Appleton, Wis.
The winner of the Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin pageant was stripped of her title after she was seen standing up.
State pageant officials said Janeal Lee, a 30-year-old math teacher, broke the rules when a local newspaper published a picture of her standing up in her classroom. Guidelines for the state and national pageant require the winner to “appear in her wheelchair or scooter when in public.”
Lee, who has muscular dystrophy, said she can walk up to 50 feet on a good day and can stand while teaching, but uses a scooter to get around. State pageant officials made her return a new scooter and other prizes she won in January and gave the crown to the runner-up, who will compete for the national title.
“This is just a very bad message,” George Kerford, chairman emeritus of the World Association of Persons With Disabilities, told the Associated Press. “It is the wrong way to project this whole thing. We feel that a person with a disability should not be characterized as practically dead.”
In a prepared statement, the Ms. Wheelchair America organization defended the decision, saying Lee was asked to step down because “she did not meet eligibility requirements and did not follow the contractual obligations of a state titleholder. She was not asked to step down because she is ‘not disabled enough.’”
