A young Fredericton-area woman is speaking out after someone placed a nasty note on her vehicle, blasting her for using a disabled parking spot.
Brealyn Riley doesn’t look like she needs accessible parking, but looks can be deceiving. She was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease a year ago.
“Along with my Crohn’s disease, I’m anemic,” says Riley. “I’ve had several blood clots when I was sick.”
Riley was given a disability parking pass a few months ago and says she only uses it when she needs to.
“With the anemia and the blood clots, it causes me to become tired and weak quickly,” she explains.
She displayed her parking pass on her vehicle on Monday while she popped into a business. When she returned, she found a handwritten note on her window, calling her “selfish” and saying she should be ashamed.
“I was kind of like ‘wow.’ I couldn’t believe that it had happened.”
Randy Dickinson, chairman of the New Brunswick Human Rights Commission, says he hears similar stories all the time.
“Some disabilities are not visually apparent and it really is hurtful for people who have these types of conditions to be accosted or to have notes,” says Dickinson.
He says it is encouraging that people care about accessible parking spots being used correctly, but he says people shouldn’t make assumptions.
“They might politely ask, just checking, and see if they are the one the permit is issued for, and if so, great,” says Dickinson. “The person doesn’t have to give their full medical history.”
“I wish the person who did this would have come up to me and asked me ‘why are you using this?’” says Riley. “I have no problem telling anyone about my health issues.”
With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore
