A wheelchair-bound man and his family were shocked after finding a vulgar note on the windshield of their car accusing them of improperly parking in a handicapped spot.
Dusty Stribel, his wife Kionna, and their 8-year-old daughter had been dining at an Oklahoma City Olive Garden when they discovered the note.
Kionna took to Facebook to clarify the situation and to hit back at the hurtful individual who left the note.
“These people didn’t know us. They didn’t know that my husband has Muscular Dystrophy and has struggled with it his entire life,” Kionna wrote, adding: “They didn’t know that even though his doctors advised him to go into a wheelchair years ago, he refused, and instead, remained on his own two feet until he finally fell for the last time, blowing out both knees and breaking an ankle.”
Continuing, she wrote that:
They didn’t understand that we’ve spent the last 2 years learning to adjust to a life in which he can’t even stand up to get in and out of a car. They didn’t see that I’ve torn my rotator cuff lifting on him to assist him in his transitions. They have no idea that he already lives in constant pain, and that their hurtful words would only add to that. They didn’t know that the reason that he has a belly is because there are no stomach muscles left to hold everything in tight.
Speaking of their daughter, Kionna wrote that: “They didn’t know that our 8 year old already struggles to understand why her daddy can’t run and play with her the way other daddies do. They just didn’t know. And because they didn’t know, they allowed the hate in their hearts to get the better of them.”
Kionna also too the time in her post to explain how she had turned that individual’s “misguided and uninformed attempt” to “shame” her and her family, explaining that:
Upon seeing this note, she said “Mom, why would someone do that? They don’t even know us.” This coming from a little girl who’s daddy will never get to walk her down the aisle, because, he is in fact disabled.
So we explained to her that some people just have hate in their hearts. We further explained how your actions can deeply affect others around you, and how she should always be conscious of others feelings. I explained that she was right. These people didn’t know us.
She concluded her post by thanking the person for providing “a wonderful opportunity” to “teach” their daughter “a valuable lesson,”
So again, I’d just like to say Thank You. Your ignorance provided a wonderful opportunity for me and my husband, who have struggled and survived and come out stronger in the last couple of years, to not only teach our daughter a valuable lesson, but provided another opportunity for us to overcome and to be thankful for the blessings that continue to come our way!
Kionna’s Facebook post has been shared over 1,200 times so far, and she told local NBC affiliate KFOR that she wants her post to reach the person who wrote the note.
“I’d kind of like to explain to them that we aren’t just fat, lazy people that park in the handicap because we’re too lazy to park three spots away,” said Kionna, adding that she’s hoping to turn the experience into an educational tool for others to prevent this from happening to another family.
- Source Links – August 29, 2020
- About Pat Warde: Eulogy Tribute by Eleanor Hughes – April 1, 2019
- Editorial Note – January 15, 2019
You must be logged in to post a comment Login