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American Morning
31-Year-Old Catherine Gugala Crowned 'Ms. Wheelchair America'
Aired August 06, 2002 - 09:45 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: "They're courageous, determined, and very normal." That is how the new "Miss Wheelchair America" describes the women who competed against her for the title. She is 31-year-old Catherine Gugala, from Wisconsin, was crowned this past weekend in a ceremony marking the 30th anniversary of the event. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia were represented this year, and the new wheelchair, Miss Catherine Gugala, joins us this morning from Washington.
Good morning. Thanks for joining us.
CATHERINE GUGALA, "MS. WHEELCHAIR AMERICA": Thank you so much.
KAGAN: I think one of the best parts of competition I was reading about it, you didn't have to do the whole bathing suit evening gown thing.
GUGALA: I don't know if I would have been the winner then.
KAGAN: You look lovely. One of those girl to girl things I wouldn't want to do this. When I read about the competition, they base it on personal interviews, on-tape interview and public speaking, because basically, advocate not necessarily for disabled people but pushing ability for all of us.
GUGALA: Right, that was my platform issue, to talk to the children in our country, and to get them to focus on their abilities and not their disabilities.
KAGAN: This is going to be new kind of gig for you, though. You never have been a wheelchair advocate up to this point.
GUGALA: No, I've been in a wheelchair for 26 years, and I've never done actually anything like this, but I'm very excited to be doing it.
KAGAN: Can you share the beginning of your story, how you ended up in a wheelchair when you were only five years old?
GUGALA: When I was five years old, I had blood clot on my spine. And what happened was that it pushed on the nerves that are in my spine and damaged them. And so I have feeling in my legs, but I have no movement. KAGAN: When I read about you, this clearly hasn't slowed you down. You're studying for your masters, your the mother of a 4-year- old son, and you're engaged; there's a wedding to plan.
GUGALA: Yes.
KAGAN: You're a busy lady.
GUGALA: Yes, I got engaged about a week and a half ago, and we're going to plan to get married in October sometime.
KAGAN: Congratulations on that.
GUGALA: Thank you.
KAGAN: Meanwhile, you have about a year of travel ahead of you?
GUGALA: Yes. I think I will take off from school for this year so that I can really devote my time and my energy to this cause and to Miss Wheelchair America, and then I'll start school again.
KAGAN: You say, in particular, you want to focus on kids.
GUGALA: Yes.
KAGAN: Not just necessarily disabled kids.
GUGALA: No, not disabled kids, all kids, because I really think that children are our future, and so I think that we need to focus on them and show them the right way to go.
KAGAN: What kind of -- how will you talk to them? Kids are really honest. If you came into a classroom -- the first thing they will notice is your wheelchair. So how do you talk about that and about life in the wheelchair.
GUGALA: I think you keep things really simple. I think when children come to up me and then say, why are you sitting in wheelchair? I tell them, well, my legs don't work like yours, and so this is how I have to get around. And they're really good with that; they're fine with that answer. That's all they want to hear.
KAGAN: And what about with your own son. Four-year-old is not easy for anyone to chase around.
GUGALA: He's very aware of me being in wheelchair and that it's not quite like everybody else, but at the same time, I'm his mom and that's the way he has always seen things, and so it's not ever been an issue.
KAGAN: That's just how mom comes.
GUGALA: Yes.
KAGAN: One criticism I've heard of this competition, in the disabled community, people need to come together, not compete against each other, and so it's kind of the wrong spirit, if you are going to get disabled woman especially together.
GUGALA: Right. It never felt like we were competing against each other. I think we were just trying to find the person who the judges thought would be a good advocate and someone who could represent the community well.
There was -- there were amazing, amazing women at the competition, and I think we all fear very together, and I look forward to contacting a lot of the women to get some help with this, and in the next year, get their ideas and get their input, because they have so many good things to say.
KAGAN: So you can call them and make them part of it, rather than winners versus losers?
GUGALA: I this that's going to be vital. I think that's going to be really important to us.
KAGAN: We mentioned that this was the first time that you will be this kind of advocate. So you've never done the beauty pageant thing in something like this. Whose idea was it?
GUGALA: You know, it was my grandmother's idea. She's going to be 90 in October. And pretty much when she decides something is going happen, it's going to happen.
KAGAN: Did she hear about it somewhere?
GUGALA: She had seen an advertisement in our local paper looking for contestants for the Miss Wheelchair Wisconsin pageant, and that's how I got interested in that. She said, you know, I think this would be good opportunity for you, and I kind of said, you know, I'm so busy, I just don't know if that's a good idea. And then I did it, and I won Miss Wheelchair Wisconsin, and I realized in talking to other disabled people when I won the title, that not everybody has been as -- has had an easy life as I've had, and I think I've had an easy life, so to speak, and not everybody has had that. And I think they -- disabled need someone to stand up for them.
KAGAN: Sounds like there's more than one strong women in your family. Good for your grandma for pushing you on for doing this. And good for you. Congratulations once again, and we'll be looking for you out there on the road.
Catherine Gugala, Miss Wheelchair 2003.
GUGALA: Thank you so much. Thank you.
KAGAN: Congratulations once again. Thank you for joining us.
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