Miss lowa Changing Attitudes AboutDisabilities (NAPS)—Born without herleft hand, 24-year-old Theresa Uchytil—Miss Iowa 2000-2001 and a former patient of Twin Cities Shriners Hospitals for Children in Theresa remembers a day on the grade school playground whenherprosthesis came off and some of the kids laughed and yelled, “Captain Hook!” She got back on the monkey bars and went across it using her right hand and left arm. “The kids Minneapolis—doesn’t see herself as disabled. Wanting to change attitudes, she is the first woman with a visible disability to compete stopped laughing, she said. She for the crown of Miss America. “It’s very important to me to went on to participate in volley- ball, basketball, track and stu- dent government throughout school. Graduating from the Greenlee School of Journalism and Commu- know that mylife is making an impact on others,” she explained. Raised in Urbandale, Iowa, as the middle of five daughters born to Liz and Vern Uchytil, she became a patient at Twin Cities nication at Iowa State in 1998, ing the hospital every six months for checkups, she first received a gram managerfor higher education at Gateway Computers, taking a one-year leave of absence to fulfill her duties as Miss Iowa. With scholarship money received from participating in the Miss America Pageant, she plans to continue her education by obtaining an MBA degree with an emphasis in marketing. For more information on Shrin- she received a speech communica- Shriners Hospital at age 2. Visit- prosthetic hook-style hand, which helped her develop the muscles on the left side of her body, and later received myoelectric and cosmetic hands. Forher, using a prosthesis is no different than wearing contact lenses or having braces. During the Miss America welcoming ceremony in Atlantic City, NJ, when she stepped up to the microphone to give her introductory statement, Theresa told her fellow contestants to keep an eye out for her prosthesis. “If you see one lying around, it’s probably mine,” shesaid. While participating in the preliminaries for the nationally televised Miss America competition, she did not wear her prosthesis during her swimsuit or evening gown presentations—only during her interview with a panel of judges. A former national batontwirling champion who led the band at Iowa State for five years, tions degree. Today, she is a pro- Sioux City Journal photo by Angela Tague Copyright 2000 Miss lowa Theresa Uchytil wasthefirst Miss America con- testant with a visible disability. Theresa also left the cosmetic hand backstage during her fastpaced talent routine. Since early in herlife, she simply learned to do things differently. At the age of 6, a friend asked her to take baton lessons, which evolved into private lessons because of her budding abilities; she learned to toss a baton with her right hand and catch it with herleft arm. “T owe a lot of my success to the fact that my parents always supported me,” Theresa said. “We had a rule in our house—once youstart something, you just don’t quit. No exceptions. When I wanted to be a baton twirler, nobody asked meif I could do it; my only concern was, could I be the best?” ers’ network of 22 hospitals that provide free treatment to children with orthopaedic problems, burns and spinal cord injuries, write to: Shriners International Headquar- ters, Public Relations Dept., 2900 Rocky Point Dr., Tampa, FL 33607, or visit the Web site at www.shrinershq.org. If you know a child Shriners can help, call 1-800-237-5055 in the United States or 1-800-3617256 in Canada. Shriners Hospitals provide free treatmentto children under age 18 without regard to race, religion or relationship to a Shriner.
