Middle-aged man stops young woman for parking in handicap spot but regrets his action immediately

There's no better inspiration for powering through life than the disabled people who make it against all odds. Every day poses a new challenge for them as they tackle a society that underestimates them and fails to be understanding and inclusive. One particular scenario that often arises in their lives is being misjudged when they try to park in the disabled spot. The best example is what happened recently to a Canadian para-athlete and disability advocate, Allison E Lang during her trip to the Walmart. While she parked in the disabled spot, a man chided her assuming that she wasn't disabled.

In the minute-long video, Lang shared about her awkward encounter with the man. "I can't believe someone just did this to me," she said in disbelief. When she was parking at Walmart, Lang made sure that she used the stall accessible exclusively to the handicapped and also hung her parking pass for the disabled. Not realizing this, a middle-aged man approached her car and knocked on her window. However, Lang found it too sketchy that she didn't open the window when he knocked. But the man still spoke through the glass telling her, "Miss, you can't park there. You can't use your grandma's pass and park in handicap."

Appalled by this, Lang decided to open her door to reveal her amputated leg which was replaced by a prosthetic leg. When she said that she only had one leg, the man realized his mistake and apologized, "And then he's like, oh my God, I'm so sorry, I didn't know." However, his next remark threw Lang off-guard. The man told her that she "looked too young to be disabled." Lang pointed out that there could be disabilities that are not always visible and so one shouldn't judge a person quickly. Also, she added in the caption, "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." 

Over 655K views swarmed in for the video and people showed their support for Lang in the comments. Turns out, this was a common issue for many disabled people. "I have MS and it lowkey bugs me when people say, 'Oh you look too young/healthy to have MS'," said @torres.alejandro. "My wife gets looks from using a wheelchair at the airport. She has fibromyalgia and sometimes she can't walk the literal miles to the gate in ATL," noted @smittyatl. "I still remember my mom being followed by mall security cause she was in a disabled stall. His face when he saw my grandmother was priceless. He tried to apologize and I just flipped him off," added @msscorpio990. 

On a similar note, a Paralympian named Jessica Long faced a similar treatment but her savage reply left the internet in awe. In her popular TikTok video, Long mentioned that a woman gave some snide looks at the athlete for parking in a disabled spot. When the woman told her not to park in that spot, she simply informed her that she was an amputee with a verified pass. "I was never bullied as a kid, and I didn't know that I was going to be bullied as an adult because I park in handicapped," she said. She added, "To all the 'handicap police' out there, just be kind. You don't need to know why someone's parked in the handicap."

You can follow Allison E. Lang (@allisonelang) on TikTok for inspiring content.

This article originally appeared on 5.20.24.