Navigating life with a disability is challenging enough, but when the designated spots are all occupied, what’s the next best option?

In this story, one person found themselves in a tense showdown after parking in a spot reserved for expectant mothers—despite having valid handicapped plates.

But did they cross a line, or were they justified in their decision?

Read on for all of the details!

AITA for parking in expectant mother parking at the grocery store?

I have an autoimmune disease that limits my mobility.

I have handicapped plates on my car, and on bad days I have a walker to use as I have issues walking.

Normally I have groceries delivered to my house, but we were expecting bad weather this weekend and wanted to pick up a few things while I was getting my medication refill.

Because this medication is controlled, I have to show identification to pick it up and they will not deliver it to me.

I know in a few years I won’t be as mobile as I am now, so I try to enjoy my independence and being able to do things for myself, which is why I do not ask my friends or parents to help me with errands unless I absolutely have to.

Such positive, kind thinking

When I got to the grocery store, all of the handicapped spots were full.

The only close parking were spots designated for expectant mothers and families with small children, so I did park there because the only other open spots were at the back of the lot, too far for me to walk safely even with my walker.

As I was getting my walker out of the backseat, a woman and her husband pulled up and the woman started shouting at me that I was not allowed to park there, it was reserved for pregnant women.

I explained that I was disabled and all of the handicapped spots were full, and she started yelling that she needed the spot because she was pregnant.

This isn’t going to end well, is it?

The man who was with her told her to stop it and said he would drop her off at the door, and she yelled at him to shut up.

I got my walker out of the backseat and made my way to the pharmacy, got a few treats for the weekend and a word search book in case power went out.

When I got back to my car, the police were there and so was the woman and man from earlier.

They called the police and the woman had accused me of having fake handicapped plates and lying about being disabled.

Oh wow.

The police officer asked to see my license and registration. I explained that I had an autoimmune disease that affects my mobility.

I assume the police officer checked to see if the handicapped plates were valid because he just handed my stuff back to me and told the woman that there was nothing he could do.

He said that the spots were a courtesy of the store and they had no control over who parked in them, but did tell her that it should be okay for disabled people to use them when no handicapped spots were available.

The man who was with her was very upset and just kept apologizing and telling her to drop it.

She just kept shouting at me that I had no right to steal the spot away from her because she needed it more.

This got heated, fast.

I went home and was very upset. I did not think that I did anything wrong by parking there.

My mother said that I should have just went home and went back out later, my friends think that I was fine to park there because all of the handicapped spots were taken.

AITA for parking in the expectant mother parking space at the store?

The situation quickly escalated from a simple parking choice to a full-blown confrontation!

What does Reddit think?

This person says they did literally nothing wrong.

And this person is shocked at how much energy the pregnant woman had.

This person is just questioning human humanity.

Parking in the wrong spot?

More like parking in the drama zone.

If you liked that story, check out this post about an oblivious CEO who tells a web developer to “act his wage”… and it results in 30% of the workforce being laid off.