Disability Plates & Placards

An individual assisting someone who is disabled and stepping out of their car

Notification: 

Dependent on staffing, DMV branches will temporarily have rotating closures. View a schedule of all closures.

The Denver County Motor Vehicle Department provides disability plates and placards to persons with disabilities who reside in Denver County only. Disability plates and placards permit qualified applicants to park their vehicle, or a vehicle in which they are a passenger, in designated disability parking spaces. If you are not a Denver County resident, please visit the State of Colorado DMV website to locate your branch office.

Four different options for plates and placards

Regular license fees and ownership taxes will be charged for disability license plates.

  1. One set of license plates (license fees and taxes apply).
  2. One set of license plates and one permanent, free placard (license fees and taxes apply for plates).
  3. Up to two permanent, placards without plates (free).
  4. One 90-day, temporary disability placard (free).

How To Qualify

Sample of a Colorado disability plateTo qualify for disability plates and placards, see the criteria listed below.

All criteria require certification by a person fully licensed to practice medicine in Colorado.

Sample of a disability placard

  • Mobility: Persons who cannot walk two hundred feet without stopping to rest.
  • Assisted Mobility: Persons who cannot walk without the use of, or assistance from, a brace, cane, crutch, another person, prosthetic device, wheelchair, or other assistive device.
  • Respiratory: Persons who are restricted by lung disease to such an extent that the person's forced (respiratory) expiratory volume for one second when measured by spirometry is less than one liter, or the arterial oxygen tension is less than sixty mm/hg on room air or at rest.
  • Oxygen: Persons who use portable oxygen.
  • Cardiac: Persons who have 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.
  • Other: Persons who are severely limited in their ability to walk due to an arthritic, neurological, or orthopedic condition.

How to Apply

Permanent Plates and Placards

The application process for plates and placards is the same. Denver County residents may bring all documentation listed below to any of our Denver DMV branch office locations and see the options above for applicable fees.

Temporary Placards

To apply for temporary placards, Denver County residents should bring all documentation listed below to any of our Denver DMV branch office locations (Denver residents only). Temporary placards are free of charge.

Where To Place Placards
Permanent placards will be issued at the time of your transaction and should be placed visibly inside the vehicle of which the person with a disability is a passenger. Placards may be moved from one vehicle to another.