Discrimination faced by those with invisible disabilities

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The amount of discrimination faced by those with invisible disabilities is an embarrassment.

A woman in Tauranga who had a mobility-parking permit was left a nasty note on her window by someone who thought she was being lazy. The note read “”We watched you to Fools Walk into the Shop you Should Be ashamed of your selfs using the Disability card. They are for People who Have genuine Problems with mobility not the lazy!” The victim then felt obliged to explain to The Warehouse staff why she needed a mobility-parking permit.

The symptoms and effects of one’s disability is a very private matter and to feel forced into disclosing information about that can be one of the most undignifying experiences a person can go through.

The conditions upon receiving a mobility-parking permit are:
– You are unable to walk and always require the use of a wheelchair
– Your ability to walk distances is severely restricted by a medical condition or disability. If, for example, you require the use of mobility aids, experience severe pain, or breathlessness
– You have a medical condition or disability that requires you to have physical contact or close supervision to safely get around and cannot be left unattended. For example, if you experience disorientation, confusion, or severe anxiety.
(CCS Disability Action)

Few people realise just how much work goes into acquiring one of these permits, and rightly so. The last thing we need is permits being handed out to people who genuinely do not need them. But that’s the point. This rarely happens, if at all, which means if someone has a permit there is a reason for it whether it is obvious or not.

It is not up to strangers and outsiders to pass judgment on a person of whom they know nothing about. The only time it is okay to become some kind of vigilante is if that person doesn’t have a permit. These are the real thieves. If such people really want to make the world a better, more inclusive place, they are your targets. These are the people you should be writing your notes to. They are so inconsiderate that I even give you permission to use lipstick on their windows if you have to. That shit never comes off.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Hi Latifa, couldn’t agree with your more. There’s still this general expectation that “disability” = must look glaringly obvious to anyone who might pass you in the street. Wouldn’t it be so much easier for for Joe Public if we were all in wheel chairs and blind for good measure? (sarcasm).

    My (very hidden) disability has given me a legal life-long driving ban so moot point there with the mobility card problems. But I can comment on the occassional skeptical looks from Go Wellington bus drivers when I present my beneficiary bass pass, no doubt because” I don’t look like” I should be on a benefit. That’s unpleasant enough.

    Unless Joe public has a person connection to someone with a hidden disability they are never going to have any real understanding about it, and i sure Joe average/below average has no real interest in finding out. All they can see is another group of bludgers and will contine to part in the blue spots.

  2. With respect , what do you expect of a post slater/ whaleoil / jonky-stien collaboration to turn us into excepting of hate mongering ?
    Hating , cruelty and a sneering dismissive attitude is now ingrained into our Kiwi psyche and like a stink in the fridge , it permeates everything .

  3. Yeah, I got bailed up by some vigilante in a supermarket car park who told me I clearly didn’t need the disability card I was showing because I was obviously able bodied. I agreed with this person that I was able bodied and then explained to the person that the disability card was the property of my passenger (my elderly mother), not me and it was sufficient that she was using the car, not necessarily driving it. Some people don’t use their noggins.

  4. I’m pretty sure those of us with ongoing, longterm, extremely debilitating illnesses could fill this blog with stories of ableism that could make your heart bleed.

    Don’t even get started on a) the people taking care of us and the cost cutting measures by the government, b) Pharmac and c) Winz.

    Oh, and if you have a child with disability as well as being sick or disabled yourself, you may as well just emigrate. NZ claims to have everything you need but is willing to part with none.

  5. I wonder if pathological lying is a diagnostically valid disorder for a parking permit? If so a certain ministerial limo may be eligible.

  6. I have read Latifa’s posts before, and some make sense and most deserve support and credit. But what I see lacking is a clear position, some solutions and a critical position on what is going on here in NZ re welfare reforms, same as it has in the UK.

    There is some new stuff out to read, and it reveals yet again, what BS the UK reforms have been, how they have led to more marginalisation, harassment and stigmatisation of disabled in the UK. One “instrument” the government there used to basically intimidate and pressure disabled to get off benefits and try to work, was the abominable Work Capability Assessment, administered by DWP and Atos. The minds behind that assessment, and a new “approach” on supposedly assisting sick and disabled, they were also “advisors” on welfare reform in NZ.

    As so much goes on behind the scenes, and most do not have any idea of what is happening here, every bit of revelation should be looked at. So I read this today, and I recommend it, as it raises issues, more than parking, there are even greater ones, I fear:

    http://accforum.org/forums/index.php?/topic/17011-the-discredited-indefensible-wca-in-the-uk-its-demise-and-what-this-should-mean-for-nz-welfare-reforms/

    The “reforms” in the UK have largely done more damage than good, a kind of “assessment” is totally discredited, replacements are going to be looked at, and this country still pursues directions and approaches from the very people that were also behind the WCA in the UK.

    Open your eyes, ears and minds, and start asking damned questions, please.

  7. Good article Latifa and thank you for providing the application criteria for Mobility Card application. I hope the general public will get a clearer picture of what those cards mean to individuals with disabilities, invisible or not, they are related to the capacity of one’s body.

    Back in 1992/93 I worked for NZCCS and raised the very same issues when doing Disability Awareness program for schools and other local / general bodies. However the incidents you describe were at one time endorsed by the likes of Harry Duinhoven then Labor Minister of Transport who encouraged such challenges to the general public who don’t know any better.

    The embarrassment should rest with Society, not you or anyone else. The NZ Disability Strategy / Whakanui Oranga 2001, was, in my view, supposed to have helped remove ‘ignorance’. If successive Governments continue to ignore Disabled / Hauaa concerns…then that ignorance is in fact ‘indifference’ and that is a crime Disabled and other oppressed against the ravages of Corporate greed (Te Ao Rawa / Materialist World). need to get our issues heard on the political hustings so it doesn’t get any worse.

    Waiata / Song ‘House of Hope’ Toni Childs

    Regards and Keep Smiling
    Doug Hay
    Cordinator DLANZ

    I feel

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