Disabilities

» Jill Browne - I'm not sure about this one

I don't like beauty pageants, but your article clearly indicates that this pageant is quite different.

Clearly its heart is in the right place.

If participating in this pageant empowers and - mainly - is FUN and fulfilling for the participants, then it sounds excellent.

The same could be said of MISS Ability too, I suppose - not that it's excellent, but that it does have some potentially positive aspects. However, I am not in favour of judging people on appearance, and that's my first problem with any beauty pageant. I'm glad to see Miss Wheelchair is so different.

The one good thing that could come out of MISS Ability, and which Miss Wheelchair seems to recognize from the get-go, is that the winner of MISS Ability was invited to address the Dutch Parliament, just as Miss Wheelchair is expected to do public speaking.

If the young ladies who participate in these programs find them to be a positive experience, then I say, good. Even for beauty pageants, much as I dislike them - no one forces me to watch. The participants are, I presume, adults who are fully able to make informed decisions about what they choose to do.

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» Megan Drummond - I'm not sure about this one

In response to I'm not sure about this one posted by jillbrowne:

I've been in the Ms. Wheelchair pageant twice. Both times, it was a wonderful experience that I wouldn't trade for anything.

It is a very different kind of pageant. Pageant doesn't really even seem to be the right word. It doesn't focus on beauty at all. It focuses on advocacy, acheivements and articulation. It's true that most of the contestants get made up and wear formal dresses but that's mostly because, in my opinion, every girl likes to get dressed up once in a while.

I will probably, at some point, enter it again. I would like to experience winning and traveling around the region speaking on disability issues.

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