Friday, April 08, 2005

John Edwards Been To Wisconsin Lately?

Could we be seeing the makings of an ADA lawsuit here:

Elegant in a chocolate-brown, strapless taffeta gown, Janeal Lee beamed as she was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin in her three-wheeled scooter, her tiara sparkling in her hair, a bouquet of yellow roses in her lap.

Gifts were heaped on her, too - a new scooter, jewelry, a two-night stay at a Wisconsin resort - and there were hugs of congratulations, lots of pictures and a Marine to escort the 30-year-old math teacher with muscular dystrophy off stage.

Just weeks after the joy of that January night at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Lee has been stripped of the title - and made to return the prizes, including the new scooter - after she was seen in a newspaper photograph standing up.

Now the Ms. Wheelchair America pageant is in an uproar over just how disabled a woman must be to wear the crown.

....The Kaukauna High teacher was shown standing in her classroom in a picture carried in a supplement to The Post-Crescent newspaper of Appleton. The pageant organization said candidates for the crown have to "mostly be seen in the public" using their wheelchairs or scooters. Lee says she can walk up to 50 feet on a good day and stand while teaching but uses a scooter as her main way to get around.

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