Car card tackles parking problems

By Shaun Inguanzo
A QUADRIPLEGIC man is combating Greater Dandenong’s disabled car parking crisis with a specially designed card.
Noble Park’s Michael Wright designed a card that can be placed on cars wrongly parked in spaces designated for disabled people, mainly in Greater Dandenong’s shopping centres.
The 28-year-old said the postcard-sized message was a non-confrontational way to express the frustration that many disabled people who relied on the wider spaces felt when they were forced to turn away and shop at a later time.
The card reads ‘This card is here because your car obstructed the path of a disabled person or was parked illegally in a disabled parking space. This is our way of saying thanks.’
Mr Wright said he was involved in a car accident in 1998 and has C5 quadriplegia.
“I have no feeling from the chest level down,” he said.
“But I am quite lucky that I have got some good body movement.
“I can use my hands to a limited degree to work on the computer.”
Mr Wright said people without disabled parking permits often parked in the spaces to duck into shops quickly, to withdraw cash from nearby ATMs, or without any regard for disabled shoppers.
He said the spaces were vital for people who relied on the wide bays to pull out wheelchairs and walking frames.
“I would say to those people wrongly parking to consider that the five minutes you take might be the difference between someone with a disability going to the shops and going about their daily life, or going home if there are no car parks,” he said.
Mr Wright said he designed the cards to help others as he was able to use regular spaces if disabled spots were difficult to find.
“It has always been an issue in our house because my mum has got a disability too,” he said.
“She had polio as a child and has been an advocate in making sure people do the right thing. It has rubbed off on me, too.”
Keysborough Ward councillor Roz Blades, who presented the cards to Monday’s council meeting, said some people reacted nastily when confronted over parking in a disabled space.
She said shopping centre car parks weren’t subject to council laws, and that made enforcing the rules impossible.
But Cr Blades said the card was the perfect solution.
“It is a problem in every city,” she said.
“I am over the moon that Michael has done this,” she said.
Mr Wright is having cards printed and distributed free of charge to disability groups and anyone interested in advocating proper use of disabled spots.
Visit the card’s website at asplashofblue.com for more information or to order cards.