Swedish council: laziness is not a disability

A Disability Council in a Swedish town is lobbying to get “Laziness is not a disability” added to parking signs. If approved, the reminder would appear below disabled parking signs in Nordmaling, northern Sweden.

“People don’t respect disabled parking signs,” Margareta Gustavsson, member of the Disability Council (handikapprådet), told the Västerbottens Kuriren newspaper.

One such sign has already been erected at the town’s community centre, but now the group wants them extended across the town. Gustavsson says similar signs in other parts of Sweden have proved to be an effective deterrent.

However, Sune Höglander, the town’s community development officer, does not think such measures would be appropriate.

“It’s just a fun thing they’ve [handikapprådet] got for themselves, but I don’t think that those kinds of road signs will be found in our catalogue. Signs must be accurate, factual, and not emotive,” he said, adding that Nordmaling does not have a particular problem with “lazy drivers” stealing disabled parking spaces.