Quote:
Originally Posted by RichardCoulter
Invalid carriages would only be supplied voluntarily in lieu of Mobility Allowance and even this scheme was eventually abolished in favour of the current Motability scheme.
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I remember those tiny death traps. A local used to have his break down and have to flag someone down to go home and call for a taxi and a recovery vehicle (long before mobile phones were a thing).
The mindset then, and in some ways still today, was "If you are disabled you use a wheelchair". Hence aids and adaptations were mainly walking sticks, zimmer frames, ramps, stairlifts and lowered kitchen surfaces. Even the international symbol for "disabled" is a person in a wheelchair.
Even the top criteria for a Blue Badge, was, until someone realised what they were doing was very biased were:
you cannot walk at all
you cannot walk without help from someone else or using mobility aids
you find walking very difficult due to pain, breathlessness or the time it takes
walking is dangerous to your health and safety
you have a life limiting illness, which means you cannot walk or find walking very difficult and have a SR1 form