In the UK you have to get a letter from your GP and apply to the local authority (in my case Essex County Council) for a blue badge.   They will send someone (probably a grumpy disenfranchised - not quite social worker) to do an assessment of your need if you pass the first part of application process (I understand many are never let know they did not pass).
I have read that the councils are loathe to issue the blue badges and that even obviously needy persons are put through embarrasing interrogation like interviews and then made to walk for certain distance to prove need.
With RA I never know how I will be feeling from one minute to the next. Today I was able to walk to my GP office (600 yards) twice with only minimal discomfort.
Other days I can barely move from bedroom to bathroom without leaning on a little step stool I use as a walker/zimmer frame.

The UK does a lot of lip service on the "accessiblity for everyone" theme, especially when it comes to Councils forcing businesses and schools etc, to make accessibility a priority. But they don't go very far when it comes to providing the means to enable people with the disabilities to lead normal active lives.

John - I feel your pain! At Broomfield hospital you have to walk forever to get to physiotherapy and to the pain clinic. One of the GPs at my surgery has RA too and she doesn't use physio at Broomfield because it is too painful to get there.

Where is logic?