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A viral video captured footage of a man harassing a woman of short stature for having an accessible parking sticker.
The TikTok was posted on June 19 by Peet Monzingo (@peetmonzingo), a creator who posts videos about his family members. In the viral clip, a man yells at Monzingo’s mother, who is a little person, through her car window about why she needs an accessible parking sticker.
He then reaches into the car toward Monzingo’s mother, and when she rolls up her window, he starts knocking on it.
“I need it,” Monzingo’s mother says to the man about her handicapped parking authorization. “For me, I gotta get my ramp out, so I need extra space. It’s very very hard. I can’t walk that far.”
In the video’s caption, Monzingo explained that the man saw him and his mother go into the grocery store and waited by his mother’s car for them to return. After “quizzing” Monzingo’s mother about why she needed to park in an accessible spot, “he tried to take her handicap sticker and POUNDED ON THE WINDOWS,” Monzingo wrote.
“He simply just didnt understand what its like to be a little person,” Monzingo wrote. “We were trying to explain that its not just about being short and how my mom’s done nothing wrong by using a service she clearly needs.”
Monzingo also said that incidents like the one he captured are the reason he posts about his family and dwarfism.
“This needs to change,” he wrote of attitudes surrounding little people. Dwarfism is a recognized disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
On Thursday, Monzingo’s video had over 6 million views.
@peetmontzingo moments like this i dont get the opportunity to capture a lot.. this guy saw us going into the grocery store and then waited by my moms car for us to get back.. when we were leaving he starts quizzing my mom on parking in a handicap spot and things get heated.. he simply just didnt understand what its like to be a little person.. we were trying to explain that its not just about being short and how my mom’s done nothing wrong by using a service she clearly needs.. but then he tried to take her handicap sticker and POUNDED ON THE WINDOWS😤 im still shaking and im just glad i was there today.. this is why i post abt my family so much.. this needs to change
♬ original sound – Peet Montzingo
Many commenters on Monzingo’s video were horrified by the man’s actions.
“I’m sorry you had to go through that!” @ourextrasweetgwen commented. “Why people think they can ask about medical history and reasons why you need it is insane!”
“Why can’t people just mind their business & stop being confrontational!” @thatchiclexis wrote.
“MY BLOOD IS BOILING,” @shelby_holloway commented. “I’m so sorry you both had to experience this.”
Other commenters who identified themselves as disabled said they’d had similar experiences.
“People have such a small minded view of what disability ‘should’ look like,” @forest_goblin_ wrote. “I’m disabled too, but not paralysed. People will be awful.”
“I’m so sorry this happened. I’m disabled and ‘look fine,'” @chroniclexi__ commented. “I’ve been harassed for using my pass. It’s not okay.”
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Source: https://www.dailydot.com/irl/little-person-parking-spot/
