My Disability Placard Went Missing In the Mail- How To Get a New One

Late last month, I realized I was never sent a new disability parking placard from the DMV. This week, I want to discuss the process of renewing a disability parking placard and how to obtain a new one if yours becomes lost or stolen.

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In mid-June, I realized I did not have a new disability placard for the 2025-2027 round of placards. All permanent placards in California expire every two years on June 30th (DMV, n.d.a). To renew a disability placard as of or after 2017, a renewal notice signature is needed every 6 years (DMV, n.d.a). In years where a renewal notice signature is not required, the DMV will mail the new placards at the beginning of the year the old placards will expire. This year, I did not have a renewal notice requirement, which meant my placard should have been sent to me earlier this year. On the DMV website, you can report a missing placard here for one already in use. In my case, I had to wait in a virtual line, on the phone, or visit the DMV in person to speak with a representative. Once in contact with a person, they can look up your current disability parking placard information and ID to determine if a new disability parking placard has been sent to you. If one was sent to you, it can be reported as lost and a new one can be mailed or delivered to a physical DMV location.

In my case, mine will arrive on exactly June 30th, so I will not have to go without a disability parking placard. However, for a brief period, I was concerned that I would go without access to a parking placard for an unknown amount of time. This leads me to: theft of disability parking placards in California is a serious issue. Law enforcement has been cracking down on the misuse of these placards to ensure that people with disabilities have the access they need (DMV, 2019). I have had people admit, to my face, that they have abused disability placards before, so I would like to explain why these placards are so important.

1: Disability marked parking spots allow people in wheelchairs to have room to exit their vehicles. Equally importantly, it allows those who need close parking to locations to save their energy for the location. There are multiple reasons someone could have a disability placard, and many of those reasons are invisible.

2: Time limit parking does not apply in green spaces or residential neighborhood permit spaces (DMV, n.d.b). If the only nearby parking is street parking marked for 20-minute parking, the disability parking allows disabled people to park there as long as they need to. This can help provide much-needed accessibility because there are not enough ADA-accessible parking spaces at most places.

3: Metered public parking is free (DMV, n.d.b). Disabilities can be very expensive, and the community has high levels of poverty (National Disability Institute, 2019). Close parking is not a luxury if it is your only option. Having access to affordable public parking acknowledges systemic poverty and the lack of ADA disability parking in public spaces.

4: People with a disabled parking pass can receive assistance with gas purchases at no extra cost at gas stations with more than one attendant on duty (DMV, n.d.b). This is important because it addresses both inaccessibility and systemic poverty.

While these perks might seem like privileges, they help to bridge the gap between inaccessibility and accessibility. Please do not steal disability placards if you are not disabled, because it could mean the disabled person whose placard got stolen suddenly can't go very many places. The only truly ethical way to use a disability placard as a non disabled person is to hang out with someone who uses a disability placard because you love them, not for their placard. Hopefully, this will be the last time my disability placard goes missing.

Thank you for reading about the importance of disability parking placards and how to get a new placard if yours goes missing. If you have any questions or comments, please comment on the blog, reach out at @Anniekrollblog on Instagram or Facebook, or email me at Anniekrollblog@gmail.com. I hope to see you next week!