Georgia demands better parking for disabled people, one wheelchair at a time

Ever wanted to park your car, only to find that someone without a blue badge got there before you? Not only is this bad manners, it’s also illegal and sadly a regular problem for many disabled motorists.

In Georgia’s capital of Tbilisi, the non-profit organisation Tree of Life, took to the streets this week to protest against this practice. Using a large number of wheelchairs, protestors blocked all the parking spaces around the city’s main Metro station, leaving only the disabled bays free. Photos of the protest then went viral on social media, helping locals to shed light on what is a massive problem in Georgia, with people regularly ignoring the signs and parking in disabled spaces.

With the United Nations Day of Persons with Disabilities on the 3rd December, now is a great time to tell you how we plan to help disabled motorists, especially when it comes to parking.

Once you’ve downloaded the Assist-Mi app, you’ll be able to input your blue badge data and car registration and then search for disabled parking spaces and car parks in your area. All the car parks that have signed up to our service will then be displayed, and disabled motorists that require assistance with gaining access to a car park, perhaps because there is a button to press or a payment to be made, will be able to request assistance ahead of time. Then, once you’ve arrived at the car park, someone will either come and meet you, or buzz you through automatically after reading your number plate on the computer system.

In order for this to work as smoothly as possible though, the more people, businesses, councils and organisations that sign up to our app, the better. Independence through choice is at the heart of our philosophy at Assist-Mi. In today’s modern, technology driven world, people shouldn’t need to take to the streets in order to fight for the services that should already be theirs, which is why we are encouraging you all to subscribe to our mailing list, follow us on Twitter and Facebook and help us to bring about the change that we all deserve. Whatever your disability, Assist-Mi is here to make sure you can live as independently as you want, with all the assistance that you need.

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