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Ms. Wheelchair America 2008 Leads By Example
By Jessica Navarro
Boston, MA - Feb 19, 2008 - Growing up as a young girl, I would look forward to the Ms. America pageant. I even remember getting dressed up and parading down a flight of stairs once, pretending to be one. These beautiful women had it all, the poise, the grace, and the energy. They were talented and disciplined, and I remember looking up to them for all these beautiful characteristics.
Sitting down to talk with Ms. Wheelchair America 2008 took me back to the same place. The pageant is slightly different. There are no bikinis, no film crews, no commercial interruptions, but inner beauty is the highest criteria, which makes it all the better. Ms. Wheelchair America Kristen McCosh glows with enthusiasm as we talk about her quick and successful journey from first-time contestant to Ms. Wheelchair Massachusetts 2007 and then to Ms. Wheelchair America 2008. "It was a platform for advocacy and to communicate the needs of people with disabilities to lay people, business people and people in political office," she says, "so I figured it would be a really great chance to advocate on behalf of people with disabilities, and I have a long history of advocacy and outreach and achievement, so I figured I may be a good person."
Kristen's focus of leading by example and physical fitness for people with disabilities not only resonated with the judges but has continued to earn respect since she won the crown. Kristen has taken her platform to heart, traveling the country as an active member of the disability community and supporting many local Boston-area projects. She is a peer mentor at Spaulding Rehab Hospital, where she also teaches wheelchair aerobics, and she's an excellent writer, sharing news and her personal experiences online through her blog. Kristen explains, "My message really is about empowerment more than inspiration because I think sometimes inspiration can have a negative connotation to it, like, we don't want to be poster children or seen as like a hero, but I just want to try to empower people to say, ‘We can take control of our lives. We can lead full, active, happy, healthy lives. We can do everything we wanted to do. We might just have to do it in a different way.' So, my message is really about empowerment."
During our interview, Kristen shared the experience of being injured as a teenager and looking to role models to give her hope for her new future. She explained that when she was injured, almost 25 years ago, the programs and support she now provides weren't available then, especially for women. "You know, it's not something that a doctor or nurse can tell you, you really need to talk to somebody who's been there and done that, and you need to see by talking with these people that there is hope, there is a future, there is still life. Just because you're disabled doesn't mean that your life is going to end. And that's what inspired me because I had nobody to look up to."
Being highly motivated, Kristen's next steps go beyond sharing her life experiences one-on-one. As a passionate writer, Kristen is creating a series of books where the heroine of each is a woman in a wheelchair. Kristen explained the motivation behind this project. "I've never seen a girl in a wheelchair with all the books I've read, so I figured, this has to be another place where we need an example because people need to know that women in wheelchairs still are involved in life, they still want to date, they still want to have sex, they still want to have families, they still have lives. And also, as a woman who's disabled, I want to read about somebody like myself. I want to read about a woman in a wheelchair who's a jetsetter or who's a vixen or, you know, something exciting and fun. It's a little bit of diversion from your ordinary life and it's just something that I think is desperately needed."
For now, Kristen is that heroine: a jet-setter, wife, and America's pageant winner.
Would you like to meet Kristen in-depth? Click here to listen to our interview or read the transcript as she explains her many experiences as Ms. Wheelchair America, her advice to individuals in rehab, and her highly motivated approach to life.
Boston, MA - Feb 19, 2008 - Growing up as a young girl, I would look forward to the Ms. America pageant. I even remember getting dressed up and parading down a flight of stairs once, pretending to be one. These beautiful women had it all, the poise, the grace, and the energy. They were talented and disciplined, and I remember looking up to them for all these beautiful characteristics.
Sitting down to talk with Ms. Wheelchair America 2008 took me back to the same place. The pageant is slightly different. There are no bikinis, no film crews, no commercial interruptions, but inner beauty is the highest criteria, which makes it all the better. Ms. Wheelchair America Kristen McCosh glows with enthusiasm as we talk about her quick and successful journey from first-time contestant to Ms. Wheelchair Massachusetts 2007 and then to Ms. Wheelchair America 2008. "It was a platform for advocacy and to communicate the needs of people with disabilities to lay people, business people and people in political office," she says, "so I figured it would be a really great chance to advocate on behalf of people with disabilities, and I have a long history of advocacy and outreach and achievement, so I figured I may be a good person."
Kristen's focus of leading by example and physical fitness for people with disabilities not only resonated with the judges but has continued to earn respect since she won the crown. Kristen has taken her platform to heart, traveling the country as an active member of the disability community and supporting many local Boston-area projects. She is a peer mentor at Spaulding Rehab Hospital, where she also teaches wheelchair aerobics, and she's an excellent writer, sharing news and her personal experiences online through her blog. Kristen explains, "My message really is about empowerment more than inspiration because I think sometimes inspiration can have a negative connotation to it, like, we don't want to be poster children or seen as like a hero, but I just want to try to empower people to say, ‘We can take control of our lives. We can lead full, active, happy, healthy lives. We can do everything we wanted to do. We might just have to do it in a different way.' So, my message is really about empowerment."
During our interview, Kristen shared the experience of being injured as a teenager and looking to role models to give her hope for her new future. She explained that when she was injured, almost 25 years ago, the programs and support she now provides weren't available then, especially for women. "You know, it's not something that a doctor or nurse can tell you, you really need to talk to somebody who's been there and done that, and you need to see by talking with these people that there is hope, there is a future, there is still life. Just because you're disabled doesn't mean that your life is going to end. And that's what inspired me because I had nobody to look up to."
Being highly motivated, Kristen's next steps go beyond sharing her life experiences one-on-one. As a passionate writer, Kristen is creating a series of books where the heroine of each is a woman in a wheelchair. Kristen explained the motivation behind this project. "I've never seen a girl in a wheelchair with all the books I've read, so I figured, this has to be another place where we need an example because people need to know that women in wheelchairs still are involved in life, they still want to date, they still want to have sex, they still want to have families, they still have lives. And also, as a woman who's disabled, I want to read about somebody like myself. I want to read about a woman in a wheelchair who's a jetsetter or who's a vixen or, you know, something exciting and fun. It's a little bit of diversion from your ordinary life and it's just something that I think is desperately needed."
For now, Kristen is that heroine: a jet-setter, wife, and America's pageant winner.
Would you like to meet Kristen in-depth? Click here to listen to our interview or read the transcript as she explains her many experiences as Ms. Wheelchair America, her advice to individuals in rehab, and her highly motivated approach to life.
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