The man parked his car in a disabled parking space near the Mosman apartment where he lives with his wife.
When he returned to the vehicle a few hours later, he found a note written on an old receipt attached to the windscreen.
“We are all watching you. Where is the wheelchair? Consider others,” the scrawled missive stated.
The man’s wife, who wishes not to be named, told Yahoo News Australia, “I felt very threatened because I felt somebody was watching everything I did.”
Receiving the note was “very upsetting”, she said.
Her husband was “appalled. absolutely appalled,” she explained.
Her husband is a doctor and is “vigilant” about using the permit correctly, the woman said.
She said he would never take advantage of it and knows the rules about their use. She said he wouldn’t park somewhere he wasn’t allowed.
“I’ve had it in the car and haven’t used it even though I’m dropping him off somewhere because he said, ‘I will lose that disability park if I’m not around,'” she explained.
“People are just judgmental through ignorance.
“If you’re not on crutches or severely disabled, then you’re not in their eyes entitled to park there.”
Australian Disability Parking permits must only be displayed when the vehicle is being used to transport the individual to whom the permit was issued.
I had a similar situation happen to me last year. I’m on disability pension. I’m 66 yrs old and have had two operations on my back. One a discectomy the other a spinal fusion. After the operations I’ve been left with chronic disabling pain and live every day taking handful of pills so that I can almost function like a normal person. The operations also left me with nerve damage in my left foot, and some days I find it painful to walk. I parked in a disabled car park at Woolworths and was abused by another shopper for using the parking bay. When I came back to my car after shopping, there was a nasty, abusive note left on my windscreen too. I also felt a little nervous after that note. People shouldn’t be so judgmental! After all you don’t know that persons history unless you are a close friend. Try being kind!