Editorial: Upset over parking rights

Today we report that mobility card users are calling on people to not make snap judgments about whether people are disabled based on their appearance.

"Don't judge a book by its cover." It's age-old advice but advice that some people would do well to consider before confronting those they believe are parking illegally in disability parks.

Today we report that mobility card users are calling on people to not make snap judgments about whether people are disabled based on their appearance.

The call follows a story in Friday's Bay of Plenty Times about a woman who received an abusive note berating her for using a mobility carpark, despite her valid permit allowing her to do so.

Click here to read the original story about the woman's experience.

Other disabled motorists have since described similar situations as hurtful, annoying and upsetting.

Tauranga woman Megs Ballam also experienced a situation where she received an abusive note labelling her as a "lazy slob" for taking up a mobility carpark while at Mount Maunganui beach for a charity event.

Ms Ballam suffers from a type of muscular atrophy that prevents her from being able to walk more than a couple of hundred metres.

Understandably, she was extremely upset by the note.

There are 3511 people in Tauranga with mobility parking permits, which are managed by CCS Disability Action.

Last week David Matthews, chief executive of CCS Disability Action, says similar situations where members of the public had confronted mobility permit holders about their apparent lack of disability had been made known to the organisation in the past.

He urges people to use discretion when approaching people about the use of mobility cards, because appearances can be deceiving.

It is good to see people watching out for disabled drivers.

But any possible benefit is outweighed by the hurt caused by assumptions based on a person's appearance.