When Naomi Barringer and her daughter Kaitlyn, who has a physical disability, went to their car on August 28, they found a hateful note accusing them of using a handicapped parking spot without being “really handicapped.”
Here’s the note:
The car was parked for about 10 minutes in a handicapped parking spot outside a Target in the Denver suburb of Westminster. Ms. Barringer says her disability sign was clearly visible on the rearview mirror. And she added:
“I was upset particularly since the place card was displayed and because of the harsh nature of the letter.”
Ten-year-old Kaitlyn is a precious, always smiling little girl who was born with a rare genetic disorder called hypophosphatasia, which her mother describes as a “chronic, potentially life-threatening metabolic disease characterized by defective bone mineralization that leads to destruction and deformity of bones, profound muscle weakness, seizures, renal failure and respiratory failure.” Throughout her life, little Kaitlyn has sustained 30 fractures, undergone two surgeries on her skull, and more recently had to endure a knee operation.
What I fail to understand is how anyone could be this callous and consider it to be their business to publicly shame this mother and her child so publicly without knowing all the facts. I have seen cars parked in handicapped spaces, too, with no markings, but I simply minded my business and went about my day.
And I feel especially bad for Kaitlyn Barringer. Isn’t what she has to endure on a daily basis enough? She doesn’t need some jerk leaving spite-filled messages on her car while she and her mother are away from it.
If you would like to learn more about Kaitlyn’s struggle to overcome her disability, you can go to the family’s GoFund Me page. We can all learn something valuable from this amazing girl who refuses to let life get her down. She is an inspiration to all of us.
