Christine McGuinness isn't "proud" of having a blue badge for her kids.
Christine McGuinness
The 'Loose Women' star - whose twins Leo and Penelope were diagnosed as autistic in 2017 - needs the badge, which allows people to park in designated disabled slots, she has for her children as they have no road safety awareness and she needs to be able to park near the door so she can take them out with her.
She said: "The autism really affects their anxiety, they also have no sense of danger, they have no road safety awareness and would think nothing of stepping out in front of a car. Being able to park near the door lets me go out of the door with my children. I don't want to use this space, I'm not proud of having a blue badge but I have it because my children need it for their safety."
Christine's husband Paddy McGuinness was recently faced with an irate person, who claimed they shouldn't use a disabled parking spot because they "didn't look disabled".
Speaking on BBC Breakfast, she added: "I deal with this every weekend. Normally my husband isn't there but this time I'm glad he was because the man who approached us was clearly quite angry about the situation. Most of the time people will approach me with the children and question, 'Why are you parked in this space?' I try and educate people as much as I can, I'll take any opportunity to tell people about autism because I think it's the only way we can help people understand. Most of the time people are quite calm, they'll apologise and they'll leave me alone. But in this instance thank god my husband was there, because the man was not going to let it go. He continued to point out that none of us looked disabled, we were mobile. It's awful, we should never have to explain it."
Tagged in Paddy McGuiness