Dylan Thorne: Caution urged in disabled park policing

People with mobility permits may not look disabled but they still are. Photo / File

"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.

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 the 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.

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.

In August last year the Rotorua Daily Post reported on the family of a young cancer survivor who said they had been the target of abuse, threats and judgmental stares when using disabled car parks in Rotorua - even though they had a mobility card to do so.

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.

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.

-Dylan Thorne is deputy editor of the Bay of Plenty Times.