Panola County drivers who qualify for a disabled tag are finally able to get the special tag. The Tax Assessor/Collector’s office has received a new supply, but was without the tags most of this month due to a supply shortage. 

Instead, disabled drivers were offered a regular state license plate with the option to swap for the special tag when more arrived, although the State of Mississippi will charge another $10 in those cases.

The county had little warning that the state’s supplier of disabled tags, a Canadian company, had not shipped enough, and the result was complaints and phone calls to supervisors, mostly from people upset at the idea of returning to the courthouse later in the year for another tag, and being charged an additional $10.

Mississippi offers permanent and temporary disability parking options, and also has a blue placard that can be issued for drivers to display in their windshield. There is no extra charge for drivers who get a disabled tag, and tags are good from year-to-year and must be updated when the state changes design on its regular five-year cycle. 

Two disabled tags and placards are allowed per household.

The application for disabled parking privilege includes these qualifying conditions:

• ● Cannot walk 200 feet without stopping to rest; or 

• ● Cannot walk without the use of an assistive device; or 

• ● Is restricted by lung disease to such an extent that the person’s forced (respiratory) expiratory volume for one (1) second, when measured by spirometry, is less than one (1) liter, or the arterial oxygen tension is less than sixty (60) mm/hg on room air at rest; or

• ● Use portable oxygen; or 

• ● Has a cardiac condition to the extent that the person’s functional limitations are classified in severity as Class III or Class IV according to standards set by the American Heart Association; or Is severely limited in his/her ability to walk due to an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition; or
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• ● Applicant is Child Parent or Spouse living with vehicle owner.  
• From the State of Mississippi’s Dept. of Revenue website:
• To apply for a disabled tag and/or placard, you need to submit to your county Tax Collector a Mississippi Disabled Parking Application, Form 76-104. The application must be completed by your licensed physician or nurse practitioner. There is no additional fee required to obtain a Disabled License Plate or Placard. (All regular taxes and registration fees must be paid.)
• You may obtain the application from your Tax Collector. You must submit a new application when the image of the standard plate is changed, which is every 5 years. The statement must be dated within 90 days of your renewal application.
• The Disabled Placard is a removable windshield placard that is hung from the rearview mirror of a vehicle when you park in a disabled parking space. The placard must be used only when a physically disabled person is the driver or passenger of the motor vehicle at the time of its parking.
• It is illegal to park in a parking space reserved for persons with disabilities if you do not have the correct vehicle plates or parking permit. You can use the vehicle plates or placard in Mississippi and other states.​
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