The Placard Needs a Clinician, Not a Rating — and the Identification Card Must Be in the Car
A disability placard or plate is issued on a statement from a person licensed to practise the healing arts, an optometrist, an advanced practice registered nurse, a physician assistant or a Christian Science practitioner. A VA rating letter is not on that list. The placard comes with an individual identification card that must be carried whenever the vehicle is parked in a reserved space, and a holder of a distinctive plate can instead be issued a wheelchair emblem decal to affix to it.
Verified August 23, 2026
What this benefit is
A disability placard or plate is issued on a statement from a person licensed to practise the healing arts, an optometrist, an advanced practice registered nurse, a physician assistant or a Christian Science practitioner. A VA rating letter is not on that list. The placard comes with an individual identification card that must be carried whenever the vehicle is parked in a reserved space, and a holder of a distinctive plate can instead be issued a wheelchair emblem decal to affix to it.
What it's worth: Permanent placard plus identification card; no extra fee for the special plate
- Subsection (b) says there shall be no fee for the special disability licence plate in addition to the regular registration fee.
- A permanent placard and its identification card are valid for as long as the person remains eligible; a temporary placard expires not longer than six months from issuance.
- Permanent placards are white on blue; temporary placards are white on red. An office handing you a red one has recorded your disability as temporary.
Who is entitled to it
- You served, so the relationship between your disabled veteran plate and parking rights is worth pinning down.
- You are in this state.
Not sure whether that describes you?
Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.
How to claim it
- 1Get the certifying signature from someone on the statutory list. Subsection (a) names a person licensed to practise the healing arts in any state, a licensed optometrist, an advanced practice registered nurse licensed under K.S.A. 65-1131, a licensed physician assistant, or a Christian Science practitioner listed in The Christian Science Journal.
- 2Choose your combination deliberately. On proof that the disability is permanent, subsection (a) offers a permanent placard; a permanent placard plus a special plate; or a permanent placard plus a wheelchair emblem decal to affix to a distinctive plate. That third option is the one a disabled veteran plate holder normally wants, because it keeps the plate.
- 3Ask for the spare at the same time. One additional permanent placard is issued on request to an applicant who has not asked for a special plate.
- 4Carry the identification card, every time. The statute requires the person with the disability to have it in hand whenever the vehicle is parked under K.S.A. 8-1,126. A placard on the mirror without the card is an incomplete entitlement.
- 5Hang the placard from the rear-view mirror so it is maximally visible from outside the vehicle — the statute says where it goes.
- 6Tell the family what happens afterwards. On the death of the person with the disability, permanent placards and identification cards go back to the Department of Revenue and special plates go back to the county treasurer to be exchanged. Failing to do so is an unclassified misdemeanour with a fine of up to $50.
- Form
- Form provided by the director of vehicles, with the practitioner's certifying statement
- File with
- Director of Vehicles, Department of Revenue
- Periodic recertification
- Confirmed at intervals rather than annually.
Sources
- authority · statuteK.S.A. 8-1,125 — license plates, placards, wheelchair emblem decals and individual identification cards for persons with disability: the certifying practitioners, the three permanent combinations including the wheelchair emblem decal on a distinctive plate, the additional placard on request, the six-month temporary placard, the no-extra-fee rule for the special plate, the colour scheme, the return duty on death and the penalty
- operating · statuteK.S.A. chapter 8 section index — showing the disabled veteran plate sections (free plates for disabled veterans; disabled veterans registration and license plates; free; international symbol of access, printing restrictions; parking privileges) sitting separately from the persons-with-disability placard section, and the companion parking privileges section at K.S.A. 8-1,126
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