This year’s event was hosted at the Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center, March 20, 2009 in Fishersville, VA.  It was a full weekend of activity and competition followed up by an inspiring evening of excitement as 5 contestants from across the Commonwealth came to vie for the title of Ms. Wheelchair Virginia.  Joan Manley, of Lexington was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Virginia 2009-2010.  Misty Dart of Richmond was 1^st runner up and received the H. Wayne Sale Scholarship award and Trinica Lee of Orange was awarded Ms. Congeniality. Visit our “photo gallery” to see our contestants and for pictures of our weekend.

Joan Manley became a Spinal Cord Injury Quadriplegic due to an automobile accident. She works with numerous organizations, boards, and is a part-time Advocacy Specialist with VAIL Center for Independent Living.  She speaks regularly for local groups about living with a disability while promoting accessibility for all in her community.  Manley enjoys independent living, adaptive recreation, home gardening, and traveling. Her platform of advocacy is individuals with disabilities should have adequate CHOICE and should be aware of their CHOICES and take responsibility for them.  Ms. Manley’s motto of inspiration is “It's your choice to make; the time is now”.    

To have Ms. Wheelchair Virginia at your next engagement, become a contestant, to be a sponsor, or more information please contact us.  To keep up with Joan’s engagements and photos visit her facebook page by clicking here.You can also get to it by going to http://www.facebook.com and typing in Ms. Wheelchair Virginia in Search.  Ms. Manley will be representing Virginia at the 2010 Ms. Wheelchair America Program on August 24-29, 2009 in Rapid City, South Dakota.  

Ms. Wheelchair Virginia program is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on the accomplishments of Virginians with disabilities. The Ms. Wheelchair Virginia program has been awarded a grant from AmeriCorps, for more information visit www.americorps.gov. Our mission is to educate, advocate and raise awareness of the abilities and needs of the disability community in order to influence attitudinal, architectural, and social change for all Virginians.  Furthermore, our program’s mission is to inspire and motivate Virginians as role models of courage and hope. A female wheelchair user is annually selected as our titleholder to carry out our mission while representing Virginians with disabilities as well as all Virginians.  The titleholder has a year long reign speaking at various engagements throughout the state.

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To have Ms. Wheelchair Virginia at your next engagement, to become a contestant, to be a sponsor, or for more information please contact us. We encourage you to view our entire site to learn about our program, titleholder, and all of our 2009-2010 contestants.  Please continue to visit our website as we continue to update it.