Last weekend saw the conduct of an original and message-full competition in the Polish capital, Warsaw. For the very first time, the Miss Wheelchair World beauty pageant was held, with the organizers being desirous of showing that having such a disability does not prevent a woman from making her dreams come true.

The event was organized by The Only One Foundation, which supports women with disabilities. Among the statements from the show producers, we read:

Miss Wheelchair World is so much more than just a beauty pageant. It’s also a unique opportunity to integrate the community of disabled people from all over the world and an important step in the way of changing an image of these people in society.

The online news channel AJ+ published a brief video which summarizes the event and includes several participants talking about their recent experience. AJ+ writes:

She’s got style, she’s got grace and she’s in a wheelchair – get used to it.

Monika Kuszyńska in action for the pageant

24 women from all over the world took part and during the interval act, viewers had the opportunity to enjoy the former Polish Eurovision participant. Among the acts, there was the very first wheelchair-aided Eurovision participant, Monika Kuszyńska, performing along with the band Sound’n’Grace, a band performing gospel, R&B, soul and funk.

With this appearance, Monika obviously wanted to show, in practice, her support for the pageant organization and the women who face the same difficulties as herself. Historically, the singer has not been in a wheelchair from birth, but after a car accident in 2006.

Prior to her performance last Saturday, Monika had informed her followers via her official Facebook page:

Monika Kuszyńska at Eurovision

After an internal selection, the Polish national broadcaster Telewizja Polska (TVP) announced that their 2015 Eurovision representative would be singer Monika Kuszyńska, with a song written by herself and her husband. The previous decade, the singer was the lead vocalist of the Polish group Varius Manx.

However, after having a car accident which left her partially paralysed, Monika went on with her solo career. The music video for her entry In the name of love screened several moments from her career before the accident.

Monika’s Eurovision participation had been discussed a lot across Europe and had been a very good occasion to prove once again the power of will. In Vienna, she progressed from the semi-final to the final and finished 23rd. Despite a poor result, she remains a very respectable Eurovision participant.