine for several steps, but stumbles and falls every few feet.  I guess I could make her walk further because other kids might need the places more - or more importantly, I guess, might appear to. 

As someone who has a child with a physical issue, I am MORE than aware of how inconsiderate people and the world in general can be to people with special needs.  I don't need to be told.