People are praising Paralympian Jessica Long for opening up about being shamed for using handicapped parking spots despite being an amputee in a video earlier this year.
The Paralympic Games begin in just over a month's time, and one of the competition's biggest stars, 29-year-old Jessica, is proving herself not only to be a fine athlete - but an outspoken activist.
The swimmer, who has competed at four Paralympic Games and won 23 medals, had originally taken to TikTok in January to share an incident in which a lady scolded her for using the handicapped-accessible parking spot - despite her having a disabled person parking permit.
Check out the resurfaced video below:In the video, which currently has one million likes, the athlete told her followers that when she was parking, a lady in another vehicle made assumptions about her in a matter of moments.
Jessica has fibular hemimilia, which means she was born without her lower legs. And when she was just a year old, her adoptive parents had her undergo leg amputation so she could learn how to walk using prosthetic legs.
Despite this, the lady told Jessica that she shouldn't be parking in the handicapped spot - but when the swimmer informed her that she doesn't actually have legs, the woman "just drove away."
The gold medal-winner went on to comment on how regularly the "handicap police" interfere when she is simply trying to park in a spot that she is perfectly eligible for.
Jessica added: "I was never bullied as a kid and I didn’t know that I was going to be bullied by adults because I park in handicap. And I get it. I’m young, I’m athletic, but I’m also missing legs! And I know I make it look easy, but it’s still really hard. My legs are heavy, they hurt me. I’m in pain."
A number of commenters have taken to the post to praise Jessica while also condemning the woman - and those like her - for making baseless assumptions about her right to use the disabled parking space.
This certainly isn't the only time, the Paralympian has taken to social media to talk about the challenges that come with parking in a handicapped spot - even as a disabled person.
Last September, she told her followers: "I get two to four comments per week, just going about my normal routine and parking in handicap spaces.
"I’ve had people yell at me, leave notes on my windshield, knock on my car window, or wait for me to get out of my car just to tell me I can’t park there."
"My worst experience to date was an older couple that followed me around a grocery store and kept making comments because they wanted the handicap spot I took and said that I didn’t need it. I even explained I had two prosthetic legs and they told me I was a liar," she added.
