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Accessible Parking Turns on Walking, Not on a Rating — Plus Two Extra Hours at the Kerb

The accessible parking registration plate is issued on a walking-impairment test with six limbs to it, or on loss of the use of an arm or both arms, or on blindness. A county clerk may certify an obviously disabled applicant without a doctor; otherwise a physician, physician assistant, chiropractor or advanced practice registered nurse may sign. A vehicle carrying the plate, with the person with the disability aboard, may park two hours beyond the local limit.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

The accessible parking registration plate is issued on a walking-impairment test with six limbs to it, or on loss of the use of an arm or both arms, or on blindness. A county clerk may certify an obviously disabled applicant without a doctor; otherwise a physician, physician assistant, chiropractor or advanced practice registered nurse may sign. A vehicle carrying the plate, with the person with the disability aboard, may park two hours beyond the local limit.

What it's worth: Two hours beyond the local legal parking period, with the person with the disability in the vehicle

  • The plate fee is set by KRS 186.162 and is not stated in KRS 186.042, so no figure is claimed.
  • This record is listed for everyone because the statutory test is medical rather than military. It is here so a rated veteran does not assume the rating is the ticket.

Who is entitled to it

  • 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.

From what you have told us so far, you appear to qualify.

How to claim it

  1. 1Read the six-part test in KRS 186.042(1) before booking an appointment: cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest; cannot walk without a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair or other assistive device; forced respiratory and expiratory volume in one second under one litre by spirometry, or arterial oxygen tension under 60 mm/Hg on room air at rest; uses portable oxygen; a cardiac condition classed III or IV on the American Heart Association scale; or severely limited walking from an arthritic, neurological or orthopedic condition.
  2. 2Two more routes sit outside that list. Subsection (2) also reaches a person who has lost the use of an arm or both arms, and a person who is blind — neither of which is a walking test at all.
  3. 3Do not assume you need a doctor. Under subsection (3)(a) the county clerk issuing the plate may simply ascertain that the applicant or the applicant’s minor or adult child is obviously disabled as described in the section.
  4. 4If a written statement is needed, four professions can sign it: a licensed physician, a physician assistant, a chiropractor, or an advanced practice registered nurse. The chiropractor route is unusual and easy to miss.
  5. 5Complete Transportation Cabinet Form 96-347, the Application for Special Registration Plate for Disabled Persons, which 601 KAR 9:130 Section 10 names as the form.
  6. 6A parent or guardian of a disabled minor, and a parent or guardian of a disabled adult, may hold the plate on the vehicle. That is written into subsection (2) and covers a spouse-driven household only where that guardianship relationship exists.
  7. 7Use the two-hour extension, which is the part most people never claim: subsection (4) allows parking two hours beyond the legal local period when the person with the disability is in the vehicle at the time it is being operated. It does not apply where a local ordinance creates a fire lane, where the ordinance accommodates heavy morning, afternoon or evening traffic, or where the vehicle is clearly a traffic hazard.
  8. 8Diary the expiry. Registration under this section expires 31 July, not on your birthday.
Form
Application for Special Registration Plate for Disabled Persons, Transportation Cabinet Form 96-347
File with
County clerk in your county of residence
Documents you will need
va benefit summary letter
Annual
Claimed once a year.
CorrectionA service-connected rating is not an accessible parking plate. KRS 186.042 does not mention veterans, disability rating or the federal veterans department at all. A veteran rated 100% for a condition that does not impair walking is outside it; a veteran rated 30% who cannot walk 200 feet is inside it.
Worth knowingThe disabled veteran plate is a different plate under a different statute. 601 KAR 9:130 Section 10(1) issues it under KRS 186.041(2), and it is a military plate rather than an accessible parking plate — carrying it does not by itself carry the two-hour kerb privilege in KRS 186.042(4).

Sources

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