Madison woman vies for Ms. Wheelchair USA

Doug Shore  —  8/07/2008 9:55 pm

As a child, Monica KamalRossa never wanted to be in the Miss America competition, or any other pageant. A Scrabble or Mensa competition was more her style. But for the past few months, KamalRossa has been preparing for a pageant that, until recently, she didn't even know existed.

KamalRossa is traveling to Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, this weekend to take part in the fourth annual Ms. Wheelchair USA competition. The reigning Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin, she will compete against contestants from 20 other states.

Though much of her preparation involves fine-tuning the speech she will give, it is another element of the competition that worries her most.

"The evening wear aspect makes me especially nervous," she said.

KamalRossa's personal trainer told her about the Ms. Wheelchair USA competition. He asked KamalRossa, who has two sons with husband Robert Rossa, if she was interested in competing.

"I was like, 'Yeah right, give me a break. It's a beauty pageant. No way!'"

But the more KamalRossa looked into it, the more comfortable she became with the idea of participating. She called the pageant's headquarters "about a million times" to make sure the competition focused on the accomplishments of women with disabilities, not just their looks.

"There's no swimsuit competition to worry about," said KamalRossa.

Lowery Lockard, executive producer of the competition, assured KamalRossa that the event is about inner qualities and drive. Lockard ran Ms. Wheelchair Ohio for a number of years before starting Ms. Wheelchair USA in 2005. In addition to the standard crown, the winner of the competition will receive housewares, clothing and jewelry and will make appearances at charity events throughout her one-year reign.

With the encouragement of her family, KamalRossa finally decided to enter the state competition, which required making a video detailing why she deserved the crown. In January, seven years after the accident that left her paralyzed from the chest down, she was named Ms. Wheelchair Wisconsin.

KamalRossa said her two sons, Yazan, a sophomore at UW-Stevens Point, and Nader, a junior at Madison West, were more excited about the competition than she was.

"The boys really got into the application process, telling me how to make the video as good as possible, redoing the music, etc.," she said. "They wanted it to be perfect."

KamalRossa's platform, the basis for the speech she will give at the competition, is titled "Rolling with Dignity."

"It is about people with disabilities overcoming barriers, whether mental, physical or emotional in nature," she said.

Before her injury, KamalRossa worked full time as an information technology consultant for CUNA Mutual Group in Madison. She now works part-time for Madison School and Community Recreation developing such adaptive fitness programs as wheelchair tennis, aerobics and basketball.

KamalRossa has always loved staying active, whether it involved martial arts, body building or hiking and biking with her family. That all changed on Jan. 22, 2001.

KamalRossa was chaperoning a class ski trip at Tyrol Basin that included her son Yazan, who was in sixth grade at the time. Around dusk, she went to the top of the hill to look for Yazan. Not seeing him, she began making her way back down toward the resort's lodge. About halfway down the hill, she swerved to avoid a young skier who had cut in front of her, which forced her off the slope.

KamalRossa collided with a tree. Unable to pick herself up out of the snow, she began calling for help. No one could hear her. She was getting cold and began to cry as it began to get dark. Trying not to panic, she began utilizing the slow, deep breathing she often used during her martial arts training. The pain was overwhelming. She was worried about her son.

After yelling for about an hour, a young snowboarder finally found her.

"I told him I couldn't get up and he said he'd go get help," said KamalRossa. "I was scared nobody would come back."

As ski patrol carried her off the hill, KamalRossa was more concerned about her son than about herself. Paramedics told her that he was waiting for her by the ambulance. She had no idea she had broken her back and was paralyzed.

KamalRossa spent the next three months in a bed at UW Hospital. The next month she was confined to a bed in the living room of her home. Four months after the accident, she was able to begin rehabilitation.

"Every day since, it's two steps forward, one step back," she said. "Like most disabled people, I have good days and bad days."

One of KamalRossa's most disappointing moments since her accident was when she tried to attend an open house at Nader's school. The event was on the second floor of the building, and there was no way for her to get up the stairs.

"I just sat at the bottom of the stairs until the event was over," said KamalRossa.

KamalRossa said her initial goal after the accident was to get better so she could raise her kids. But she soon turned her attention to others in similar straits. In 2006, she founded a local support group for people with spinal cord injuries. The Madison Spinal Cord Injury Group now has 40 active members.

"There is such a big learning curve with these types of injuries," she said. "We can learn more working together."

KamalRossa said the Ms. Wheelchair competition has inspired her to do even more to help those with spinal cord injuries and expand accessibility for people in wheelchairs.

In the short term, however, she's concentrating on her upcoming competition. Now that she has found an outfit she likes, KamalRossa is feeling a bit better about the formal wear portion of the contest, which precedes the platform speeches. Like her age, she prefers to keep the details of her evening attire to herself. But she said she's actually looking forward to the pageant now.

"I'm still nervous, but I'm overcoming my fear," she said. -ore@madison.com

For more information on the Madison Spinal Cord Injury Group visit www.sci-madison.org/index.htm. For more information on the Ms. Wheelchair USA, visit www.mswheelchairusa.org.

Doug Shore  —  8/07/2008 9:55 pm