Picture this: You're walking through a grocery store. And you have a broken leg. You're in a world of pain but can manage just enough to get what you need from the store. You collect your items only to be stopped by a fellow customer. They point at you and tell you that you don't have a broken leg. That you're faking. They throw your items on the floor and tell you that you should be ashamed.

That's what it's like having an invisible disability. Except the broke leg is a disability no one can physically see. Your thrown items are an angry note and a scratched up car. And that fellow customer is someone who claims they support disabilities. But doesn't.

This is an issue that happens all the time. An individual with an invisible disability being discriminated for parking in a handicap spot they have a right to park in.

Take Isais Arreguin, a man who uses three ventilators and prescribed medicine in order to help him breathe and walk. He has a permitted handicap license given by the state. He was given a note that said. "I watched you put your handicap sign up in the window. You should be ashamed of who you have become." And "Stop being a liar! Start to be honest!"
All because this man could walk.

Why do we assume that just because someone has the ability to walk, that they aren't disabled. 75% of individuals with disabilities are considered "invisible" (Not easily identifiable through first look) and aren't 100% dependent on a mobility aid such as a cane or wheelchair. Only 53% of disabled individuals use a mobility aid. And it’s difficult to know who your allies are. As someone who has an invisible disability with a deteriorating body and currently learning how to drive; these reports are frightening.

Stacie Friend; a 43 year old woman who parked in a handicap spot in Walmart. She suffers from Parkinson's disease and has undergone a series of brain surgeries. She parked in a handicap spot placed her card and went into the store. She came back to a horrific scene of an ugly note that read “You're not disabled PIG!” along with scratches all over her car.

Yes there are some people who fake a disability. Who parks in a handicap spot only for the convenience. Who use their family member’s display cards illegally.  But do we have to go to this extreme to out them? My community shouldn’t have to feel threatened just because we don’t “look the part”.

We've grown up making assumptions. And we've also have learned that we can be wrong. We’re told to not judge a book by it’s cover yet here we are. Although this time our actions have a massive negative impact on the disabled community. We can’t pick and choose who we support. People in the disabled community with invisible disabilities are valid.

And it’s time we recognize that.