Coping with life with a disability is challenging enough, but what is the next best option when all the available places are taken?
In this story, a person got into a heated argument because he parked in a parking space reserved for expectant mothers – even though he had a valid handicapped license plate.
But did they cross a line or was their decision justified?
Read on to find out all the details!
I have an autoimmune disease that limits my mobility.
I have a handicapped license plate on my car and on bad days I can use a walker because I have trouble walking.
I usually have groceries delivered to my home, but bad weather was forecast for this weekend and I wanted to pick up a few things while I picked up my medication supply.
Because this medication is controlled, I have to show my ID when picking it up and it will not be delivered to me.
I know that in a few years I won’t be as mobile as I am now, so I try to enjoy my independence and being able to do things myself, so I don’t ask my friends or parents to help me with errands unless it’s absolutely necessary.
Such positive, friendly thinking
When I arrived at the grocery store, all the handicapped parking spaces were taken.
The only parking spaces nearby were for expectant mothers and families with small children, so I parked there because the only other available spaces were at the very back of the lot, too far for me to walk safely, even with my walker.
As I was getting my walker from the back seat, a woman and her husband stopped and the woman started yelling at me that I wasn’t allowed to park there because the space was reserved for pregnant women.
I explained that I was disabled and all the disabled seats were taken and she started screaming that she needed the seat because she was pregnant.
This isn’t going to end well, is it?
The man who was with her told her to stop and said he was going to drop her off at the door and she yelled at him to shut up.
I grabbed my walker from the back seat and headed to the pharmacy, picking up some treats for the weekend and a word search book in case the power went out.
When I returned to my car, the police and the woman and man from before were there.
They called the police and the woman accused me of having a fake disability license plate and lying about my disability.
Oh wow.
The police officer asked to see my driver’s license and vehicle registration. I explained that I have an autoimmune disease that limits my mobility.
I assume the cop was checking to see if the handicapped placards were valid because he simply gave me my things back and told the woman there was nothing he could do.
He said that the parking spaces were provided by the store and that the store had no control over who parked there. However, he told her that it was OK for disabled people to use those spaces if there were no disabled parking spaces available.
The man who was with her was very upset, kept apologizing and telling her to stop.
She kept yelling at me that I had no right to take her place because she needed it more.
Things quickly got heated.
I went home and was very upset. I didn’t think I had done anything wrong by parking there.
My mother said I should have just gone home and come back later. My friends say I could have parked there without worrying because all the handicapped spaces were taken.
AITA for parking in the maternity car park at the store?
The situation quickly escalated from a simple parking issue to a full-blown confrontation!
What does Reddit think?
This person says they literally did nothing wrong.
And this person is shocked at how much energy the pregnant woman had.
This person simply questions the humanity of man.
Parked wrongly?
More like parking in the drama zone.
If you liked the story, check out this post about a clueless CEO telling a web developer to “act like a paycheck”… and it leads to 30% of the workforce being laid off.
