Cr Glenn Taylor, who heads up Orange City Council’s access committee, said council would like to introduce a yellow-coded car parking space which was not as wide as the existing blue-marked disability space designed for people who need to get a wheelchair out of their vehicle. 

Cr Taylor said the committee believed shopping centres would be more amenable to the introduction of the smaller disabled parking spaces as they didn’t encroach on existing spaces.

“We need to be realistic about the number of elderly and frail people as well as those with disabilities which is destined to grow in the coming years and we need to plan now for that eventuality,” Cr Taylor said.

Prue McCarthy has welcomed the idea saying people like her who require a disabled parking space but do not use a wheelchair would find it much easier to park under a colour-coded system.

“Especially in the shopping centres it is hard to find a parking place,” she said. “Something like a yellow-coded space that wasn’t as wide would really suit someone like me.

“It would be about giving accessibility to parking spaces for a whole range of people with a disability.”

Ms McCarthy said through her involvement with the Cerebral Palsy Alliance there is a move to educate the community towards recognising the word disability has many applications.

“There is a such a range of people who are using the system,” she said.

Cr Taylor said he recognised any change to the existing disability parking scheme in NSW would involve statewide change but he added planning for an ageing population in this state was essential.

“Providing enough disabled parking spaces in Orange has always been a challenge and I am sure it is the same everywhere else in the state,” he said.

Cr Taylor said although the logistics of introducing a new disabled parking scheme would involve funding and educating the public, the system would operate under the existing tight restrictions for obtaining a permit to use a disabled car parking space.