Karen Honks At Disabled Woman For Parking In Handicapped Spot

Picture this. Two teenage girls sit on the roof of their car, eating ice cream. They are parked in an accessible parking spot and loudly bragging about how pleased they are with cinching this fabulous spot, even though they aren't disabled. An old disabled man walks up to them and asks why they parked there. They respond, “because we can.” 

Of course, this isn't an actual situation that happened. This hidden camera prank aired on the ABC show What Would You Do. It's intentionally crafted to make people upset and want to intervene. Unfortunately, this is also the main image that flashes in people's heads when they see someone who doesn't “look disabled” parking in a handicapped parking spot.

A dialogue around hyper-vigilant people accusing others of faking disability to get a good parking spot began on Twitter. Katie Bennett-Hogg, a University of Sheffield student, was honked at for parking at an accessible parking spot because she was perceived as able-bodied. 

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Other disabled people replied to her tweet recalling their experiences of being harassed for using handicapped parking spots. 

While some Twitter users interrogated Bennett-Hogg over whether she had a blue badge indicating her disability, she later posted that she did. 

This should go without saying, but you should never interrogate people parking in handicapped parking spots. If they don't look like your idea of a disabled person, it's likely that they simply have an invisible disability. At best, you're stopping a clueless non-disabled person from parking and at worst, you're verbally harassing a disabled person and ruining their day. If this case and the countless others like it are any indicators, it's likely the latter.