Mom With MS Finds Nasty Note After Parking In Handicapped Spot

Illinois Patch ^ | Nov 15, 2017 | Shannon Antinori

[KeyLargo]

Mom With MS Finds Nasty Note After Parking In Handicapped Spot

By Shannon Antinori, Patch National Staff | Nov 15, 2017 Updated Nov 15, 2017

"You need to think twice before judging someone," the Plainfield mom said. " You have no idea what they've been through." By Shannon Antinori, Patch National Staff | Nov 15, 2017 2:22 pm ET | Updated Nov 15, 2017 11:50 pm ET

PLAINFIELD, IL — From all outward appearances, Michele Clarke, 39, looks young and healthy. But 16 years ago, the Plainfield mom was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. Since then she has had to battle back from flare-ups that have at times left her using a cane or a wheelchair, and even hospitalized for weeks at a time.

"Then there's times when I'm able to go to the gym and build up my strength," she told Patch.

Like many who suffer from "invisible diseases," Clarke said that for many years she was hesitant about using the handicapped placard for fear of being judged.

"It almost gets to the point where I'm afraid to use it," she said, "just because I'm not in a walker or I'm not using a cane ... I may look good on the outside, but on the inside I'm struggling."

Her fears came true on Monday, Clarke said, when she took her 12-year-old daughter to a doctor's office on 127th Street in Plainfield. As she was getting into the car, her daughter handed her a note that had been left on the passenger side windshield.

[bjc]

I guess I was surprised by the number of snowflakes on this string. Better we politely reinforce norms of civility ourselves than rely on the state to intrude.

[Flaming Conservative]

I am against anyone without a sticker using a handicap parking space (if someone is obviously disabled and is awaiting a tag, I would not balk). That is illegal. You don’t get a tag without a doctor’s certificate of NEED. Just because someone is not in a wheelchair or using an assistive device, does mean they don’t need a handicap spot. There are people with lung conditions, heart conditions, or endurance deficits that may look, to you, perfectly fine, but they aren’t. Try a little compassion, or at least empathy. You never know what private hell someone else is going through.

[robroys woman]

Good one! :-)

[ClearBlueSky]

Neither of us is the arbiter of anything. I don’t presume to judge your faith, I will thank you for the same consideration. Your OPINION of this subject, the reproduction of others and me, personally, is no more important than my own. It affects your life-and the lives of this woman and her child-not at all. People will do what they will-and others WILL have opinions of them(good and bad)-on this board and in daily life. Perhaps you prefer a homogenous silence. We are done in any case.Happy Thanksgiving.