Thanks to this Portuguese-speaking prankster, inconsiderate drivers will think twice about pulling into a reserved spot.
Earlier this month, a video of Tiago Fonseca teaching a lesson to rude people parked in spots reserved for people with disabilities was posted to YouTube Brazilian comedy channel, “Canal Boom.”
The guy in the video sprayed the disabled sign — which the drivers had ignored — on the hoods and trunks of several cars using water-soluble spray paint. The prankees, however, did not know the paint would be so easily removed and were unsurprisingly less than thrilled upon finding their vehicles.
Their outrage might be something similar to what people with disabilities experience upon finding their parking spots occupied by able-bodied people. Rachelle Friedman, a HuffPost blogger and a quadriplegic, has some thoughts about being told “I was only parked there for a minute,” by people stealing disability-accessible spots.
“Don’t. Just don’t. This is the number one excuse us rollers get when we must confront someone who’s illegally parked in a handicap spot,” Friedman wrote in a blog for HuffPost. “Besides the fact that this usually isn’t true, I shouldn’t have to wait for an able-bodied person to run inside. I run into a handicap parking issue at least once a week. People who need those spots have schedules to meet and places to be as well. Just walk the extra 50 yards because I sure wish I could.”
Perhaps this will dissuade able-bodied people from parking in disability-accessible spots once and for all.
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Parking Mobility is a new app that allows users to take snapshots of cars parked in handicapped designated areas illegally, then forwards it to the local law enforcement agency. As an incentive, a portion of the fine the government issues benefits a charity to help raise awareness of the 20 percent of Americans who rely on accessible parking spaces.