A mom of a child with a terminal illness discovered an upsetting note on her car after a trip to the hospital. Mom Emma Doherty parked her car in an accessible spot — something her blue badge legally allows her to do. But one passerby didn't believe her.
"You lazy conning b***h. You did not have a disabled person with you!" the note read. "These spaces are reserved for people who need them!!!"
Emma said the note "broke her" because of its blatant ignorance. Unbeknownst to the note writer, Emma was with her 3-year-old son, Bobby, who was born with three holes in his heart. In his short life, he has undergone more than 15 operations. Just because his disability isn't obvious to the naked eye doesn't make it any less real.
But Emma wouldn't let ignorance win. She clapped back at the note writer on Facebook, and her passionate response has received over 25,000 shares.
It all started when Emma was taking her son, 3-year-old Bobby, to Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool for an appointment. When she got out of the hospital, she saw a nasty note on her car. The note accused her of parking in an accessible spot without having a disabled person with her.
But even though Bobby doesn't "look disabled," he has a terminal illness that makes parking in an accessible spot absolutely necessary.
"For your information not everyone who holds a blue badge needs to have a wheelchair!" Emma wrote.
"I've sat through things nobody should see, but why did your note break me? Because it's your pure ignorance towards others. I'm a single mum trying my best to hold it together for my son who's in and out [of the] hospital. NOT ALL DISABILITIES ARE [VISIBLE]."
In fact, Bobby does use a wheelchair, but mom Emma carried him into the hospital instead of using it.
Indeed, this isn't the first time that Emma has received skeptical looks for parking in an accessible spot.
"Every day I get looks and stares and see people whispering to each other about me and Bobby walking from the car," she wrote.
But what strangers don't realize is that Emma's son Bobby has been through over 15 operations in his short life: "3 open hearts, 2 stomach, lung and diaphragm, countless artery stenting operations and spent half his life on intensive care."
"He's had 3 strokes and was paralysed, brain damaged and has a spine and hip condition as well as a massive heart condition."
"Bobby can walk short distances but he can't walk very far at all so I park closer. People often look at us funny as we leave the car but this is the first time someone has actually left anything," Emma said.
Emma's post points out that not everyone who has a disability "looks ill or disabled."
That doesn't mean that their challenges are any less real.
While receiving the note was an upsetting experience, Emma's response to the note is raising awareness about the issue.
Emma received many supportive comments in response to her post.
They pointed out that the person who wrote the note must have had a sick child, too, since they were at the children's hospital.
And some people responded with similar experiences of their own.
And they encouraged Emma not to let the note get to her.
And most of all, they were impressed by Emma's fiery response.
Being a mom of a disabled toddler is tough work. But this fierce mama is doing an amazing job.
