Space Invaders - A Disabled Parking Experience
By Nicole B

I hear there are changes afoot — new and improved fines and regulations involving Disabled Parking and Permits. Yippee! Around 400 bucks if you’re caught parking illegally and permits that can’t be used by anyone but the person they’re issued to. About bloody time! Hopefully this might make people a little more considerate.

I’ve had the lifestyle threatening disease of Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) since I was seven. I’m now in my thirties. RA means I can’t walk very far or stand for long in a queue or put the sock on my left foot without a stick and a hook. I can’t sit on the ground or eat big floppy pieces of pizza except with a knife and fork and I can’t dance (well) probably because I can’t turn my head (at all) or move my arms or legs very much or…. But by God I’m a great driver! Disabled parking makes it easier for me to get on with “living my best life”: buying groceries, visiting doctors, going to the pub, eating out…

Shall I tell you some of the responses able-bodied people have thrown at me when caught parking in a disabled space:
“I’ve got a sore leg” (They tell me as they limp away first on the right and then oops it’s on the left, oops back to the right….)
“F… off!”
“I’ve just got to buy some milk for my baby.”
“Piss off!”
“I didn’t see the sign.” What the big blue sign with a wheelchair that you drove over the top of as well as that one right there in front of your car?
“Tell someone who cares.”

And so the list goes on. The small fines previously handed out haven’t proved to be much of a deterrent and so ingenious solutions have been formulated by some people with disabilities in order to discourage repeat offenders. Of course they were only used when they were ABSOLUTELY sure the people were not eligible to park there and had also been given the opportunity to move. (Sometimes the drivers are carers of people with disabilities.)

A lipstick message written across windscreens or the backs of cars can be effective. Never rude — just simple and to the point. Something like “I park ILLEGALLY in Disabled Parking Spaces”, is quite catchy. A little message on the side mirror is also a nice touch. They don’t realise it’s there until they look down to reverse out. Lipstick is useful as it comes off (with a bit of effort) and doesn’t cause any permanent damage.

Another “inconvenience” is to pop a note on the windscreen using Vaseline. The note won’t blow off and the Vaseline has to be scraped off. A nuisance perhaps but nothing compared to the inconvenience for the disabled person who can’t find a parking space.

Once I saw someone chew some gum and stick it under a woman’s door handle. Gross, I know. But deserved. The poor guy whose pleas were ignored as she locked and left her car for a lunch date with the girls, was forced to retreat with his wheelchair atop his car to try again another day.

Once I admit, I took matters into my own hands and parked two cars in outside the Art Gallery. I left a note explaining that I hoped I wasn’t inconveniencing them but all the disabled spaces were taken (by them!!) so I really had to park there. We enjoyed the gallery AND lunch before returning to the car to be met not with apologies but with down-turned heads and scurrying in the opposite direction. NB. We had given them the opportunity to move before we did this!

Thank goodness the new permits are going to have fraud protection mechanisms in place. My car has been broken into three times and the only thing stolen each time was my Disabled Parking Permit. Do they realise what a pain in the bum it is to get a new one? Go to an RTA. Hmm where shall I park? Can’t park in the disabled space because I don’t have a permit!

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