posted
There are a fair amount of folks on here, sndrake being most prominent, who are involved or interested in the lives and world of people with disabilities. The Terry Shiavo story brought out a very potent side of the discussion but I heard this story on NPR this week and it brought out a whole other side of the view some have of people with disabilities.
We have had our fair share of Miss So and So's having issues after winning these nearly meaningless (to me) honors in Miss (insert State, Country, color, race, creed, etc. here) Pageants all across the nation.
Janeal Lee was one such participant who entered a contest to win the coveted "Miss Wheelchair" honor. Her reign came to an abrupt end when the people that bestowed this honor upon her saw pictures of her (brace yourselves) naked. No, wait. That was another pageant. This was a picture of her standing up.
The NPR commentary on it brought up some intersting discussion that I would love to see bandied about here. The editorial on NPR (by a writer I can't remember but one who has written on disability issues for a number of years) brought up the whole ideas around disabilties ties to racial justice. He also discussed themes of how people are seen with disabilities. A blind man who can watch TV. A deaf woman who can enjoy an orchestra concert. Or a person who most of the time needs a wheelchair having the audacity to stand up. Are these people disabled?
It isn't as earth shaking as Terry Shiavo's situation but it is an interesting point to see how people with disabilties are seen. It is a sad state of affairs when an organization that hosts such a pageant as "Miss Wheelchair" would be so clueless about peoples varied uses of chairs but to go so far as to take this honor away and make a deal out of it? Thankfully the first runner up recognized that something stank and declined when offered. 3rd place person had to accept it. Hopefully she won't be caught pulling herself out of her chair any time soon.
Thoughts? Just wondering what folks think about this, in particular around the idea of disabilities as a "type" of person. Who is disabled? Who isn't? Was Shiavo (some say she wasn't?). Are you? Are overweight people? Are people who use wheelchairs some of the time? Are old people? How are these ideas used in policy determination? There is already a powerful movement to cut more and more spending that the government has done to help support people with disabilities. Will changing views of disabilty be used to justify these cuts?
posted
I saw this on the news. I immediately thought of, well, myself. I was in a wheel chair in the rehab. But I could move from the chair to my bed. Any farther, and I would have fallen on my kiester.
I do not consider myself disabled, but I was disabled for a period of time, for sure. I have a whole new, chair eye view of what it is like to be wheelchair bound, either because of age or disability, or the combination of the two.
Now, I get all these comments.
"So, why are you out of work, you look great!"
"Oh, you get tired, me too!"
"I can't remember anything anymore, either!"
"You can't run? Why would you want to? I haven't run in years!"
And more.
I am never quite sure if the comments are meant to be supportive, or just "get off your a** " in nature.
Boy, though, I will tell you one thing. When I hit the rehab, and they said I could tool around in the wheelchair, I felt like I was on the top of the world! Such mobility! I did not need help walking to the bathroom, I could wheel myself in.
A recent visit with my grandmother in her assisted living place was sobering. "All the new people are in wheelchairs," she proclaimed in disgust. After telling her that, in fact, was the point of assisted living, she continued saying how horrible it was. Assisted living was not for people like that, for heaven's sake, but for people like her.
So, yeah, this story made me sit up and take notice for sure, and to thank my lucky stars for the ability to do so.
[ April 08, 2005, 12:21 AM: Message edited by: Elizabeth ]
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posted
Well, Elizabeth, some people are like that. I usually turn to my aunt or mother when I have situations I need sympathy for, because my grandmother and my mother-in-law each are the kind of people who can't hear a sob story from you without one-upping it (although they can feel sympathy for people outside the family. )
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posted
Aw, why did they have to take away the award? Couldn't they have done like loan sharks do, and broken her kneecaps?
Seriously: Were they accusing her of NEVER needing the wheelchair and therefore perpetrating a fraud, like people who claim to be disabled so they can collect on their insurance, but they're really fine?
Or was there a rule that actually said you must be IMMOBILE without a wheelchair? Because if there was such a rule, and she knew she didn't really qualify, then they were right to take it away.
But if they DIDN'T have a clear rule, and only made it up when they found out that she could take a few steps or stand for a while but not WALK any distance, then squoo them and their award. They're as bad as Florida judges, changing the rules after the race was run.
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Boon
unregistered
posted
Well, here's their main national website, where it clearly states "Contestants must meet the following criteria:
1. A U.S. citizen between the ages of 21 & 60 2. Utilize a wheelchair for daily mobility 3. Marital status is not a consideration"
But in the press release, they refer to a contract that she signed that said that she must always appear in her wheelchair when in public.
posted
I'm not sure I entirely follow the first post, but it just seems rather sad to me that we have a "Miss Wheelchair" pageant at all. Then again, I think pageants are stupid in the first place. So, hey, we want people to give equal consideration to disabled people, so let's objectify their bodies too. But let's do it in a separate setting, because a woman in a wheelchair could not possibly compete with a mobile woman in attractiveness.
posted
This isn't my main area of interest by a long shot, but I've been following some of the discussion on disability email lists I'm on.
From what I understand, each state sets their own standards. The Wisconsin standards are more restrictive than other states. Still, the national office supports what the state chapters do. It's set off an interesting discussion that I would probably be following more closely if I wasn't buried under my "to do" pile right now.
"I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by." --Douglas Adams
::Grimly goes back to pile with shovel, pick and determination::
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posted
I guess my concern was not as much the rules (because, let's face it...to me, pageants are stupid) but as the perspective of people with disabilities.
In a time when most people with disabilities are and should be celebrating their abilities, here is a large profile organization actually punishing someone for still having the ability to stand on their two feet, even only for a short time. Very retro-thinking.
It is sad that an organization feels the need to have a separate pageant for people with disabilities but on the other hand, let's be honest...it will be a month of Sundays before the large-scale pageants do more than nod sympathetically to people who look different, get around different, and so on.
What an odd world, but I guess it is consistently odd. When a pageant that celebrates the objectification of women forces a winner to abdicate their thrown for (gasp) showing themselves naked it makes sense for another organitation to objectifies the outward signs of disability having issues with someone who doesn't.
I like the suggestion of handling this Chicago-mobster style, though. No school like the old school.
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posted
When I was in school, I took care of a quadriplegic man for about a year. I traveled with him a few times, including to Walt Disney World in Florida.
There were a few areas designated for wheelchair-using guests and their parties. "My" quad (who was very high functioning, really. He had about 30% use of his arms.) was disgusted by some of the folks using wheelchairs and scooters who were taking advantage of the handicapped facilities. A number of times he'd tell me, "they aren't handicapped, they're just FAT!"
I know I've had women give me advice on traveling. I've been told to bandage up my foot and tell the airlines that I'm hurt so I can get preferential treatment.
I don't really have a point about the pageant. It's unfortunate really that so many people take advantage of things like that.
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And until you've had a chance to experience a person with morbid obesity first-hand, you generally don't appreciate the implications.
Anymore than people can appreciate walking until they can't.
As for the initial thread topic - I think the pageant founders should have been more specific because under the existing clause, the woman should not have been disqualified.
Although I can appreciate how tacky it would be to stand up to receive a "Ms. Wheel Chair" award.
quote:I know I've had women give me advice on traveling. I've been told to bandage up my foot and tell the airlines that I'm hurt so I can get preferential treatment.
This reminds me of a story my mother told me when she worked at the gate for U.S. Air. A woman with a cast on her arm asked for the exit row so she would have a little more room.
This would be exit row that requires two arms to open the door. She called my mother's supervisor when she was turned down, but thankfully they didn't cave.
As to this story, the potential issues are fraud - did she lie on her application, in which case I have no sympathy - and the larger issue fil is mentioning, which I think he's pretty much right about.
Liz, I've seen people yell at someone who got out of her car after parking in the handicap space because she walked. Turns out I knew this woman, and she had a pretty serious heart condition. If she was careful, she could walk to the store and then use their scooters to shop. Then she could walk to the car and have them load the trunk for her.
Ticked me off to know end that they yelled at her.
posted
That's so stupid! If someone has a handicap sticker on their car, you assume that they're having difficulties, unless they're breakdancing into the store.
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posted
One of my big pet peeves (which I never thought about until I took care of a handicapped man) is family members who use their handicapped parking privileges when the handicapped member is not with them.
I try to give folks the benefit of the doubt when I see someone walk out of a car in the HP spot, but I've seen folks I know who have children or spouses in wheelchairs park in the HP spot when they're by themselves and it really irritates me. Posts: 2069 | Registered: May 2001
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quote: The high school teacher who lost her Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin title after she was seen standing in a newspaper photo has been given a new honor — Miss disAbility International.
quote:The Kiowa woman from Oklahoma who held the title of Ms. Wheelchair America 2004 is joining two other former owners of the crown in blasting leadership of the organization.
quote:Now Cinda Hughes, a quadriplegic member of the Kiowa Tribe of Oklahoma who lives and works in Oklahoma City, says she is joining with former titleholders Christina Gilmore and Catherine Gugala to “lead a grassroots effort to place women who utilize wheelchairs as Executive Director and Board President of the Ms. Wheelchair America Inc. organization. Respectively, Pat O`Bryant and Gail McKoon currently hold these positions. Neither O`Bryant or McKoon lives with a disability or utilizes a wheelchair.”
I recommend reading the article in its entirety - the allegations being made by the former winners are pretty nasty in terms of the kind of demeaning treatment they received.
I hope this story breaks through to the mainstream press - so far, it seems So far, only Native American newspapers have found this aspect worthy of coverage.
I think this kind of coverage is good for disability coverage as a whole in the long run. It gets the public and reporters to think outside of their usual ruts.
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