Disability Living Allowance

Charlotte has qualified for her DLA. She is getting the middle rate and we can apply for more when she is 3. I'm pleased for her, we'll save it up and hopefully it will make a difference to her future. It feels strange, she seems so normal. I guess she is one of those people who the government will move from disability to jobseekers benefits. Probably right, she probably doesn't really qualify but while she does, we'll save it up for a nest egg for her.

Disabled parking

This thing is not without it's silver lining: Charlotte has qualified for a disabled parking permit. Never mind the fact that she is too young to drive and doesn't have good enough vision to qualify for a licence anyway, she gets parking perks. I'm sure we'll be suitably grateful if she has significant mobility issues in the future, but for now they're perks.

Now, where we live, these parking perks are particularly valuable. We can park in any resident's parking bay almost anywhere in London. Given the fact at there is no free parking anywhere in central London, this is huge! To put it in perspective: if we go for a playdate by car, we would normally have to put the car on a meter; I have to buy an annual parking permit just to park the car outside our own house. Thanks to Charlie, I never have to pay for parking again!