I was shaken after man thought I’d stolen blue badge to park in supermarket disabled bay – it’s left me so anxious
A WOMAN who suffers from multiple sclerosis was left in shock after a driver told her that she shouldn’t park in a disabled bay.
Hannah Campbell, 22, from Oakwood, said that a person approached her in the car park of a supermarket in Derbyshire and suggested that she was not entitled to have the blue badge she was displaying in her car.
This situation has made her feel anxious about parking, and on a couple of occasions, she has parked further away to avoid confrontation with other drivers.
Speaking to Hull Live, she said: “I had just put the trolley back after shopping and made my way back to my car when the man stopped me and told me that someone had been taking pictures of blue badges in cars and then made out he was warning me to be careful and implied I had stolen it and he didn’t want me to get caught.
“I was completely taken by surprise that he should say that, and I did my best to ignore him and get into my car as soon as I could. But I felt shaken and realised how much he had rushed to judgement about my condition.”
The 22-year-old woman said that she has good and bad days, meaning that sometimes she is in terrible pain and needs to walk with a stick and others when she can move fairly well.
Hannah continued: “I struggle with a lot of pain, weakness and fatigue, and recently I have had to use crutches to help my walking. I also struggle with my mental health, and this incident has affected me with this as well.
“I had been coming out of a very long and dark tunnel mentally when the old man approached me in the Morrisons car park.
“But I tried not to let it affect me. He was showing his prejudice. Just because you can’t see someone’s disability, it doesn’t mean it’s not there. I don’t want to have to have a blue badge or park in disabled spaces, but I need to. Nobody wants to be disabled.”