Miss Wheelchair runner-up dedicates role to accessibility
Trending
HOLLIDAYSBURG -- For Hollidaysburg native and Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania runner-up Laurah Zeek, the journey toward advocating for improved accessibility for people with disabilities began one morning in ninth grade when she woke up with a numb left foot.
Zeek described her foot as getting consistently weaker until it felt like it was asleep. After undergoing numerous tests, her doctors thought it was sciatica -- which refers to injury to or pressure on the sciatic nerve that leads to pain, weakness, numbness or tingling in the leg.
Despite therapy and an ankle-foot orthoses brace, Zeek's condition got worse, she said.
"I couldn't even walk, I would say, 20 yards, without having to buckle and having to sit down," Zeek said.
After her right foot became numb and "everything from the waist down was weak," Zeek said she went to the emergency room. There, she was diagnosed with spinal stenosis and paraplegic L3 and L4.
According to the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases, spinal stenosis occurs when the spaces in the spine narrow and create pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots. The L3 and L4 are found in the middle of the lumbar spine and play an important role in supporting the weight of the torso and protecting the nerves that descend from the spinal cord.
"Everybody's like, 'you'll get out of the wheelchair, you'll get out of the wheelchair,' but you know, I am able to walk some now," Zeek said.
Not a beauty pageant
Zeek got involved in Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania through Barb Zablotney, the Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania 2018 queen and former state coordinator. They had met at Penn State Altoona prior to Zablotney becoming disabled, Zablotney said.
"We talked a lot over AOL instant messenger," Zablotney said. "We had a psych class together, and that's how her and I connected."
Zeek said that following Zablotney's accident, she would encourage Zeek to participate in Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania.
"She's like 'you gotta do this,'" Zeek said. "So, I did it, and two years ago I wasn't expecting to be first-runner-up."
The year for Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania runs from October to October. She was an ambassador in 2021 and 2022 and will be first runner-up until October 2023.
When choosing who should earn what titles, the organization looks for the participants' advocacy, what their platform is, their presence and communication skills, Zeek said.
"It's not a beauty pageant," Zeek said. "At the conferences, they do have a makeup artist come and a hairdresser to make us feel better about ourselves."
The conference and competition also allow Zeek to meet people from "all walks of life all over Pennsylvania" and hear their stories on how or why they became disabled. Most, she said, are suffering from things like cerebral palsy or spina bifida, while others were in car accidents and, in the case of one woman, shot while walking outside of a grocery store.
"You don't know what it's like until you have to start thinking about it," Zeek said. "You don't see the things, accessibility-wise, until you're in that position."
Zablotney said that while Zeek isn't the title holder yet, "she's on a good path" and being first-runner-up will allow her to continue to learn and grow while becoming a better advocate.
"Disability does not discriminate," Zablotney said. "Everyone is one car ride away from this reality."
Raising awareness
For Zeek, advocating is her full-time job. She sends letters to well-known people, talks about Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania wherever she goes and speaks at meetings to raise awareness surrounding accessibility issues for people with disabilities.
"The more people I have to advocate, the better off I am," Zeek said.
An ongoing battle for Zeek has been the condition of sidewalks in Hollidaysburg. Oftentimes, while traveling through town with one of her nephews, they'll get partway down a sidewalk before having to backtrack due to its poor maintenance, she said. She's then has no choice but to take her wheelchair onto the road.
By speaking at multiple Borough Council meetings, Zeek was able to shine a light on this issue. She offered to provide council members with a wheelchair and take them around town so they could experience the difficulties firsthand. But they have yet to take her up on the offer.
Instead, in June, the council approved a grant application for property owners in the borough to replace damaged sidewalks. Borough Manager James Gehret recommended that Hollidaysburg spend $50,000 of capital reserve funds to set up a grant that would reimburse property owners 25% of the cost to replace damaged sidewalks.
While Zeek appreciates the efforts, she believes more could be done, such as the borough sending out a letter to all residents about the grant, how to apply and the importance of fixing their sidewalk.
"I shouldn't have to depend on somebody to help me get around," Zeek said. "And I should not have to be on a road. But I'm really glad the borough has taken the steps to do this."
Zeek has also expressed the desire to have assemblies at local schools to bring awareness to kids "because there are some who were never taught about disabled people." So far, no district she has reached out to has been willing.
"It wouldn't just be about wheelchair users, but the whole disabled community," Zeek said. "There's visually impaired, hearing impaired and just others, and we all have our own limitations and there are a lot of people who are just ignorant towards the disabled community -- not ignorant as in mean but as in non-educated and that's our job to educate people on this."
Speaks of experience
Wanting to speak at area schools comes, in part, from her own personal experiences with being disabled while in high school. Even before she woke up with a numb foot her freshman year, Zeek said she's "always had trouble walking and the doctors always attributed it to my weight."
She had to use a cane through ninth grade and part of 10th grade before having to use a wheelchair through 11th grade, Zeek said. In September of her junior year in 2002, she had back surgery to clean out her spinal canal before going to HealthSouth for a month of rehabilitation to see if she could walk.
By the end of her 11th grade year, Zeek said she weighed 475 pounds.
"I got made fun of," Zeek said. "When I was in high school, I got shoved into lockers with the wheelchair, and when I used the cane, people would trip me. But I never told the school."
Following a gastric bypass surgery, Zeek said the school wanted to put her into special education classes because "some of the teachers didn't want to have to worry about the wheelchair in a classroom."
However, she was able to get into mainstream classes, graduate and go to Penn State Altoona, where she earned her associate degree in humanities and family studies, focusing on children, youth and family services.
"I originally wanted to go in to be a veterinarian, but the one guidance counselor told me that I should change my career path because I wouldn't be able to do it in a wheelchair," Zeek said.
Despite being out of high school for more than 10 years, Zeek said she still deals with discrimination, like when someone at Walmart told her she was only using a scooter because "I'm fat and lazy."
"So I brought up my pant legs and showed them my braces and I was like, I wish I was just fat and lazy," Zeek said.
More work to be done
Hollidaysburg isn't the only place that needs change, Zeek said, pointing out that there are "so many places" that are not Americans with Disabilities Act compliant in the area.
"That's why I want people to be in a wheelchair, and I'll make up a list of places," Zeek said. Sarah, Zeek's mom, said that she was hesitant about her daughter getting involved in advocacy and speaking at meetings like the Borough Council.
"Then as time went on, I saw that here's a person that is 120% good to do this," Sarah said. "And she has a need to leave her mark, to get up in front of this Borough Council, and speak. That has been, I think, one of the biggest things that she's accomplished."
Miss Wheelchair Pennsylvania President Kristin Rebstock agreed, saying one of Zeek's best qualities is her passion for Hollidaysburg and Blair County.
"She is incredibly passionate about accessibility and removing barriers for all Pennsylvanians, not just those with disabilities," Rebstock said.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.