People. Not Symbols

Background

December 3rd was International Day of Persons with Disabilities. Access Israel, a NPO whose mission was to promote accessibility for people with disabilities in Israel, wanted to do something to mark the day.

Many drivers choose to park in spots reserved for the disabled. They have a battery of excuses to go with this disrespect, from "I'll only be a second" and "I'm just picking up my wife" to "What's the rush? You're sitting in a wheelchair anyway!" and "I didn't see the sign."

In Israel there were 180,000 disabled people. In the previous year, requests for disabled permits had grown by 16% while fines for parking in disabled spaces had topped 20,000.