We've all heard stories about people being accused of using handicap parking spots when they shouldn't, or even having the audacity of taking one of the public spots that's closer to the building instead of parking further out. But we might not believe those stories if we haven't witnessed them ourselves.
Even TikToker, athlete, and amputee Allison E. Lang couldn't believe some people's impudence, at least until she had to show her prosthetic as "proof" of her need for a parking pass.
The TikToker explained:
"I can't believe someone just did this to me."
"So I'm parking at Walmart and I park in the accessible stall. I hang my pass, and this middle-aged man comes up to my window and knocks on my window. I don't roll my window down because he scared the sh*t out of me."
"Then through the glass, he's telling me, 'Miss, you can't park there. You can't use your grandma's pass and park in the handicap.'"
Lang looked at her camera like, "The audacity of this man," and then said:
"So I fling my door open and I show him this [her prosthetic leg]. And I said, 'Umm, excuse me, sir, I have one leg.'"
"And then he's like, 'Oh my god, I'm so sorry, I didn't know. You look too young to be disabled!'"
"First of all, sir, not every disability is visible. And disability doesn't have an age!"
In the caption of the video, Lang wrote:
"I've been disabled my whole life...Was I too young to be disabled at birth?"
"Disability doesn't have an age. Anyone can become disabled at any age."
"Please stop approaching people in parking lots and calling them liars. When I wear pants, you can't see my disability."
You can watch the video here:
Many TikTokers empathized with Lang's experience.
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Others shared some of the comments they'd received about their disability or illness.
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In a follow-up video, Lang reminded her audience how important it is not to speculate about or comment on other people's disabilities.
"'You look too pretty to be disabled' or 'You look too young to be disabled' are not a compliment."
"So please stop saying them to disabled people."
"Saying this implies that disability is a negative thing. When someone tells me that I'm 'too pretty to be disabled,' it makes it feel like it's a backhanded compliment, as if I'm pretty but it's wasted potential."
"Telling someone that they're 'too young to be disabled' doesn't make sense, either. I was born with my disability."
"And I think people forget that the disabled community is the largest marginalized group of people in the entire world, and we don't discriminate. Anybody can become disabled at any time. I hate to say that, but old age is inevitable and accidents happen."
"So let's stop making disabled people feel as if they're not worthy because of their disability."
You can watch the video here:
Lang makes an important point that a disability itself is not a person's whole personality or sole character trait, but also, having a disability does not carry with it a "singular look." While some disabilities are going to be more visible, there are going to be others that remain invisible, less obvious as to how limiting they can be, or even surprising at times.
But limiting a person because of our own limited expectations and experiences is far from right, okay, or fair. A person is who they are for a wide variety of reasons, and for those in the disabled community, their disability is only one aspect of who they are.
