If you only learn ONE lesson in this life, it should be that you should never, ever judge a book by its cover…or a person by their appearance.
And that life lesson is reinforced in a major way by a woman named Jessica Long, who is disabled and shared her story about what happened when she had an unfortunate encounter over a disabled parking spot.
As Long described in a TikTok video, a woman who saw her pull into a disabled spot gave her a dirty look and told her she shouldn’t be parking there…but the woman didn’t realize that Long is an amputee and doesn’t have legs.
@jessicatatianalong I get asked all the time how I put on my prosthetic legs, so I thought I’d do a little video for you 😏🦿 #foryoupage #legsfordays
In the video, Long said,
“I was never bullied as a kid and I didn’t know that I was going to be bullied by adults because I park in handicap.
And I get it. I’m young, I’m athletic, but I’m also missing legs! And I know I make it look easy, but it’s still really hard.
My legs are heavy, they hurt me. I’m in pain…”
Here’s the video:
@jessicatatianalong To the handicap police… be kind! 👏🏼 #amputeelife #fyp
Long talked about how her disability has been with her since birth:
“I was missing my fibula bones and several other bones in my lower legs.
I did have a little foot with three toes on each leg.
My adoptive parents had those amputated when I was 18 months old so I could be fitted with prosthetic legs and learn to walk.”
Here’s a look at Jessica when she was a little girl:
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFfr5BgJ857/?utm_source=ig_embed
But she hasn’t let that slow her down and she even has 13 Paralympic gold medals.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CJe0DJnJnww/?utm_source=ig_embed
Long has a huge audience on TikTok and she is doing her best to educate people about what it’s like to live with a disability and how it shouldn’t be a reason to slow down and not go after your dreams.
@jessicatatianalong Prosthetic appointment check 🦿🦿 #fyp #legsareoverrated @astepaheadprosthetics
Have you seen any interesting stories lately on social media that really made you think?
Please share them with us in the comments.
We’d love to hear from you!
