Offenbach: Fight for a disabled parking space

• fromEast Tinç

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Kirstin O’Brien wants a disabled parking space for herself and her eleven-year-old son on the doorstep in Offenbach. The city refers to the underground car park, which is not barrier-free and costs 125 euros a month. But there is an offer for an on-site inspection.

Sometimes Kirstin O’Brien is lucky. She actually found a parking space near her new apartment on Luisenstrasse in Offenbach. Most of the time, however, she has to park her car further away. That’s not a problem for the 41-year-old herself, but for her son Liam. The eleven-year-old is mentally fit, goes to high school, but has a spastic disability and is dependent on a walker. The car always needs a certain distance from other vehicles in order to load and unload the rollator.

O’Brien previously lived on Harbor Island, where the city had set up a disabled place for her. She has also applied for one for Luisenstrasse, but has not yet received it. “Liam is entitled to such a place, he has a severely handicapped ID card,” says the single mother.

In the rejection notice, the city refers to the underground parking space of the residential building. “The road traffic regulations say that if something can be rented, it has priority,” explains city spokesman Fabian El-Cheikh. For O’Brien, however, underground parking is not an option for several reasons. On the one hand, it is not barrier-free. “There are no door handles. You have to use a lot of strength every time to open it. ”She could always hold the door open for her son, but for his self-esteem it is important that he do something on his own.

She is glad that there is no key in the house, but a chip that you can use to open the front door. “That’s one less barrier,” says O’Brien. And one of the main reasons why she moved to the new building in the first place. In addition, the underground parking space would cost an additional 125 euros in monthly rent.

“The son is not self-driving and is accompanied by the mother. That is a different matter and one cannot say that it is unreasonable, ”says El-Cheikh. The costs are also not considered a reason. The city had made Kirstin O’Brien the offer to take a look at the situation on site and, if necessary, to make a new decision. The city receives between 25 and 30 applications for a personal disabled parking space each year, and all but three or four are approved, says El-Cheikh.

Kirstin O’Brien feels a little like a supplicant. “It’s always a struggle,” she says. From a human point of view, that is absurd. Her son is also always aware of everything and has been in psychotherapy for some time because it gnaws at him that he cannot do things that do not cause problems for others his age, that he needs help with everyday things such as going to the toilet. “He is always shown that he cannot do something or that something is difficult because of him.”

The parking lot would make everyday life a lot easier for her and her son. Since there is neither resident parking nor a parking ticket machine in the street, “I see no reason why the city is rejecting the application”.

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