People with invisible disabilities and illnesses are often harassed by passersby for supposedly faking their condition or pretending to need privileges or attention.

It happened to Katie, a JC Penney shopper who was sitting in the store with her guide dog during a medical episode.

“You can’t sit anywhere else?” another shopper asks her.

“I literally cannot move,” Katie responds to the woman who asked her if she can go somewhere else. “I’m going through a medical episode.”

But the woman persisted, so she asked, “Are you joking?”

“No. I’m trying to look at these and you’re in my way,” she responded.

“I decided to record this video for my safety,” Katie explains in the description.

She posted it to her TikTok to raise awareness of the phenomenon of Karens harassing chronically ill people and it has gone viral.

POTS stands for postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome.

It’s a condition that causes blood to pool in the feet when the person is upright, causing them to faint.

With POTS, Katie has to sit with her legs propped during symptoms like dizziness and a rapid heartbeat to allow the blood to come back up from her feet, so she won’t pass out.

The Karen even said, “Respectfully, you don’t look like you need a service dog.”

“There’s no respect for that at all,” Katie replied.

She pet her dog Bailey throughout the exchange and Bailey periodically looks at the camera, as if to say, “Is she for real?”

Guide dogs help patients with POTS by alerting them to signs of a faint and comforting and assisting them.

Watch the full clip.

@serviceaussiebailey

While going through a medical episode , this person kept walking by and clearly was angry at me. I decided to record for my safety but also I did not feel comfortable making it noticeable that I was recording her behavior. I could barely form sentences and my speech was slower due to my ongoing medical decline. If you are having a bad day, please do not take it out on others. 🥲 I barely want to leave my house because of interactions like Unfortunately while filming, my phone died during the last bit but she ended up walking up to the clothing she was desperate to look at. (It was about 1ft away from me). I just sat there trying to stay calm and she looked at the price then left. Idk what she gained from that. #servicedog #POTS #foryou #karen

♬ original sound – Bailey and Katie

Here’s what people are saying.

Several people with POTS and similar conditions said they had similar experiences.

Exactly. It’s basic humanity. Fortunately it seemed all the commenters got this.

“Audacity” is the right word. I don’t get it. I hope her dog helps comfort her through this.

It really isn’t. Karens need to get a life and stop being so horrible.

Yes. Something tells me she is a sovereign citizen.

People need to realize that most chronic illnesses and many disabilities are invisible. Mind your own business.