Gettin' Mad: Is Ignorance Bliss?

I want your opinion with regards to something that happened to me only a few weeks of living in Lloydminster. First, you need some backstory.

I'm twenty-five years old and have had arthritis since I was two. It's wild to me that some people can't wrap their minds around "children with arthritis." The disease, specifically, is called Juvanile Rheumatoid Arthritis (but the juvanile part gets dropped when you're no longer a kid). Growing up with a physical disability has been... character building?

I had my first joint "replaced" ("removed") when I was seventeen, and at twenty-five it seems a new hip is around the corner. I give myself needles every week to stay mobile & without medication simple tasks like getting dressed, walking and eating are unbearably painful. I try to describe the pain to others by asking: "Have you ever rolled your ankle? Have you ever had to walk for miles on that rolled ankle?"

I was told I'd be in a wheelchair permanently by age fifteen. Though that's not the case today, I did spend some time in one. I was a lab rat for experimental drugs & procedures - I went through tonnes of stuff as a child to be the physical version of 'me' that I am today & wouldn't change who I am or where I've gone through for the fittest, healthiest bod in the world.

From time to time, I use my handicapped permit to park close to access points. Things are extra tricky in the winter for me as a serious wipe out on the ice can be devistating (imagine your gramma taking a major spill). At the time of this incident, I still had my Ontario license plates on and was using my Ontario handicapped permit. I went to the mall and was having a really rough time with my hip (which now has both rheumatoid & osteo-arthritis), so I parked in a handicapped spot.

The woman next to me was also parked in a handicapped space and was struggling to remove a walker from the back of her truck. She didn't look much older than me, and I was surprised to hear her say in a degrading and disgusted tone:

"Excuse me... but you really shouldn't park there. These spots are for people that need them."

I was floored! I didn't know what to do, so I told her I have a permit. She didn't believe me. I felt embarrassed and ashamed to have parked in a spot that's made for people like me. I can honestly say that since that day, I have not parked in a permit-only spot (though I assure you, I DO have a permit) because of this woman and the way she made me feel.

The reason I'm bringing this issue up now is because this morning, barely able to walk - I parked far away from the coffee shop entrance when handicapped spaces were clearly available. My hip gave out a few times on my way to and from my car, and I was visably limping. I purposely don't take handicapped spaces anymore because of people like that ignorant woman - I would rather feel the physical pain of years and years of evascular necrosis and bone-on-bone grinding (I have no cartilige left in multiple joints) than feel the shame and embarassment that woman burdoned me with.