Donegal MD hope to create sign for parking spaces for all people with disabilities

Executive members of Donegal Municipal District are considering creating disability-friendly carparking spaces in Donegal Town for all disabilities, rather than just autism.

Mark Sweeney, the Area Manager for Roads and Transportation within Donegal Municipal District, was responding to a query by Cllr Jimmy Brogan on an update to implementing ‘Sunflower’ carparking spaces in Donegal Town, during January’s Donegal Municipal District meeting.

A sunflower has become an internationally recognised symbol for hidden disabilities, and parking spaces across the country have been made accessible to those who would benefit.

According to Hidden Disabilities, across Ireland, 1 in 5 people live with some form of disability, and 80% of these are non-visible, which is just under one million people who are living with a non-visible disability.

Sweeney mentioned that a ‘rainbow’ sign was for parking with people with autism, which was “one type of disability,” and “what we would like to do is, rather than one type of parking, but parking for all (people with disabilities).”

“What we are thinking of doing is to put it for people with additional needs and making our own particular sign for that.”

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Sweeney said it was up to other road users to be “courteous” when seeing a proposed disabled car parking space, and compared it to the Age Friendly car parking spaces for the elderly.  

He concluded his answer by saying: “We would like to come up with a sign for people to be aware. We are trying to do a catch-all for everybody, rather than just a rainbow sign for people with autism.”