I mean that there are lots of people who are disabled and who don't have the option of using a car. And don't necessarily have the option of others driving for them, or prefer to live as independently as possible so only ask others to drive for them occasionally. Many of these people may have limited mobility, maybe they can walk a short distance only, maybe they use a mobility scooter. They might use public transport. They might be able to do shopping themselves as long as they can use a trolley and their route to the shop has dropped kerbs, or they walk quite slowly and can only cross roads where there is a signalled crossing. Of course, many elderly people fall into this kind of category.
And all of these people can potentially benefit massively from measures that reduce traffic and improve things for pedestrians.
Well, I expect you agree with and know all this and will say fine, of course, but how does any of this justify limiting which filters a blue badge holder can access because giving blue badge holders blanket access is really just a very small number, not large enough to significantly compromise the benefits that can be brought about by an LTN. My answer is I don't know - you may well be right but I also wonder whether this has been looked at and decided that in fact it would add significant numbers, especially if, as Lambeth has decided to do, you allow access for the badge holder plus someone else.
I think saying something like this before got me accused of ableism but I would say that if someone who has a disability but can drive, has a few minutes added to their journey, as a result of measures that can make life easier for people who have a disability but can't drive, then that's potentially ok or even a good thing.
When you say something like:
It makes it seem like making London more welcome for disabled people = making things as easy as possible for those who have a disability and drive but that's not the case, there are huge numbers of people who have a disability and can't drive. There are judgements that have to be made that try and balance the interests of people in many different situations.
But anyway, the point is, I don't necessarily disagree with the idea of a blanket exemption for all blue badge holders but I can see there might be valid arguments against it and those arguments may be made with the interests of other groups of disabled people in mind. This is why I wish Lambeth would be explicit in their reasoning, when they decide on the one filter policy.