Final Speech

It's that time once again, time to crown an new Ms. Wheelchair WA!! Over the past year I've had some exciting experiences, met some pretty amazing people. A couple of things that stand out in my mind is attending the Ravishing Women's Show in Seattle. All the beautiful people inside and out,amazing food and gorgeous clothing etc. To be asked to be a part of this show was such an honor. Competing in the Ms. wheelchair America Pageant in Long Beach, CA. was pretty incredible too. Meeting so many accomplished women made me want to elevate myself and be the best I can possibly be. A week of bonding, workshops, fun day, judging sessions and of course the Speech Night and Crowning Night made up this incredible week long adventure. I must say I am sad to see it come to an end so quickly. Thank you to those who have supported me from the get go! Thank you to those who were less than thrilled to see me win this title. Knowing this helped me to push myself in times of doubt. Thank you all for opening my eyes more. From the bottom of my heart I love you all and I will continue to be an advocate for people with disabilities!!

Evelyna Castro
Ms. Wheelchair WA. 2014

 

 

 

 

 

I want to address my view on “disability”. People ask me why I use air quotes when talking about “disability” or when writing the word. The reason behind this is that I personally I do not see myself as a “disabled” woman at all, Not because I am embarrassed or ashamed that I am in a wheelchair and can not walk, this could not be further from the truth. It is because when I think of "disabled" to me it means someone who thinks they can not do for themselves. Fact of the matter is that if we put out mind to it we are Very capable of doing for ourselves and others, in some cases more than the average “able bodied” person. 

Absolutely, I agree that people with “different abilities" (thank you Damon Rozier for letting me quote you!!) or "various abilities” have to be a little more creative in how we accomplish tasks on a day to day basis, however it is those who think “disabled”, “crippled”, “UNabled” that have the Real disabilities because they are the ones with a closed off mind. 

As Ms. Wheelchair Washington I like to think I am helping to represent NOT a “disabled” community, but very much a “differently abled” (once again thank you Damon) community or people with various abilities.

Archery

 I got invited to attend an adaptive archery workshop in Puyallup with Adaptive Recreation!!

I’ve been shooting archery from the age of about 8 yrs old. When I was in my early 20's I took a long break from sports altogether.

When I was 16 yrs. I competed in a national competition in Tempe, Arizona and won 2^nd place in my age division.

Anyway, finding Skookum Archers archery range proved to be a bit of a task.

While on a city bus I asked the bus driver how I could get to Skookum Archers archery range, but unfortunately he didn’t know. All of a sudden all the people on the bus started helping out by shouting out routes and ways to get to the location by bus and cab. The bus driver even took extra time to call in and see if he could get correct routes. I felt a little overwhelmed that so many people would take the time to help me, it was so humbling and amazing. I am SO grateful to the bus driver and the group of people who helped; everyone went above and beyond to help me, thank you SO much!!!

After that, while still on the bus I ended up getting a pretty bad panic attack!! I don’t know exactly what triggered it, but “luckily” I knew how to handle the situation. I've had panic attacks since I was 13 years old, so I guess you can say I am a pro at dealing with them by now, for the most part.

Feeling, lightheaded, disoriented, hyperventilating, heart pounding , shaking and thoughts racing a mile a minute in my head I got off the bus, pushed myself across the street to a mini mall and ended up taking a taxi. I got a bite to eat first incase it was caused by low blood sugar, but that didn't help at all. The bus dropped me off only about a mile away from the range so luckily the cab wasn't long.

Once I Finally reached my destination at Skookum Archery, still having a pretty bad panic attack I met another Great bunch of people/fellow archers!! As much as my body was in “fight or flight mode” and telling me Not to shoot I had to fight like hell and force myself to shoot, after all I didn’t go to sit back and watch everyone shoot. One of the men I met is an Amazing traditional archer and he let me shoot with his bow/arrows for a round, it was such an honor to shoot using his bow/arrows, which were Beautiful!! Shooting for 4 hours felt SO Great despite the stupid panic attack, which lasted about 4 hrs. (I believe because I kept Trying to suppress it)!!!

I would LOVE to shoot with this group of archers again. My goal for archery is to get back into competing again. What a Wonderful way to end a fun filled adventurous few days, I Loved every minute of it.

I will Never forget this experience. THANK YOU SO MUCH TO EVERYONE INVOLVED in this adventure, Pierce Transit, and the people at the STAR Center who also helped me out in figuring out my exact location so I could call a cab.

Puyallup Spring Fair

I got to spend a few days in Tacoma, WA!! I want to give a BIG Thank You to Jenny Adams, Ms. Wheelchair America for inviting Krystal Monteros (Ms. Wheelchair WA. 2010) and myself to help out at the Puyallup Spring Fair at the Ms. Wheelchair America table!! I had such a great time with both ladies. Jenny and Krystal are wonderful, selfless people with hearts of gold.

Thank you Krystal for letting me stay with you, we always have a great time together!! 

I have only been to Tacoma 2 times, this being my 2^nd time ever, and I thoroughly enjoyed myself. The first day of the fair was very exciting for me since I’ve never been to  Puyallup, let alone their Spring Fair. As soon as my train arrived in Tacoma (which was an hour late) Krystal met me at the Amtrak station and we took the bus over to the fair grounds. We met a lot of interesting characters, over all the day was great with the sun shinning bright.

The 2nd's and last day at the Puyallup Spring Fair (for me) was a very good and busy one!! Once again met a lot of great people, some of which shared wonderfully inspirational stories about their loved ones with “disabilities” and how they go about their daily lives and overcome obstacles.

I took the bus to the fairgrounds and back myself. Luckily Krystal being the Awesome friend she is, set up my whole bus itinerary for the day, so there weren’t very many mishaps. I did attempt to take the wrong bus at first (not knowing I was on the wrong bus), however being bus savvy myself (my dad drove the city buses in Santa Clara County for 30 yrs,  and I’ve been taken city buses since 2^nd grade) this was quickly fixed and I was back on track, no worries.