Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Pageant Winner

And the Winner Is...

I can honestly say I'm married to a pageant queen. Deb was crowned Miss Wheelchair Ohio 1997. Getting there was fairly easy. The pageant had been dormant for more than a dozen years. Deb came across information about it when looking for modeling leads on the Internet. She wrote to the national organization that hosts the Miss Wheelchair America Pageant, inquiring about how to start the pageant again in Ohio. She was told that all she had to do was submit an application for MWO to them. If there were other applicants, they would select someone from among them to participate nationally, unless there was enough interest to hold a state pageant. Out of her sense of fairness, Deb even went so far as to submit a classified ad to the Services For Independent Living Newsletter, advertising the pageant and the deadline for entry. Come the deadline, she was still the only applicant and was therefore awarded the Miss Wheelchair Ohio 1997 title by default. Like I said: easy. No big deal, right? Wrong! That was only the beginning of the story.

Taking It Seriously

The big deal was that she never treated it like a 'default' title but took the responsibilities of Miss Wheelchair Ohio being an advocate for the disabled very seriously. Not only that, but she had to raise money for her trip to Denver, CO for the national pageant AND the chosen title holder had the obligation of organizing a pageant for the following year. Now my hero went to work.

I thought she would raise money by asking friends or selling cookies or candy bars in her apartment building. I underestimated her. She was after bigger fish, contacting corporations for donations to her cause. She wrote to a Revco, a pharmacy later bought out by RiteAid because of the business they received from all the prescriptions she and her contemporaries used. She contacted a grocery chain, Rini-Rego, because they had the only supermarket near her wheelchair-accesible apartment building. GM was the one of the Big Three car makers that responded to her letters; she figured they made the customizable vans and minivans she and her friends used. I was amazed; who just writes letters to huge corporations, not even being sure who in particular to address and winds up getting checks back? In all she raised more than $5000 for her trip to Denver and for the pageant the following year to name her successor. That wasn't enough.

An Advocate is Born

There was the advocacy issue. Again, she attacked full force. She contacted every television and radio station in the city. She was interviewed by at least four TV stations and featured in news stories. Jack Marshall on Channel 43 did a feature with her, Leon Bibb, then with a Sunday morning talk show on Channel 3, did a segment with her on his show. She did several radio interviews, including ones on WZAK and WCPU, the National Public Radio station. Always, the emphasis was not on herself, but on the disabled in general and the efforts to help them maintain dignity and participate fully in society. She always explained that the pageant was not about outward beauty (even though she is gorgeous, isn't she?) but about inward strength, overcoming adversity and blazing trails for others. She became a mini-celebrity and still seemed amazed that people recognized her from TV. "Why are they staring at me? ", she would ask. "They know you, Sweetie, people do watch the news. Just smile and wave..."

The Trip

Deb went to the Miss Wheelchair America Pageant in Denver that October and had the time of her life. She again took my teenage daughter along as I was unable to get away from work. She was pampered, made friends that lasted a lifetime and learned a lot about how her peers from around the country were triumphing over their own challenges. She didn't place in the top five in the pageant, but I'm sure she left and impression on everyone she met. She always does.

Deb did organize and produce a pageant the following year, that was held in the John S. Knight and hosted by a local anchorwoman, Romona Robinson. There were 13 contestants because this year, Deb recruited contestants, not just advertised.