I’m Looking Forward to Déise Today Tomorrow Morning on WLRfm

I can’t wait till tomorrow morning. I just log onto my twitter page, and there on the very top of my feed, news that I wanted to read with a long time. It was a tweet from ace reporter Damien Tiernan telling us his followers to tune into his radio short Déise Today on WLRfm from 10am in the morning.

Damien each evening on his social media pages give us the listeners to his show a hint of what will be coming up the next morning. What Damien has on tomorrow news for me that is better than winning the jackpot in the lotto.

Anyone that knows me will know that I am disabled from birth and will always stand up for what I believe are basic rights that we should have. I don’t look for anything out of the way, just simple things, things that should make our lives that little bit easier.

Earlier this year I was one of the first people to make a complaint when I noticed an advert in the Dungarvan newspapers that the Council were planning to close off parts of the quay in the town to all traffic each weekend in July and August.

I felt this was a kick in the teeth to disabled people that live and visit the town, as it was reducing the limited number of disabled parking spaces in the town by two, a small number I know, but a large number when you factor in the amount of fully fit able bodied people who are using the spaces. I said in my complaint that the closing off of the bays would not directly affect me as I am one of the lucky ones I can get around on a pair of crutches, something that not all disabled people who are not in a wheelchair can manage, and if the quay was closed off to traffic it would mean that many disabled people would not be able to get into the library at their ease or to one of the other premises on the quay if they wished to visit them. The funny thing about it for me is that the idea of closing off the quay appeared to be to get more people to visit it, but it seems not the disabled.

I am glad that others got behind me, both able bodied and disabled, business people and those that use the harbour all pointing out how closing the quay would make life tougher for them. Each and every one of those that made a valid point were listened to and it was decided that closing off the quay was not going to go ahead, something that I know disappointed some prominent people in the town and its hinterland.

This evening Damien Tiernan told his followers and me in particular some good news. He told us that a driver in Dungarvan (we don’t know if he or she is from the town or was visiting) who parked illegally in a disabled parking space was fined €500 and put off the road for three months.

This is something that I and I know others will welcome. The usual fixed charge for parking illegally in a disabled parking space went up from €80 to €150 in recent years. I am not sure if this is a minimum fine or now, but I hope it would be and that a Judge can use his or her discretion to up the fine if needed be. I do know that where clamping takes place and someone parks illegally in a disabled bay the fine to be released is a minimum of €80 so I am taking it that the €150 is also a minimum fine.

The illegal use of disabled parking bays in Dungarvan is frightening. I have seen time, time and time again people with nothing wrong with them park in disabled bays. It happens more over on a Sunday when there is no traffic warden working.

I have seen people (most women) root in a handbag or in the glove box of a car to search for a pass, slap it on the dashboard and head off and do what they have to do.

I know it is important that not every disability is clearly recognisable. But some of those that I have seen use them I will hand on heart say that there is nothing wrong with them.

I have seen one woman known to me pull into one of the disabled parking bays in the Plaza Car Park. She got out of the car, instructed her children to get out and go into the shopping centre. I said nothing to her at the time, I just stared at her as if to say what the F””K are you at. She knew I did not have to say anything for her to know I was not happy with what she was doing. She however spoke. She told me that the bays are handy when you have the children with you and have a bit of shopping to do. I have only seen her do it the once, but I am absolutely confident that she has done it far more than that one occasion.

I am also made aware that there is some who park their cars in public spaces in Dungarvan who are borrowing the blue disabled badges from others to park their cars. This to me is a total disgrace.

As a disabled person I have called a number of times for changes to be made to the way the Disabled badges are handed out. I renewed mine recently, and to do so is forever too easy.

First up in my eyes the photo of the person who is issued with the pass should have it on the front of the card, not hidden away. If you sit into a taxi and look at the drivers badge which they must have clearly on display their name and photo is clear to be seen. I understand that this is not allowed to happen with the disabled badges. Someone told me it is because some disabled people don’t want it known that they are disabled. Why is this I’d love to know? I am disabled and I don’t care who knows or not. You only have to look at me and you can see that I am anyway.

Secondly it is too easy to get a renewal once you have got your first card. You only have to thick a box to say that your disability has not improved in the two years since you got the last pass, put your passport photo and €35 into an envelope with the form you are issued with and you get a new one.

Some people have no problems with telling lies. I am not one of them. I have no problem with someone with a bad knee or a bad hip for example getting a pass but these disabilities in 2019 are very much able to be rectified, and most are through operations. But many it seems are not any better when it comes to renewing a pass.

I believe that each applicant should have to visit a doctor with their form and have him or her fill it up giving details of the person’s disability. I would even suggest that a person should have to do this without their medical card if they have one covering the cost. I would then call for that a certain number of people renewing their forms each year would have to be referred to a referee doctor to verify that a person is disabled and the extent of their disabilities.

As a disabled person I would love to meet the judge that imposed the fine of €500 and time off the road in Dungarvan and to thank him or her for standing up to some of the low lives that are to be seen in most towns and villages.

I hope that when Damien Tiernan takes to the air tomorrow morning that he and whoever he is talking to about the case will not be afraid to name and shame the individual involved. As things stand I don’t know who it is but would love to know. I am also hoping that both of the Dungarvan papers on next Wednesday when they come out on the newsstands will have full details of the case and the person involved.

Only when he name and shame those who illegally park in Dungarvan and other centres up and down the length of the country will we clean up what is a disgusting act by some mindless people.