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Disturbing TikToks show wheelchair user trapped at Atlanta International Airport after selfish Porsche driver illegally parked and blocked doors to her modified van in ‘ableist’ incident that she said left her ‘alone in the dark’
- A disabled woman was stranded at the airport when she discovered her wheelchair-accessible van had been hit by an illegally parked Porsche
- A frustrating back-and-forth between airport parking attendants and police prompted Yvette Pegues, 38, to call the situation “beyond unfair” and “competent.”
- An Atlanta airport spokesperson said the driver of the Porsche’s illegal behavior could result in fines and citations
- Pegues’ Tik Tok Documenting the Incident Has 1.4 Million Views So Far
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A TikTok posted by a disabled woman from Georgia went viral after she showed via clips that she arrived at the Atlanta airport and found her wheelchair-accessible van was blocked by an illegally parked Porsche.
In a video captioned “BLOCK and LOCKED into parking space…(again)!”, Yvette Pegues, 38, documented her Friday night arrival at Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, where her disabled van was blocked by a blue Porsche. SUV found. .
“I can’t even get out of the parking lot because my van has been blocked by someone illegally parked,” she said.
“I have a six foot ramp that comes out of my car to exit the vehicle. In this case I needed at least five feet,’ she added.
Pegues, who is paralyzed from the waist down, then tried to ask the airport parking attendants for help.
“I called parking several times. Parking said, “Call the police.” The police said, ‘Call parking,’ so I was hesitating between the two,” she said. “I’m here alone in the dark and can’t go home.”
Yvette Pegues returned home after a long flight to Atlanta airport only to find her wheelchair accessible van illegally packed by a Porsche
A confusing back and forth with airport parking attendants and the police didn’t solve Pegues’ problem and her husband had to come pick her up
She says this isn’t the first time someone has boxed her special van, but it’s the first time she’s decided to record it and post it on her TikTok, where it’s been viewed 1.4 million times.
To make things even more challenging, Pegues suffers from a cognitive disability.
Hours back and forth with various parking authorities all to no avail left her mentally and physically exhausted, in addition to her phone battery being low.
Her husband eventually came to pick her up, and it wasn’t until the next day that a tow truck arrived to remove the Porsche so she could take her van home.
Not only did Pegues express his frustration with the airport’s handling of the accessibility issue, but also with the driver ignoring the stickers on her van that read “Additional space required for ramp or elevator.”
“That’s one of the few times I wish I had legs that worked,” she said. “It feels more than unfair, it feels intentional, it feels competent to be completely honest.”
The Pegues van needs at least two meters of space to enter through the ramp. She put stickers on her windows explaining the situation
Before becoming disabled after suffering a stroke during surgery nearly a decade ago, Pegues was a network systems engineer with a PhD from Harvard.
Since becoming paralyzed, Pegues has grown into a career as a speaker and advocate for culture change
According to an WSBTV report, a spokesman for Hartsfield-Jackson airport said drivers like those who stopped in Pegues’ van could face fines and citations.
The spokesperson also said of Pegues that she “has a lot of experience at the airport and has served as chair of the airport’s ADA committee as well as an ADA volunteer.”
“We have reached out to her to determine exactly what happened and will make changes in our response to situations like this,” he added.
Pegues has T-10 spinal cord injury from a stroke she suffered nearly a decade ago. Prior to her illness, Pegues was a network systems engineer and received her PhD from Harvard.
In the subsequent Tik Toks posted to her page, Pegues thanked viewers of her first video for providing advice, saying that “education, training and major changes are needed for airport policing and parking management. to change policies, enforce ADA laws, and hold violators accountable.”