Look at these beautiful butterflies. Are they taking the sun? Do they need
that? They need the Sun. Do you feel it too? Can you see a monarch? Let's see if we
can find one in here because there's many different kinds.
Butterflies are
symbols of metamorphosis and transformation because of the stages of
their life cycle. I am transforming too. Miss Amazing is having a big and
positive effect on my life. I hope I can use the Miss Amazing title to make a
difference in the world.
Since Abigail became the Idaho Miss Amazing Teen Queen in 2017 she has
changed tremendously. She is not the same young woman that she was then.
I've been so changed, in fact I go up to strangers and say "hello how are you?"
I feel like I have the ability to tell people about my
disabilities.
You could actually hear her whereas before she would talk so softly
that you would actually have to ask her to speak up all the time just in normal
conversation, that's no longer an issue.
My confidence has gained so
much and the way I talk to people and the way I act and the way I am at school,
the way I handle bullying and just every aspect of my life.
Over the course of planning National Miss Amazing and then being at the event
I get to know the girls a little bit more, and from the beginning Abigail's
story has just been so compelling and over the course of the last year she's
embarked on her own projects and she's encouraging girls, women with
disabilities to be involved in service work and and in their community, so she's
definitely informed her own personal platform.
So she decided her platform
would be to celebrate differences because different is good, and she talked
about it to youth groups and to all kinds of groups, whoever would let her, about how
we are all different and that we should embrace each other's differences and not
be mean to each other just because we're different, and that different is good.
Because if we aren't different, the world is gonna be pretty boring.
I think that is the basic premise of Miss Amazing, is that girls with disabilities can make a
difference in the lives of other people. They can make a difference in the world.
They're absolutely valuable and recognising that.
The Before Abigail was really shy, did not like to talk to people, did not
like to go up to people and would try my best to stand behind my parents.
Well it was very nice meeting you and thank you for your time.
Bullying still happens but when I get bullied I just "ugh, whatever that person don't
matter to me," I know who I am. I know I'm amazing.
Cool so how are you feeling
leading up to Nationals?
Lisa, Abby's mum, has gone from being in the first Idaho
Miss Amazing event not knowing much about it, going to Nationals and now she
sits on our National Parent Board and has advised our evaluation criteria.
She's making a pretty big impact on how Miss Amazing is being shaped in the
future.
So last year I knew nothing about pageantry and this year I'm on the
National Parent Board for the Miss Amazing Pageant. Quite a ride, I feel like
I've come full circle and now I get to support other moms the way I was
supported last year.
Lisa has gone on a personal journey as well in a very
positive way, just changing the amount of opportunities that are available for
girls and women like her daughter.
It feels really good to know that maybe I'm
having some suggestions that might make the pageant even more meaningful in
different ways, and maybe make a bigger impact than just on the girls that are
participating in the pageant.
Hello. Hello, how are you?
Good to see you, come on in.
Are you looking at the book
of your pageants? Miss Amazing Illinois? Show me what else is in here, let me see.
When Genevieve was born I didn't have the experience that typical mothers do.
My daughter did not come home from the hospital.
I went home without her.
I cannot even tell you how
traumatic that is to leave a hospital setting and have your baby remain in the
neonatal unit. We knew that she had failure to thrive, she was called a
diagnostic dilemma an enigma, she was sickly for eight months of her life. She
was extremely small, so at the age of two she was seen by her paediatrician for her
2-year checkup and immediately he said we need to have her looked at.
Have you ever heard of Noonan syndrome? That was how it was approached, and I had
not heard of Noonan syndrome and then they had a developmental therapist give
her an evaluation. And with a very long face, that developmental therapist had
said to me "your child has mental retardation."
That's quite- quite something
to absorb with a two-year-old toddler playing with blocks in front of you.
Okay let's go, come on let's stick to the work. So excited. Come on let's go get
the leashes.
My name is Joel, I'm Genevieve's dad.
She calls me Papi and I'm so happy to to be recognised as Papi.
She was born at
4:38 in the afternoon and for whatever reason
I saw the clock because I knew that moment, it was magical. When I saw this
human being be alive and, you know, be all well, it's the most beautiful thing you
can see in your life. Since then my life changed dramatically
and you cannot describe that emotion.
Come on. Genevieve come on.
One of the biggest lessons for me is to be more patient with everybody you know?
Not just with her. Be more understanding me as person from... that speaks a
different language, to start to slow down and try to express myself better so
everybody can understand me. That's one of the biggest principles and she has
been teaching me to help.
You wanna sit down at your own table and look? Make it yourself?
Parenthood is about raising and celebrating the child you have, not the
child you thought you'd have. It's about understanding your child is exactly the
person they are supposed to be and if you're lucky, they'll be the person who
will turn you into the person you are supposed to be.
Let's hold it up to you, there it is. What do you think Holly?
Do you think it's good?
Yeah, do you love dresses? Yeah
Big dresses? Yeah
So good to see you.
I would like to find some earrings to go with my gown.
We only have four days until Nationals. Yeah, so pretty much every printer in the
place was broken.
Keep up the great work. Thank you.
We're having a moment, it's okay.