23 February (Part 3) - Exactly how does one get a Blue Badge these days?
It’s been a while since I mentioned my near to 98 year old aunt. She is now
with my sister in Hampshire and much improved over a couple of months ago but
only yesterday the local GP said her thyroid level was the lowest he had ever
seen. That’s what the endocrinologist in the hospital said too. The result of
two and a half years of neglect and wrong prescribing by her GP in East Ham.
Thanks to other preoccupations I have not yet made a complaint to the GMC. Her
doctor ignored the one I sent to him.
We bought a wheelchair so she can be taken to the shops etc. but parking the
car is a pain. Without access to disabled bays it is next to impossible to get
her out of the car and straight into the chair.
A Blue Badge is the obvious answer and loads of people get them who do not have
such severe mobility problems as the old lady. She cannot take a single step
unaided and certainly cannot get up a step.
I applied through Newham Council’s website as if I was her and it eventually
told me to take her to their assessment centre. I doubt that would be possible even
if she still lived in East Ham.
I tried again as if I was a relative applying on her behalf. That took me to
Bexley’s assessment centre. Even worse.
So my sister tried the Hampshire council website. That was totally different,
but it wanted ID.
A birth certificate - my aunt was born in a village just outside Rangoon. I am
not at all sure she has one.
Alternatives were a marriage certificate. I don’t think she even had a steady
boyfriend let alone a husband.
A driving licence? No she was not a driver.
A passport? She went to Israel in 1981. Any passport, if it still exists, will
be long out of date.
What about a current Freedom Pass? No we don’t accept other authorities’ֹ bus passes.
So where do we go now? It seems to most of us that the disabled can get
a Blue Badge fairly easily but a 97 year old who cannot walk unaided at all is not allowed to have one.
This country has gone totally Bonkers.