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Sunday May 19, 2013

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Young mum abused over disabled son

Posted by: Michael James | 3 January, 2013 - 6:29 PM
Disabled parking

A young Frankston mum was left close to tears after a note denigrating her disabled son was left on her windscreen.

Zoe Ludwell discovered the note after shopping at the Karingal Centro in Frankston on Wednesday where she had legally parked in a disabled car park.

Zoe has the permit for her 4-year-old son who suffers from severe cerebral palsy.

"The note read 'Who is the cripple you or the baby. Have your rego,'" Ms Ludwell told Nick McCallum.

"At first I was shock then I was nearly in tears. To me the word cripple is not a very nice word to use,"

"So when you are talking about me or in particular my son it is pretty offensive and upsetting that someone would say that" she said.

Zoe has started a facebook page Don't judge a parking permit by it's cover to highlight the incident and prevent any further discrimination.

IMAGE: The note left on Zoe's car windscreen (Facebook)

Image

LISTEN: Zoe Ludwell speaks with Nick McCallum

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Blog comments Your Say

  • it's not just disabled car parking spaces! the problem is much bigger. I have recieved a lot of abuse for using disabled toilets because i don't 'look' disabled! one woman humiliated me and reduced me to tears, an old woman! nowadays as soon as someone starts abuse I whip my bag out! and have ben tempted to empty content on them! My son has heart problems so I also know wht it is like to be a mum with a child with health issues.people need to stop judging!and to ANNIE king orwhoever you are! parent and baby bays are for all normal parents and kids, disabled bays are for hose ith disailities, i've never seen an age restriction written on the sign!

    donna mear Monday 7 January, 2013 - 11:23 PM

  • just putting it out there...ruth mentioned that she uses the disabled parking permit for her son when she is out on her own, she of all people should know better than that. That is an illegal use of the permit & is no better than someone parking in the spot without a permit. The laws for those parking spaces are that the person to whom the permit applies to must be in the vehicle & must be exiting the vehicle in order for you to be allowed to park in the disabled space.

    anon Monday 7 January, 2013 - 10:24 AM

  • Annie King I am appalled you would write such dribble. Do you have any idea what it is like to have a child with special needs??? I for one do. I see people over and over abuse disabled parking spots. They just park there because they will be in and out of the shop quickly or they have a permit but the disabled person isn't with them. My son is in a wheelchair, in a modified vehicle, he will never be able to drive a vehicle, another stupid comment made by you! I would be lucky to get a disabled park 5 of out 10 times I venture to the shop. And when you say parents with pram spots, when Zoe's son is 13, a teenager, is she still going to be able to park in a parents with pram spot.......you utter moron!!

    Mum of a special needs son Sunday 6 January, 2013 - 2:23 PM

  • "Autism/aDHD thrown around too easily these days hence this problem" - thanks so much for your derogatory comments towards my son, who IS severely autistic. Insofar as I am aware, the chance of getting a disabled parking permit in Victoria for a child with autism is similar to that here in South Australia - extremely rare. There have been a few instances where local councils have intervened knowing about individual families circumstances but on the whole disabled parking permits are NOT issued for children with Autism. Please educate yourself before making ignorant and insulting comments.

    Louise Sunday 6 January, 2013 - 11:40 AM

  • My then 23 yr old brother used to have a permit while waiting on a lung transplant for CF. He was so sick and breathless he was unable to drive himself around and could barely walk from the car to the shop. I parked his car in the permit space and had a rude and ignorant lady pushing a man in a wheelchair scream at me saying those spaces are for invalids only. I said some choice words to her but my brother took it as a compliment that he didn't actually look sick or disabled enough to use the permit space!

    Josie Sunday 6 January, 2013 - 9:52 AM

  • I have been known to very politely ask "is the person with a disability with you?" when I have seen what appear to be able people parking in a spot with a permit (when spots are scarce). One time I saw people take the last disabled parking spot just as we pulled up, I jumped out of the car and asked them just that. Their response was "we have a permit" so I repeated "is the person with a disability with you? ... because my daughter is stuck in the back of our van there in her wheelchair". They moved their car. A lot of people do rort the system , and many of them have permits (That means people like you Ruth, you can only use the permit if the disabled person is with you). I think the main rule is be polite and if you get asked politely, be polite in response, I don't think it is a completely unreasonable question. If anyone ever challenges me, I use the opportunity to educate them about diversity and introduce them to my beautiful daughter. It is unfortunate that the people who left that note did not get the chance to meet this woman's son, it sounds as thought they would have learned a lot from that experience.

    pksmum Sunday 6 January, 2013 - 9:18 AM

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