Kash Edmonds is a bubbly and bright 4-year-old boy with lots of energy.
But that boundless energy is very restricted because of a rare form cerebral palsy, a condition he was diagnosed with when he was 6 months old.
He gets frustrated for this simple reason - he wants to do things but can't.
Kash needs, and gets, lots of support, to help with his movement limitations, among other things.
So when five new mobility carparks were created in the vicinity of Raumati Beach Kindergarten (which he attends), Raumati Beach School and Kapiti College, his family were delighted because the parks would make their lives a little bit easier.
Five mobility carparks by Raumati Beach Kindergarten, Raumati Beach School and Kapiti College.
Each mobility carpark is large, they're on flat ground, away from other carparks, and means Kash, who has epilepsy and is non-verbal, has got plenty of space for his mum or dad to lift him out of the family car and into his walker.
However the mobility carparks are often used by people who don't need to park there.
"Everyone wants a close carpark but there's a difference between a want and a need," Kash's mother, Nicola Stoddart-Edmonds, said.
She highlighted the problem on social media after a mum friend, who has a disability, had to get out of a car and tell a repeat offender to move so she could park there.
"He was hardly polite to her, in fact extremely rude."
And on another occasion another mum had to wait while a woman, who was using the carpark, said, "It's just temporary, I'm moving on." That led the waiting mum to say, "It's okay, my son only has a disability for a moment."
Nicola said the problem had gone on for too long and something had to be said publicly.
"There are kids like Kash that need these parks, there are adults that have had injuries/strokes that need them, there are people that have to use these parks every day of their life.
"It's really disheartening that people think it's okay to park in them when they are perfectly able and walking an extra few metres doesn't affect them in any way.
"I'm certain that those that park in these spots wouldn't like the disability that goes with it."
She said people who used mobility carparks had to pay for mobility parking permits "on top of everything else extra we pay for".
"We also have to be approved before we are given these passes - they aren't just handed out to us like a leaflet in the mall."
Nicola hoped by speaking out it would make a difference, not just to this carpark area, but to people in New Zealand "to make them realise that these sorts of carparks are there for a good reason".
