This is fictional, but the idea came from a true account of Janneal Lee, Ms Wheelchair Wisconsin who lost her crown for Ms Wheelchair Wisconsin for being able to stand and walk fifty feet on a good day, she has a form of Muscular Dystrophy!

Aug.13.09

2:01 A.M PST

I should be asleep but getting lessons plans ready for classes and scheduling meetings with Bridge to Change keeps me busy, who knew that it would grow so fast I never dreamed of it being so sucessful.

I came to California a year ago, after I was stripped of my crown as MS Wheelchair USA because I could walk, though its awkard and painful and the majoirty of my moving is done in a wheelchair.  It just does not make sense that a person with a disability is being judged this way by an organation that is supposed to advocate for those with disabilities.

I know that we come in a variety of abilities and disabilities, though I always like to look at the abilities first, and I do not think I should be penalized because I can walk a few feet here and there, that does not lessen what this condition does to me.  I am going to live with this neuromusuclar disorder for the rest of my life, and yet because I have a brain in my head, and because I can walk I was stripped of a crown that should have been rightfully mine.

I am not mad at the runner up, we were/are friends, I am mad at an orgranaztion that can due this to me.

I guess the Lord has a way of turning things around though, because perhaps if I had not experienced this injustice I would not have started Bridge to Change.

God Bless

Ms Courtney Wright (Highschool Teacher)

The above story is fiction, but what I am posting below is a true story!

Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin loses crown after standing

Janeal Lee, who has muscular dystrophy and uses a scooter, was snapped by The Post-Crescent newspaper standing among her high school math students.

"I've been made to feel as if I can't represent the disabled citizens of Wisconsin because I'm not disabled enough," Lee said Thursday.

Lee, 30, of Appleton, had planned to go to the national pageant with her younger sister, who also has muscular dystrophy and won the competition in Minnesota.

Students at Kaukauna High School, where Lee teaches, raised $1,000 for her trip to the national pageant.

The move by the state pageant officials, led by coordinator Gina Hackel, is supported by the national board.

Candidates for the crown have to "mostly be seen in the public using their wheelchairs or scooters," said Judy Hoit, Ms. Wheelchair America's treasurer. "Otherwise you've got women who are in their wheelchairs all the time and they get offended if they see someone standing up. We can't have title holders out there walking when they're seen in the public."

Hackel said Lee should have been aware of the rules.

The crown now goes to first runner-up Michelle Kearney of Milwaukee, who will travel to New York in July for the national pageant.