Man shames woman in wheelchair for using disabled parking spot— her powerful response is inspiring

Disabled parking spots and other such facilities are essential to make public spaces more accessible for disabled people. It is necessary to ensure that people can be out and about without facing difficulties. However, sometimes individuals in positions of authority over these spaces may create unnecessary difficulties for people with disabilities. A woman who uses a wheelchair faced one such situation when she parked in a disabled parking spot, only to be chased downhill and insulted by the parking attendant. The woman named Madeline Delp (@madelinedelp on TikTok) shared the disturbing experience in a series of videos.

The woman was visibly shaking as she shared her story immediately after being chased by the rude parking attendant. "I was going to a doctor's appointment and I parked in a wheelchair-accessible parking spot nearby in a business complex," the woman explained. But while she was going down a hill to get to a doctor's appointment, a parking attendant chased her, telling her she couldn't park there. "He told me he was going to get my car towed. I was trying to tell him about the situation, but he wouldn't let me speak." The man interrupted her and kept repeating, "Shame on you." The woman explained that she planned to come back to one of the businesses at the complex to pick up a card for a friend's mother. She also tried informing the attendant that, under California law, she was legally allowed to park in any disabled parking spot, whether in a private business lot or not.

"Because parking is so difficult here," she emphasized in her video, especially since she needs to lower a ramp before getting out of her car. Delp later revealed in a comment that she had to push her wheelchair back up the hill to her car as she feared the man would have her car towed if she left it at the business complex's parking. "Then I had to circle around the block to find a different business to park at," she shared. After her doctor's appointment, she returned to the complex's parking lot so she could buy the card and planned to talk to the attendant about his behavior.

"I am going to go explain this to him so he can have kindness for people in the future," Delp expressed. However, when she attempted to speak with him, he ignored her and began recording her with a mocking smile. "I never touched you," the man said. He also denied saying, "Shame on you." When the woman tried to clarify things, he claimed he had recorded everything from the time she went up the hill and walked away, saying, "Thank you very much." He didn't so much as glance back when Delp asked to speak to his superior.

In an update, Delp revealed what happened next. After the situation unfolded, the woman went inside one of the stores and told a person what happened. "I am going to take your name and number and I am going to call the property manager," the person told her. Meanwhile, a customer—who looked like a very influential man, as per Delp—heard her story and decided to confront the parking attendant. "This parking attendant changed completely. He came up to me, and he was like, 'I am sorry, I didn't know that this was the law that you could park here, even if you weren't coming to this business first,'" she shared. Delp was frustrated because when she had previously mentioned the same thing, he wouldn’t budge and instead laughed at her. She wondered whether to take it further, even though he had "technically apologized" while still being rude.

People took to the comments section to express their thoughts on the situation. @kellydabunny wrote, "Take it further. He didn't listen until a man told him he was wrong." @shazzergraz commented, "I would absolutely call the property manager. Acknowledge his apology but also tell them it shouldn’t have gotten to that point." @breanncookie remarked, "Definitely take it further. He didn’t apologize, not really. And honestly, only did it because of some (respectable) suit."

You can follow Madeline Delp (@madelinedelp) on TikTok for more lifestyle content.