In the course of her 9-to-5 life, Chandra Smith of Laurel, Maryland, is like so many others around the DMV — a federal employee sitting behind a computer. But last month, she added another title to her résumé: Ms. Wheelchair Maryland.
Not many people even know such a title exists, and she knows that. In fact, until last year, she didn’t know there was such a thing. At first, she didn’t think she wanted the title.
“I was like, ‘advocacy opportunity, beauty pageant?’ I was like, ‘eh I’m not really a beauty pageant person,’” Smith said.
Then she dug into things a little more learned, “It wasn’t about physical beauty at all. It was about inner beauty, and it was basically about leadership and advocacy and powerful women with disabilities that also take time to give back to their communities, and I was like, ‘Wow, I love this. I want to be a part of this.’”
“That’s my type of beautiful,” she said.
Smith started using a wheelchair in 2021 when her body shut down as she fasted for a week for religious reasons. To save her life, doctors gave her medication that drew blood away from her extremities and focused it on her vital organs.
She lived, barely, but it led to the amputation of much of her right leg, part of her left foot and her left hand. She had several other surgeries, too.
“I woke to a world different from the one I remembered before,” Smith said. “Stairs became an impediment. Just simply sending an email or making a phone call was an act of creativity. Places that I once visited were a challenge, and the way society perceived me was greatly different than what it was before.”
Restaurants she used to visit were no longer easily accessible, if they were at all. Some apartments didn’t have doorways wide enough for her wheelchair. So, Smith is using her title to advocate for what she describes as universal accessibility.
“It’s based on making the general public and everybody aware that accessibility is everyone’s responsibility,” Smith said. “It’s about universal design in both the virtual realm (closed captioning and other technological assistance) as well as the physical realm.”
She highlighted what’s known as the “curb cut” effect, when intersections have sloped ramps that lead to a curbed sidewalk.
“Curb cuts don’t only benefit people with disabilities, it also benefits people with strollers and people such as the elderly using it with their walkers,” Smith said. “When you design for disabilities you make things better for everyone.”
The national Ms. Wheelchair America competition will be held in Michigan in August. Smith is raising money to help cover the costs of competing, with money also going to the Ms. Wheelchair Maryland organization.
Between now and the competition, Smith also intends to keep advocating for others. Some days that’ll mean meeting with politicians and corporate executives to make the case for those who can’t take a single step up for granted. Other times, it’s about working with kids.
On Friday, she’ll be participating in the Night To Shine, a special prom for teenagers with special needs.
“It is a great honor to be Ms. Wheelchair Maryland. With this crown comes great responsibility to advocate for change and to educate the greater United States public that we can, we will, create an equitable society,” Smith said. “Unfortunately, and God forbid, anyone can gain membership in this club at any time.”
