OT - Ms. Wheelchair America Contest/Pageant

[Cheshire Figment]

In today's Washington Post was a major article on the annual Ms. Wheelchair America Pageant.This has apparently been going on since 1972, and it concentrates on getting along in the world whille having many activities restricted. Although it is not Disney related, I felt that is should be posted. Click on the following: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38437-2002Aug2.html

 

[JudithM]

Thank you for posting this information. A friend's niece was one of the participants & they were going to the dinner Saturday night. I'll be curious to learn the results!

 

[SueM in MN]

Thanks for posting the link. I never had heard of it before.
We've got a reporter on local TV (Minneapolis) who sounds like she would be a good Ms. Wheelchair America. She already has a lot of visibility here though and does all sorts of stories. Some other places that I have lived have had reporters in wheelchairs who only got the human interest disability stories. I frequently wonder just how they got her power wheelchair to some of the places she is reporting from. Here's a link to her "Meet the Staff" page.

PS. I did find a link that gave the results of the Ms. Wheelchair America, but I'll let you report it Judith, since you have an inside connection.

 

[pugdog]

sue, she uses her own van to get to the stories. she was the dispatcher for the station and then threatened the station with a ADA lawsuit if they didn't promote her. I have met her several times and she has a huge chip on her shoulder so she wouldn't make a good Ms. wheelchair.

 

[SueM in MN]

Interesting to hear what goes on behind the camera compared to in front of it.
Her bio page says she does a lot of talks advocating for people with disabilities. I wonder if she's a positive speaker or not.

 

[SueM in MN]

We just heard a story about Ms Wheelchair America on CNN Headline News. DD was sitting next to me and just stared at the TV with her mouth open (they didn't have any pictures to go with the story) for the whole story. She was so surprised to hear a story about people with wheelchairs.

 

[pugdog]

she comes across as positive onstage but off stage is very negative like she is still pissed off about her accident like alot of quads go through.