One mom who was parking at Walt Disney World in Florida was shamed for taking up two parking spaces for her disabled son.
Tricia Proefrock and her 13-year-old son, Mason, were vacationing in Orlando, Florida. They were spending time at Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom. After a special day together, the last thing that Tricia expected to see was a rude note shaming her for the way she parked.
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Mason has something called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. This is a type of epilepsy that can affect a person's ability to walk, talk, and see. Because of this, Mason needs to use a wheelchair to get around.
During their trip to Walt Disney World, Tricia parked her car in Disney’s disability lots. The workers at Disney told her to take up two spots if she needed room to get her son out of the vehicle in his wheelchair.
"When the side of the lot with ramp accesses are full, the only remaining spots have no ramp access," said Tricia. "Every single time out of dozens of trips, the cast members instruct me to take two spots, by parking directly on the white line. This gives me room to wheel my son out of the vehicle."
After seeing that taking up two spots was her only option, Tricia did what she had to do. But someone took it upon themselves to shame her for her decision and left a horrible message on her windshield.
"This is not a ticket, but if it were within my power, you would receive two," the note read. "Because of your Bull Headed, inconsiderate, feeble attempt at parking, you have taken enough room for a 20 mule team, 2 elephants, 1 goat, and a safari of pygmies from the African interior. The reason for giving you this is so that in the future you may think of someone else, other than yourself. Besides I don't like domineering, egotistical or simple-minded drivers and you probably fit into one of these categories."
What a rude thing to leave on someone’s car! And the note even ended with wishing them transmission failure and becoming infested with fleas!
The terrible note left Tricia feeling upset and frustrated. "I was angry because I felt like the situation of taking two spots naturally sets us up to be judged," she shared. And she always makes sure to check "for open ramp spots and end spots, before taking two spots."
"I did let a cast member know the following day at Epcot that I had a ramp, and that someone had left the note the day before," Tricia said. "He was apologetic but could not offer any advice except again, to take two spots."
Tricia shared her story to let others know to think about why someone may be taking up two spots before judging them.
"So, if you see a car taking two spots, maybe instead of wishing us a broken transmission, you can try to think about why a wheelchair accessible van in a medical parking section might need 2 spots," she said.
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May we always show kindness and compassion to others. And may use our words and actions to lift people up rather than tear them down.
h/t: Insider
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