Miss Wheelchair America 2011 Crowned

Every year a new Miss Wheelchair America is crowned.  Only, this is in no way a beauty contest. Instead, the pageant provides an outlet as a spokesman for persons with disabilities.  The winner spends the next year traveling the country while visiting advocacy groups, making public appearances and conducting radio, print, and TV interviews.  This year’s winner of Miss Wheelchair America is North Carolina resident Alexandra McArthur.

The pageant was a week long event with 28 contestants vying for the title.  The contest included three interviews, a 2-minute platform speech, among other things.  Each girl is judged on their achievements, advocacy platforms, presentations, and their ability to communicate to the public, business community, and lawmakers. Miss Wheelchair America 2010 was present to hand over a new crown.

McArthur’s winning platform included employment and improving the workplace for people with disabilities. Noting that last month was the 20th anniversary of the Americans With Disabilities Act, she said she wants to spread the word to employers that fears about the cost of accommodating disabled workers are unnecessary. It’s often cheaper and easier than employers expect, she said. In some cases, changes may be as simple as a special chair or computer monitor, a push-button doorway, or making a pamphlet available in Braille.

Just as important, she says, is the opportunity for people with and without disabilities to interact in the workplace. She says “meaningful inclusion” can help both understand one another. “My being employed gives my co-workers access to something they wouldn’t have otherwise,” she said. That is, “to have continued contact with people with disabilities, in a day-by-day, very practical way.”

McArthur has been using a wheelchair for three years due to progressive muscular dystrophy.  She was still fairly mobile, but she decided traveling in a wheelchair would be better than relying on weakening legs and hips.  To walk she requires railings or a person’s arm.  Her sister, Park McArthur, also has MD and uses a wheelchair. Alexandra noted that this is quite rare.

McArthur’s day job is a leadership development fellow in the Chidsey Center for Leadership Development at Davidson College.  She said Devidson College has been very accommodating for people with disabilities. “It’s very ready to learn and adapt new ideas,” she said. But she said some responsibility also falls on disabled people. “It’s up to the person to clearly articulate what they need.”

She said her own employer, Davidson College, and supervisor, Julia Baker Jones, take a broad view of accommodation.

“She says everyone has things they have to sort out at work. … (Disabilities) are just another thing that we figure out.”

McArthur raised the money for the $1,500 entry fee for the pageant from family and friends as well as a grant from Wachovia/Wells Fargo Foundation.

To view a video clip of the New Miss Wheelchair America 2011, visit the link below:
http://charlotte.news14.com/content/local_news/charlotte/629568/north-carolinian-wins-ms–wheelchair-america-crown