The woman who is representing Iowa in the Ms. Wheelchair America Pageant leaves today for the East Coast competition. Ruth Evans of Des Moines says she looks forward to being an ambassador for the Hawkeye State while in Rockville, Maryland.Evans is 48 and has been paralyzed for 30 years after a pickup truck accident. She can move her left arm enough to operate an electric wheelchair. Evans has a master’s degree in rehabilitation counseling and works as a caseworker, in addition to being a watercolor artist. She uses her mouth to write, type and paint. Evans looks forward to the pageant which focuses on the abilities of women in wheelchairs, not their disabilities.The pageant finals are Saturday night. Evans says she strives to take on new challenges, like when she went to college to seek out new ways to help others with disabilities.The Ms. Wheelchair Iowa program seeks out women between the ages of 21 and 60 who’ve lived in Iowa at least two years, who are U-S citizens and who use a wheelchair daily for mobility. Marital status is not a consideration. For more information, contact Judy Hoit at (319) 351-8375 or via email at “[email protected]”.
