SPRINGFIELD - Secretary of State Jesse White announced that physicians can now renew their patient’s disability placards online via the office’s website, making Illinois the second state in the nation to provide this vital service to persons with disabilities.
“I’m pleased that this technology is now available to make the process easier for people with disabilities to renew their parking placards while visiting their doctor,” said White. “This is another example of using technology to make it easier to conduct business with our office.”
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In order to help reduce the fraud and abuse of the Parking Program for Persons with Disabilities, persons with disabilities are required to renew their permanent disability parking placards every four years.
Prior to the new online renewal program, the applicants were required to visit their physician to obtain a new permanent disability parking placard. The physician would complete the renewal form after confirming the individual’s medical eligibility. Upon completion, the form was mailed to the Secretary of State’s office in Springfield to be reviewed before a new placard was issued and mailed to the applicant.
With the upgraded renewal system, the Secretary of State’s office sends a renewal certification form to the authorized holder of permanent disability placard approximately three months prior to their parking placard’s expiration date. The renewal certification form contains the information of the authorized holders including their current parking placard number and authorized pin number. The authorized holders then take the form to their physician, who submits the patient’s information online at www.cyberdriveillionis.com.
Under this new program, the certification form is submitted instantly to the Secretary of State’s office. If the authorized holders provided an email address, they will receive an email confirmation that their application has been received. Following approval, their updated placard will be mailed.
“The new system will significantly reduce the amount of time it takes for individuals to receive their new parking placard,” said White. “It will also reduce postage costs and streamline the program making it even more efficient.”
The electronic application cannot be used by those renewing red temporary parking placards or by parents or guardians renewing on behalf of a child with a disability. These requests must be made using the paper application process. If individuals prefer to complete the renewal form using the paper application process, they may do so.
There are currently 627,281 permanent disability placards and 51,416 disability license plates in Illinois. In October, approximately 60,000 letters were mailed to permanent parking placard users whose parking placards will expire on January 31, 2018.
The online service began on Oct. 12, 2017. To date, more than 400 people have had their parking placards renewed by their physician and almost 13,000 people have used the online service to contact the office or update their information.
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