On my way home from grocery shopping, my bags were too heavy, so I had to stop and sit on a park bench for a couple of minutes so that I could make the rest of the journey. Got stopped by some cops -

I told them I was disabled and was resting a minute so that I could get home. They threatened me with a fine and told me if I wasn't exercising I needed to go. I tried explaining one more time that I was disabled and had some very heavy groceries, and I was on my way home.

They started yelling, "Are you going to disinfect these benches? If an elderly person sits down here, what stops them from getting the virus? It's killing people, have you even been tested, do you know you don't have it?"

Disabled people in normal circumstances have almost no public space where it's acceptable to rest, even for a moment, if we need to. In these circumstances, I took a calculated risk to rest for a moment so I wouldn't dislocate my shoulder. I explained my disability to the police.

We should be worried about how much power police have right now. Imagine if I had been POC or my native language wasn't English.

I should clarify I was with my partner, who also tried to explain I have a joint condition to them, and they still didn’t listen.