DMV Says No Headwrap In Photo For Roseville Woman Battling Cancer
ROSEVILLE (CBS13) – A local woman may have won her battle with cancer, but lost the fight to keep her head wrap on in her DMV photo.
"I wanted to know why, why? You can see my face," Maria Livings said she told the DMV employee.
Livings has been battling cancer for three years and so far she's winning, but the chemo took her hair and since then she's found comfort in her selection of small caps.
"I hadn't taken it off in three years. I said as far as I'm concerned this is my hair. She said, 'I'm sorry but you need to take it off,'" Livings told CBS13.
In renewing her license at the DMV, she passed her eye exam, but Maria said they wouldn't take her picture unless she removed her cap.
"The sweetest girl was waiting to get her picture taken after me and she said 'ma'am if it'll make you feel better I'll turn around. I won't look at you take your picture.' That's when I started crying," she said.
After 20 minutes she mustered up the courage, pulled off the cap, took the picture, and ran out.
"I saw DMV do what cancer has not been able to do and that's strip her of her dignity in one fell swoop," said Maria's friend Dawn Fairbrother who heard the story over lunch and demanded answers.
"I would like to see that not another cancer survivor has to go through this again," she told CBS13.
It turns out, this never should've happened. A spokesperson for DMV apologized and said they will take her picture with the cap.
In fact, the DMV company policy for its employees is to ask the customer to remove his/her headgear, unless it is part of his/her normal identification, or is worn because of religious beliefs.
Maria said the hair doesn't define who she is, but the cap is now a part of her new identity. She is forever grateful for friends like Dawn and for winning this battle too.
"I'm in remission, so to me it's worth every session of chemo and every session of radiation," she said.
