Disabled Parking while on Campus
Since May 1998, the University of Florida issued a new decal for students and staff with disabilities at the University. All students and staff that drive to campus and use one of the lots or garages maintained by the University are required to have an appropriate University of Florida Decal. The decal is the UF Disabled Parking Decal. Any student or staff at the University, who currently use either a State of Florida Disabled Parking Placard, another state disabled parking placard, or other country disabled placard, and, that will be using the Disabled Parking spaces in any of the lots or garages on campus must apply for the UF Disabled Parking Decal. The UF Disabled Parking Decal will take the place of previously used UF Decals for those with appropriate documentation.
Why a separate decal?
It is our hope that this will cut down on the illegal use of the State issued disabled parking placards. There is a high demand for these placards and they are regularly misused by relatives and friends of the legitimate user of the placard. There is also an underground market in the sale of stolen or misappropriated placards. Who will oversee this decal? The Parking Administration Office of the University of Florida. Any UF staff or student that uses a Disabled parking space in any UF maintained lot or garage must present the following information to the Parking Administration Office:
- Copy of Drivers License.
- Copy of State issued (Other Country) Disabled Parking Placard. For Florida residents, this must be the newly issued placard that has the individuals drivers license number on one side. As of April 1, 1998, all Florida Placards issued before January 1997 are no longer valid in Florida. Even if the placard hasn't expired, it is no longer valid after April 1, 1998.
- Copy of State issued registration sheet for the Disabled Parking Placard.
- Copy of State application for the Four-Year and Temporary Disabled Parking Placard.
Once the information is provided, for those who qualify, the Parking Administration Office will issue a decal.
What about visitors to the University?
Any visitor to the University can use their State Disabled Parking Placards in any lot or garage on the campus as long as they have a visitor permit. To obtain a visitor permit, Monday through Friday, from 8:00 am to 4:00 pm, go to any one of the information gates at the main entrances to the University or to the University Police Department. The ultimate goal! We do not want to inconvenience our disabled visitors, staff or students. What we want to do with this new policy is to ensure that those who need the disabled parking spaces are able to access them on our campus. All we ask is that students and staff with disabilities request the new UF Disabled Decal and that visitors get a guest pass while on campus. For students and staff the procedure will take about 30 minutes and for visitors it is a matter of 1 minute of your time.
The university currently has more disabled parking spaces than is required by law and continues to add new spaces throughout campus as the need is known. If you know of an area(s) that may be lacking in disabled parking, please let the ADA Coordinator know. Once an area is brought to the attention of the University, it is reviewed and a determination is made as to whether to add a new space(s) or not to add a space. In most cases within the core of the campus, these requests are regularly honored.