Beauty Pageant For The Mentally Disabled

[matcom]

<snip>

DETROIT -- At a beauty pageant last week, one contestant's talent was reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. Though she mistakenly placed her left hand over her right side, she got a standing ovation when she ad-libbed, "God bless the soldiers!"

Another contestant handled the crucial interview segment with aplomb. She was asked: "Whom do you love or like?" She thought for a long moment, smiled broadly and replied, "My family!" The crowd erupted in applause.

The annual Miss Cass Pageant is unlike any other beauty contest most people have ever seen. A competition for women with developmental disabilities, it's an event that makes some outsiders ill at ease. But organizers deeply believe it is uplifting and empowering for these women of all ages who have spent much of their lives in state hospitals or group homes.

"All the things we use to mark our lives, they don't have," says Faith Fowler, pastor at Cass Community United Methodist Church, who oversees the nine-year-old pageant. These mentally challenged women are unlikely to ever marry or have children, to wear a prom dress, to get a job or retire from it, she says. "They live for this day when all eyes are on them."

http://online.wsj.com/article_email/0,,SB110325356650103093-IJjg4NglaN3mpyna3mHbayGm4,00.html

[bobbobbins]

1. i shouldn't find that funny, but i do

[Wickerman]

2. Sounds like a very cool event

:thumbsup:

[LynzM]

3. That's great that they organize that!

My mom works at a camp for mentally handicapped adults, and many of them are truly amazing, inspiring people!