"Do Better" — Wheelchair User Shames Driver for Parking Over Lines by a Handicapped Spot

If you're a wheelchair user, then you likely have your fair share of difficulties when navigating around life. While many strive for the same level of accessibility as those who don't use wheelchairs, not everyone will be as accommodating to these folks as they ought to be. On platforms like TikTok, wheelchair users often share plenty of woes wherein they are denied reasonable accessibility to public spaces. In one woman's case, that particular frustration can be taken much more literally.

TikToker Rachelle Chapman (@rachelles_wheels) is a longtime wheelchair user. She took some time to call out a driver who parked over the lines in a handicapped parking spot. You'll never believe who the driver was.

Let's break down the incident.

Rachelle is no stranger to the daily struggles of a wheelchair user. According to her, she was pushed into a pool at her bachelorette party years prior and suffered a severe spinal cord injury that completely paralyzed her legs.

Since then, Rachelle has been a strong advocate for wheelchair users and accessibility, all while continuing to live her life to the fullest.

That said, she certainly isn't afraid to call out parking bulls--- when she sees it, especially when it comes to a handicapped spot.

In her TikTok post from mid-December 2023, Rachelle shared her "main pet peeve as a wheelchair user." At the time of recording, she was properly parked in a blue handicapped space and explained that her car had a ramp that dropped down so that she could wheel herself into and out of her car.

Unfortunately, an SUV was parked over the yellow diagonal lines that specifically bar drivers from parking there in the first place. As such, Rachelle had no room for her car ramp to drop down.

"[The yellow lines] are not for people to park badly or just put their car in and not care that they're not parked between the lines," Rachelle explained. "This is so that I have access to the world and now I'm stuck and cannot get into my car."

To make matters worse, the driver supposedly had their own accessible parking pass in their car. It would be one thing of a non-disabled person parked their car there, but the culprit turned out to be someone who was severely misusing their accessible parking privileges at the expense of folks like Rachelle.

"It's not even the people who don't have them," Rachelle complained. "It's the ones who should know better."

Folks were pretty outraged in the comments section of Rachelle's video.

Many of them suggested that they inform the business where she was parked or even call the police on the driver.

Others suggested that Rachelle place things down like traffic cones to ensure that people steer clear of the space she needs for her ramp.

Some people took cues from the video, having not known that the yellow diagonal lines meant that they weren't allowed to park there.

There are plenty of things that we can do to help wheelchair users maintain accessibility, and one of the easiest things imaginable would be to not get in the way of their parking spaces.