Bay Area woman with Multiple Sclerosis speaks out after dog feces smeared across car over handicap placard

Amanda del Castillo Image
Monday, January 28, 2019
Woman with MS speaks out after dog feces smeared over handicap placard
A woman in the South Bay says she was targeted for having an invisible disability. She says she parked in a handicapped spot with a visible placard and when she returned to her car, it was covered in dog feces.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (KGO) -- A San Jose woman believes she was targeted for her invisible disability. Shellie Nichol Chandar was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 2012. She told ABC7 News her symptoms have recently grown worse. On Saturday, the visibly healthy realtor parked in a handicapped spot along Villa Maria Court while she showed a home to new clients.

"We went in for about 10 minutes and then when we came out, there was just poop all over my car," Chandar explained.

She told ABC7 News that dirty looks come with her disability placard.

"My clients were running late, so I sat down on the curb," Chandar said. "I did notice some people giving me 'the look' when I got out of my car, and I'm pretty used to that because I get it a lot."

ABC7 News has blurred the feces in all related video, but Chandar documented the display on Facebook for Willow Glen neighbors to view.

"This was so really violent, and so cruel, and so crude to do that," she said. "I just felt like I needed to do it in hopes that the person that did it would actually see the video and feel kind of 'poopy' themselves."

Chandar explained the lesson to be learned is one most are familiar with, "Never judge a book by its cover." In this case, never judge a person by their placard.

Since being diagnosed with MS in 2012, Chandar said added stress has numbed her left leg, making it difficult for her to walk. One added stressor surrounds Chandar's mother-in-law who was involved in a serious accident only two weeks ago. Chandar said her mother-in-law is still in the hospital, paralyzed.

"We left her and I went to go meet my clients an hour later after seeing her suffering," she said through tears. "That really hurt more, because it took a lot to get ready that day after seeing my mother-in-law go through therapy."

In addition to being a realtor, Chandar is a mother of eight, and an advocate for her nonprofit "Project Foster Care." She explained her mother-in-law is an integral part of the family's day-to-day.

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"I have eight children. So, my husband and I are a fined oiled machine," she said. "Our mother-in-law was intricate."

When Chandar became the target of Saturday's dog poop attack, she explained she was devastated, hurt and humiliated.

"It's not just me, I'm surrounded by people who have disabilities as well and we struggle with the same thing," she explained. "When you have an invisible disability, you can't see the pain we live in. You have no idea."

While she continues to battle MS, she shared this message with the person behind the poop, "Just consider the fact that disabilities aren't always visible, and that they don't realize what it took for me that day to just get up and go meet clients and go around for the day."

Chandar said she isn't looking to identify the person responsible. Instead, she wants that person to change their feelings toward people with invisible disabilities.

"Because I don't know what happened to them that day that made them so very angry with me," she explained.

Chandar said she did not reach out to San Jose police.