Disability License Plates & Placards In North Carolina

If you have a qualifying disability, you can apply for temporary or permanent placards or disability license plates for handicapped parking from the North Carolina DMV. Applications require medical certification and a fee. Placards and plates must be renewed, and you can request a replacement if yours is lost, stolen, or damaged.

North Carolina makes it easy for drivers with disabilities to obtain parking placards and license plates to make their lives easier. Keep reading for more details.

Types of NC Disability Placards & Plates

If you have a disability, you may be eligible to receive a parking placard or license plate from the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) for access to handicapped parking.

With a disability placard or license plate, you can:

- Park in any disability parking spot for unlimited time. - Park for longer than posted in any parking space in many jurisdictions.

Disability placards and plates can be used ONLY when the person they are issued to is the driver or passenger of the parked vehicle.

The NC DMV offers:

Temporary disability placards. Permanent disability placards. Permanent disability license plates.

The DMV also has handicap placards for organizations that transport people with disabilities on a regular basis.

NOTE: All states recognize each other's disability parking permits. If you visit NC, you can use the placard or plate from your home state.

How to Get a North Carolina Handicap Permit

You can apply for a disability parking placard or license plate:

By mail. OR

In person.

All disability permits require medical certification and a fee.

To apply for a parking placard, you need:

- The Application for Disability Parking Placard (Form MVR-37A), including medical certification by: - A licensed physician. OR

- An eye doctor or a Division of Services for the Blind representative, for disabilities related to vision.

- Driver's license or state ID. - Birth certificate. - Social Security card.

You can submit your application in person to a North Carolina DMV license plate office or mail to the address on the form.

You will receive BOTH a placard/s and a placard registration card that you must keep with your placard.

To apply for a disability license plate in NC, you need:

- The Application for Handicap Driver Registration Plate (Form MVR-37), including medical certification by: - A licensed physician. OR

- An optometrist, ophthalmologist, or a representative of the Division of Services for the Blind, if your disability is related to your eyesight.

- Driver's license or ID card. - Social Security card. - Birth certificate.

Submit your application either:

In person at a NC DMV license plate office.

If you are new to North Carolina, you'll need to register your car in the state first.

Renew NC Handicap Placards & Plates

All disability placards and license plates expire and must be renewed or reissued.

To renew your disability placard or license plate, you must have:

Re-certification of your disability by a physician. Payment for fees.

Handicap Placard

A temporary parking placard is valid for up to 6 months and cannot be renewed. You can apply for a new disability placard by following the instructions in "Apply for a NC Disability Permit" above.

A permanent disability placard is valid for 5 years. Before your placard expires, you'll receive a renewal form by mail. You must:

- Get new medical certification on the renewal form. Pay the fee of $5 per placard. - Submit the renewal by mail or in person to the address on the form no more than 90 days before your placard expires.

Disability License Plate

If you have a disability license plate, you must renew your vehicle registration each year.

Replace Disability Placards & Plates

If your handicap parking placard is lost, stolen, or damaged, you will need the following to get a replacement:

- The Application for Disability Parking Placard (Form MVR-37A), with new medical certification. - Payment for the replacement fee: - Lost or stolen placard: $5 plus $20 to replace the accompanying disability registration card. - Damaged placard: Free.

Is Wide Spread Fraud Common?

Yesterday I read a story in the New York Times about handicapped parking that gives me a good excuse to update what I wrote about last July: that is l no longer use handicap parking. Apparently California is disturbed by the large number of people that use handicapped parking fraudulently. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed into law a measure that increased the fine for violators of handicap parking. Repeat violators can be fined up to $1,000. California has a car culture that is unique unto itself and it is no surprise to me that the governor is upset. Since 1994, triple the number of California drivers have handicap placards. How dare those crippled people ask for the must mundane of rights! Is wide spread fraud common? Of course it is. Frauds exist in California, New York and every state between. My reaction to this hardly news worthy story is so what. Being unable to find a parking spot is an inconvenience. I have learned a lot about this inconvenience in the last few months. Since July, I have not parked in handicapped once. My political refusal to use handicap parking is going well. I have not gotten hit by a car zooming by me in a parking lot. However, I have wasted a lot of time driving around and around looking for a place to park. I have also dropped groceries pushing my wheelchair to the end of the lot where I prefer to park. I have even been yelled at by strangers who exclaim "You should not be so far away from the entrance. You are a hazard".

The above has led me to wonder if handicapped parking a right or a privilege? More generally, what does handicap parking tell us about disability in American culture. To me, handicapped parking is a privilege. It is the acknowledgment that certain people have trouble physically navigating their surrounding environment. People who are elderly and those that cannot navigate long distances come to mind. People with heart or lung disease who lack adequate circulation or breath also come to mind as do women that are nine months pregnant. But what I do not think of is the poster image for handicap parking--wheelchair users. As I wrote in July, I do not think I have the privilege to park in handicapped parking. Simply put, I am too physically fit. I reject the medical model of disability, one that would legally enable me to use handicap parking. Thus I see handicapped parking as being nothing more and nothing less about a physical impairment. My physical impairment, a spinal cord injury and resulting paralysis, does not preclude me from being physically capable. If I can ski and kayak for miles on end do I truly need handicap parking. In a word no. But am I perceived to be the iconic image for handicapped parking and that is wrong.

The debate, angst and furor over handicap parking says less about car culture than it does about our skewed perception of disability. What causes people to get upset and pass laws about handicapped parking never ceases to amuse me. These same people do not think twice about violating the ADA or the waiting lists for necessary services for people with a disability. No one thinks about institutions that warehouse people with a disability when they could with minimal support live in the community. No one complains about the barriers that exist once people park their cars and cannot enter buildings because there is no access or the "special entrance" is locked. No one wants to know why 66% of people with a disability are unemployed or why so many live below the poverty level. Instead, the average person accepts the medical model of disability without thought. Handicapped parking is for people like me, the chrome police. People like me must be protected. But what is being protected need not be protected at all. I do not care about handicapped parking, I care about my civil rights and those rights are violated on a regular basis. This sort of story is never deemed newsworthy. The iconic images associated with disability are wrong, demeaning and must change. We need to think about much more than handicapped parking. We need to think about the rights of people with a disability and consider them a distinct and insular minority group. We need to break down the barriers between groups of people with a host of different disabilities. We need solidarity. People must unite and handicapped parking is not what we need to rally around. Instead, we need to ask President Obama why he does not have a full time person on his staff working on disability rights (kareem Dale wears far too many hats and cannot do his job well). We need to listen to ADAPT and question why we do not have a Community Choice Act.

I am not sure what I can do aside from write, advocate and teach. Yet I have learned one thing in the last few months. When you don't park in handicapped parking you get a lot less door nicks on your car. No one leaves coffee cups on your hood, gum on your tires, or bangs their shopping cart into your car because they are pissed off you have a better spot to park your car. What I am thinking of doing though is giving up my handicap plates entirely. Yes, that means braving the department of motor vehicles and asking for regular plates. I wonder if I can do this via the mail. If so, my handicap plates are history. If not a trip to the motor vehicle office is in my near future. I will keep you posted.

Disability License Plates & Placards

Disability parking placards and plates are available from the Alaska DMV; you can obtain a temporary or permanent placard, or permanent license plates. You must apply for a placard or plate by providing certification of your disability. Handicapped parking permits also require renewal and re-certification. If you lose your disabled parking permit or it gets stolen, you can request a replacement. Read below for more information about disability placards and plates in Alaska. Disabled veteran license plates (with the wheelchair logo). If you are visiting Alaska from another state, you can use the disability placard or plate from your home state, as all U.S. You can apply for all disability placards and license plates in person from the AK DMV. Only some applications may be submitted by mail (see below). NOTE: All applications require medical certification by an approved healthcare professional. Handicap placards are free. The first set of disability license plates are also free . NOTE: For disabled veteran plates, you will also need a VA disability certificate. You can submit any application in person at an AK DMV office. You're applying for disability placards ONLY. You're applying for a license plate AND you live in a remote area. A temporary parking placard is valid for up to 6 months. A permanent disability placard is valid for 5 years. Disability license plates are valid for 5 years as long as your vehicle registration is valid.

Car hire companies are very widespread in the EU. Every regional hub has several car rental companies. Zipcar operates in many areas of Europe, including most of the UK and Iceland, as well as Paris, Madrid, and Istanbul. Most other European countries have local car-sharing companies that operate a similar service to Zipcar - for example, GoCar in Ireland. What Are The Qualifying Conditions For Disabled Parking In The US? If you have not yet got your disabled parking permit, now is a good time to do so. If you are planning to travel to Europe, having a disabled permit will make getting around as easy and hassle-free as possible. Not being able to walk 200 feet without needing to stop to rest. Not being able to walk without the use of a crutch, cane, wheelchair, brace, another person, or another assistive device. Suffering from lung disease. Suffering from a heart condition, designated Class III or IV by the American Heart Association. Suffering from an arthritic condition. Needing to use a portable oxygen tank. This will allow you to arrange your disabled parking permit remotely from your home.

Use of someone else's permit (including relative). Valid permit hung on the rearview mirror. Parking in access aisles (striped area). Permit hung so expiration date can be seen. Use of an expired permit. Vehicle properly parked in a disabled space. Placement of a permit on dashboard with expiration date covered up. Must be properly displayed and only used when vehicle is transporting person to whom the displayed permit is issued. If the permit holder is not exiting the vehicle, then the permit may not be used. As per Florida law 316.1964, drivers of vehicles displaying a disabled parking permit or license plate are allowed to park for free up to four (4) hours in any on-street metered space, unless signage posted restricts the time to park. For example, if the signage establishes a three-hour time limit, then the driver is allowed to park for a maximum of three hours. After the time limit expires, the driver must deposit money into the parking meter or move the vehicle from the parking space. In the public parking garages, all drivers must pay to park.

Areas shown in black, gray or striped and marked with "P". All vehicles on campus must be registered with the University Police and must display a valid permit. Permits are issued as hang-tags. Handicap spaces are designated in each parking lot and are specifically reserved for vehicles with permanent or temporary handicap license plates or special permits from a motor vehicle administration agency. If you should receive a parking ticket and wish to appeal it, go to the forms, print the parking appeal form, complete, and return the form and ticket to the University Police Department. Lost or stolen parking permits should be reported to the University Police immediately. Replacement parking permit will be issued free of charge. Persons whose vehicles become disabled should call University Police immediately. If the vehicle cannot be moved, a disabled vehicle notice will be placed on the dashboard to prevent a parking ticket from being issued. Visitors may also obtain visitor passes free of charge from the visitor's host or at the University Police Headquarters.

How to apply for handicap parking permit online

The Engineering Division receives many requests to install reserved handicap parking spaces along City streets. While the City does not allow on-street non-handicap parking spaces to be reserved, the City does have a Handicap Parking Policy that outlines the process and procedures to create reserved on-street handicap parking spaces for qualifying residents. To begin the process, residents should call the office of the City Engineer at (301) 739-8577 ext. City's policy. If it does, then you will be directed to visit the MVA's Complaints and Investigations webpage and download an Application for Personal Residential Permit for Reserved Parking Space. After you submit the application to MVA, they will contact your doctor to verify your medical condition, and will then complete an investigation to determine whether or not a reserved space is warranted. If MVA feels that your request has merit, they will notify you, the State Highway Administration, and the City that they have approved the request; the City will then install the required handicap parking sign.

Note: With many patients, there are some days a person might be able to walk the 200 feet, but then suffer substantial after-effects—including relapse of substantial symptoms—so walking the distance is medically too risky. Again, the person might be able to walk the distance on some days and not on others, so the person should have the placard; or the distance might be walked but only under conditions of suffering. All these points should be taken up with the persons physician before submitting the Registry form. Nothing should be submitted to the Registry which might be construed as a medical reason for questioning the persons ability to drive safely. When the application arrives, follow all the directions and have your doctor write a letter, on his/her letterhead, answering all the questions. Note: it is best not to indicate symptoms like dizziness, fainting, or memory loss because these suggest that you are not capable of driving safely. Also, it is best not to include breathing difficulty, because then the Registry will think you have pulmonary disease, for which they have specific measures and standards.

When you have to indicate how far you can walk, remember that you will mostly need the placard on your bad days. Estimate your walking ability based on a bad day, not on a good day (because if you don’t need it on a good day you won’t use it anyway). Think about the days when you can barely stand or walk to the bathroom. Those are the days you will really need this placard. You can even ask your doctor to describe these day-to-day mobility issues. Also there is a section where you are asked how far you can walk without rest, and how far with intermittent rest. To the Registry, “rest” does not mean sitting down or lying down, it means standing! Since standing is not rest for a person with CFIDS, I recommend either putting the same range for both sections, or describing in the doctor’s letter what “resting” means for you.

The Registry has recently begun to issue temporary placards. Make sure to indicate whether you are seeking a permanent or temporary placard. If you have been sick for less than five years, you should request a temporary placard. A temporary placard is good for one year, and then must be reapplied for. If you have been sick five or more years, make sure that your doctor indicates that your disability is permanent. Make sure that you keep copies of your application and your doctor’s letter. Later, if you get denied, it will be important to refer to them. You should hear back from the Registry within a month. If you get denied after your first application, you have ten days to appeal. I strongly recommend appealing. Call the Registry and ask why you were denied. Make them cite the specific reason(s). Ask what information they would need to have clarified in order for you to obtain a placard. Take notes on everything they tell you, including the date you called, and the name of the person with whom you spoke. If anything is unclear to you, ask the person to repeat of clarify the information.

Call the MA MAE/CFS Association and tell them what is happening. The Association can help advocate with you and is compiling information on this issue. Call your local representative’s office and/or the Governor’s office. Explain your situation to them. Ask for their help. If you applied for a placard in the past, but were denied, you can still apply again. I would suggest calling the Registry and asking them why you were denied the last time (they should still have your file). In your new application, follow the same guidelines as above, but explain which part of the process you didn’t understand before. Provide a clarification of that issue. If your appeal is denied, there are further steps you can take. Although this process can be stressful, tiring, and frustrating (especially if you are very sick), it is not necessarily a hopeless case. Generally, the longer you persevere with state agencies, the more likely you will win in the end. A copy of the state guidelines governing the issuance of Handicapped Parking Plates and Placards — 540CMR (Code of Massachusetts Regulations), section 1700 — can be obtained for free from your library. This document probably will be useful to you only after you have applied and been denied.