Ms. Wheelchair South Carolina Kathryn Hicks, of Six Mile, is excited to be getting ready to travel to Grand Rapids, Michigan to compete in the Ms. Wheelchair America 2025 competition. Throughout the week beginning August 19, 2024, contestants will participate in advocacy workshops, leadership training, mentoring events, and judging sessions, and the crowning of Ms. Wheelchair America will be held the evening of Saturday, August 24.

According to the Ms. Wheelchair America, the organization’s mission is “to provide an opportunity of achievement for women who use wheelchairs to successfully educate and advocate for the more than 64 million Americans living with disabilities.” Ms. Wheelchair America will be communicating “the needs and the accomplishments of her constituency to the general public, the business community, and the legislature.” Ms. Wheelchair America’s duties will include “promoting awareness of the need to eliminate architectural and attitudinal barriers, informing the able-bodied public of the achievements of the millions of people with disabilities across the nation, and assisting with the establishment of programs in all 50 states by promoting Ms. Wheelchair America.”

The Pickens County Chronicle interviewed Kathryn, a friend since this writer first met and interviewed Kathryn in 1999.

Kathryn said that she is really excited to compete in the upcoming national competition, but she has also enjoyed getting to know the other contestants. “We have a group chat, and we talk every day,” she said. “We text every day, and, then, on Sundays, there is a Zoom meeting.”

Since she was crowned Ms. Wheelchair South Carolina, Kathryn has been busy as the state titleholder.

She attended the Youth Leadership Academy’s Hot Pursuit 5K Run/Walk and 1-Mile Catch a Cop event, held on May 11 in Pickens, to raise funds for a wheelchair-accessible swing in Easley. The event was held at the Pickens Doodle Park/Doodle Trail, where there is a wheelchair-accessible swing. “That was an important fundraiser, because that swing gives wheelchair users the enjoyment of going to the park,” Kathryn said. She was recently asked to speak to children at the Pickens Recreation Center Summer Camp, and she spoke to the children about the swing. “When I was talking to the kids at the Rec,” she said, “I told them that, when I was growing up, I had sisters to swing with me, but a lot of other kids might be an only child and not have siblings. So, that makes them be able to swing by themselves and have the experience of playing at the park.”

Kathryn always attends the annual Issaqueena Festival in her hometown of Six Mile, and she attended this year’s event, on May 18, as Ms. Wheelchair South Carolina. She enjoyed that, she said. “I like seeing people,” she added.

She also enjoyed meeting Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette at the Statehouse in Columbia, saying that was a good experience. “She really listened,” Kathryn said. “I think she will really help get some changes made.”

Kathryn enjoyed volunteering at Special Olympics earlier this year. “I helped with the wheelchair races,” she said. “That was a lot of fun. I competed at Special Olympics when I was seven or eight, but helping with it was more enjoyable, to me, seeing kids happy and smiling. Even if they didn’t win, they were happy just to finish the race. That really made me happy to see them happy.”

The month of August is National Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Awareness Month. “SMA is a genetic disorder that weakens your muscles,” said Kathryn. “We’re missing the gene in our body that sends fluid through your spine to your brain that tells your muscles to move. We have like a clone of that gene. So that’s the reason we can move a little bit. But it’s not strong enough to actually make you walk or stand up.”

Cure SMA is a national organization dedicated to research, advocacy, and awareness.

Kathryn enjoys communicating via social media with others diagnosed with SMA. “We talk about SMA and our life and how we handle having SMA, just to show people that, even though we have SMA, it doesn’t stop us from having a good, full, happy life.”

As Ms. Wheelchair South Carolina, Kathryn’s platform includes more monitoring and enforcement of handicapped parking and making sure that handicapped parking spaces are not abused by those who do not need them and do not have a handicap placard. “If more people would get a penalty, then, hopefully, it would stop being abused so much,” she said.

Another part of her platform includes increasing the $2,000 resource limit that Supplemental Security Income (SSI) allows recipients to have in their bank account.  “We’re only allowed to have $2,000 in our bank account,” she said. “If we go over a penny, they will stop our insurance and everything, and I don’t feel that’s right. Just a wheelchair costs $40,000. If we don’t have insurance, then we wouldn’t be able to afford the wheelchair. Or if we want to buy a house, we can’t buy a house, because we can’t save up for it. And the $2,000 limit hasn’t been changed since 1989. With the economy, we need more than $2,000. Handicap vehicles run anywhere from $50,000 to $80,000. Insurance doesn’t pay for those. We can’t save for a vehicle. It’s frustrating.”

Kathryn will be sharing her platform during the national competition of Ms. Wheelchair America during the week beginning August 19. In addition to the daytime events, she’ll enjoy evening dinners and parties, and, on Friday, she will be delivering her speech to the judges.

However, before the national competition starts, anyone can vote for their favorite participant in the People’s Choice Award. Click here for the link to vote for Kathryn.

Everyone in Pickens County wishes Kathryn well during the Ms. Wheelchair America competition.