A mother has been left shocked after finding a vile, handwritten note on her windscreen, criticising her for using a wheelchair space for her autistic daughter.
Serena Jeanneret from Forest Lake, Brisbane has four children – all with special needs – and has a doctor-recommended disabled parking permit for her 11-year-old daughter who has autism.
Ms Jeanneret found the note on her windscreen at Mt Ommaney shopping mall last week after returning to the car, exhausted, with her children.
Serena Jeanneret (pictured) from Forest Lake has four children and has a doctor-recommended disabled parking permit for her 11-year-old daughter who has autism
Ms Jeanneret found the note on her windscreen at Mt Ommaney shopping mall last week after returning to the car, exhausted, with her children
‘That you’ve abused your disability parking permit has not gone unnoticed!’ the note read.
Speaking to the Courier Mail, Ms Jeanneret said she got a ‘sinking feeling’ when she spotted the note.
‘It’s specifically for my daughter, and my daughter was there. When I don’t have my daughter with me, it doesn’t get used,’ she said.
She added that whoever wrote the note could have approached her and she would have explained her situation.
As well as being autistic, Ms Jeanneret’s daughter has a speech and language impairment, attention deficit disorder and oppositional defiant disorder.
Ms Jeanneret said that her daughter almost matches her in size, and that holding onto her is sometimes very difficult.
She said that whoever wrote the note could have approached her and she would have happily explained her situation
‘I’ve got a Land Cruiser, and she’s climbed on top of the roof in the past and I can’t get her off. And she’s got no road sense. This enables me to park closer to where I need to go,’ she said.
Ms Jeanneret thinks she may have spotted the note-writer when she left the car at the beginning of her shopping trip.
She said she saw an older man parked next to her giving her ‘the stare’ as he returned to his vehicle with his partner.
Sadly, this is just one of many incidents for Ms Jeanneret who has urged people to have some compassion.
‘I’ve had people who’ve backed me in. They wouldn’t let me out of a (disabled) car park because they didn’t think I was entitled to the permit. I had the kids in the car and a man was abusing me saying it wasn’t for me, had I stolen it,’ she said.
This is not uncommon for Ms Jeanneret who has urged people to have some compassion