Natasha Hope-Simpson normally parks in a handicapped space on Morris Street in Halifax, Nova Scotia where she works. She has a government-issued handicapped permit that allows her to park there perfectly legally — and with good reason. But one of her neighbors, or perhaps fellow employees, apparently didn’t see it that way .
Last week, Hope-Simpson says she came out of her job to find a computer-printed, nasty — and of course, anonymous — note threatening to call the cops on her if she parked in the handicapped space again because obviously, the note writer said, she was only faking her handicap.
“A note from someone who said that they’ve been filming me, walking out of the car, and that I am not handicapped, and that I should be ashamed of myself and that they’re going to send my licence plate to the police if I park there again,” she described.
Here’s the note that the handicapped-space vigilante left on Natasha’a car.
“I have a video of you walking away from your car on numerous occasions, you are not handicapped!! The next time you park here I will forward the video’s (sic) to police with your license plate number. You should be ashamed of yourself!!”
There’s one problem. Hope-Simpson is indeed handicapped. In fact, she is missing her left leg below the knee. She lost the limb almost two years ago when a hit-and-run driver plowed into her as she walked to her own car one evening, pinning her against another parked vehicle, crushing her leg.
But Hope-Simpson says she was unfazed by the obnoxious note. In fact, she took it as a compliment.
“I’m kind of flattered about that, because I’ve been working pretty hard on my walk to make it look natural,” she told Canada’s national TV network, the CBC .
The leg was then created by a 3D printer .
But advocates for the disabled say that people should be careful about judging others who use handicapped facilities, such as parking spaces — because not every handicap is immediately obvious.
“It’s really none of our business whether they run out of the car, or crawl out of the car,” remarked Tova Sherman, as advocate for people with disabilities in Canada.
Natasha Hope-Simpson still hasn’t figured out who wrote the anonymous note. Check out a video about how her unique prosthetic leg was created, above.
[Image: 3D Systems YouTube Screen Capture]
Natasha Hope-Simpson prosthetic leg
