Blue badge row: Telford mum told she 'didn't look disabled'

Becki Haywood, pictured with nine-year-old son Pip, has called for people to think more about the reasons someone may need a blue badge

A blue badge holder has said she was sworn at by a driver who told her she did not look disabled.

Becki Haywood said the man shouted at her in Telford when she left her car in a disabled space without her crutches.

The 39-year-old has Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, which affects her connective tissue and has led to osteoarthritis in some of her joints.

She called for people not to make assumptions about what a disabled person looked like.

People with hidden disabilities, including autism, anxiety disorders or a brain injury, were allowed to apply for blue badges for the first time from Friday.

"There are 100 reasons why someone may need a blue badge," Mrs Haywood said.

The mother-of-three from Priorslee in Telford, was at the town's Wrekin Retail Park last Sunday, when the man approached her.

She said her condition meant she was in constant pain, and often relied on crutches but problems with her finger joint meant she had decided to leave them behind for the short walk into a shop.

Mrs Haywood said there are a "hundred reasons" why someone may need a blue badge

"I wouldn't normally have said anything but he really upset me," she said.

"I told him not all disabilities are visible and if he had looked at the front of my car he would have seen the blue badge."

For her, the exchange was not unusual, and she experienced similar problems with husband Paul, who died seven years ago aged 41, during treatment for terminal bowel cancer.

Paul Haywood, with the couple's eldest son Rayph, now 17, had a blue badge during treatment for terminal bowel cancer

"He looked pretty much like a normal and well man up until the night before he died. It dragged him down being questioned because he looked well when in fact he was dying," she said.

Blue badges

• There were 2.35 million blue badges held in England as of 31 March 2018

• They are issued by local authorities and cost up to £10 in England and £20 in Scotland. The scheme is free in Wales

• Disabled people apply to their local authority to get a blue badge and those eligible include people who cannot walk at all or without help from someone else or the use of mobility aids; those who are terminally ill and those who have child under three with a medical condition that needs bulky medical equipment

• Badges are automatically issued to people receiving the higher rate of the Disability Living Allowance; receiving a War Pensioner's Mobility Supplement; registered blind or on the Armed Forces and Reserve Forces Compensation scheme

Source: Department for Transport

In her most recent surgery, Mrs Haywood had a jaw replacement, because of the problems with her joints

She has called for people to think more about the reasons why someone may legitimately be using a disabled space.

"I honestly think it is a lot to do with age... with younger disabled people, some people instantly have this suspicion unless you look like there is something obviously wrong with you," she said.

Ceri Smith, from disability equality charity, Scope, said: "Disabled people shouldn't face questioning or outright abuse for using disabled parking bays, and it's important we all bear in mind that not all impairments and conditions are visible."