We often hear that you should not judge a book by its cover. But that was exactly what a stranger did when a mum, Nikki Waller, who looked healthy, parked in a disabled space and went into a store with her two children.
The stranger took out pen and paper, wrote a note that was straight-up rude and placed it her windshield – unaware that her 7-year-old son Alex is handicapped and can hardly walk.
Now the mother’s Facebook post has spread like wildfire online.
Nikki Waller and her two children were off shopping at a store in Pennsylvania. They parked on one of the four empty spaces, with their handicap sign hung up in the rearview mirror and made their way into the store.
But when the family came out they could not believe their eyes. A stranger had taken the trouble to write a note and attach it to the mother’s windshield. It read:
“Reserved parking. Did your welfare check [sic] come today?”
Although Nikki Waller was in good health, the stranger had missed a crucial detail. Her 7-year-old son Alex suffers from juvenile idiopathic arthritis – a rheumatic joint disease that causes a lot of pain and means he has trouble moving.
Alex is forced to continually wear ankle supports in jeans – but he still has difficulty walking. When his family go shopping, it saves him a lot of pain when they park in the disabled spaces.
The stranger’s note upset the family.
“I thought it was rude of anyone to do it because other people also have problems that can not be seen,” said 7-year-old Alex WTAE-TV Pittsburgh .
The mother decided to share the event on Facebook. She wanted to raise awareness of the less visible disabilities by explaining that things are not always what they seem.
“You saw obviously me and my children turn into one of the four empty seats for, you saw our ages, and you made an assumption. Unfortunate enough, it is the youngest member of the family in our group who need this place,” writes Nikki Waller on Facebook according to WTAE-TV Pittsburgh .
The Facebook post quickly gained a large impact where it was further shared thousands of times. Meanwhile, lots of people messaged Nikki personally and thanked her for having drawn attention to the situation publicly.
“If it can help a person in the same situation then it has succeeded,” said the mother Nikki to WTAE-TV Pittsburgh .
Here you can see a video about the event:
You should never judge a book by its cover – things are not always what they seem. Please share further to help the mother Nikki to pay attention to the situation!
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