GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Two women took center stage at the Ms. Wheelchair Michigan 2024 competition. 

Shanta Favor and Susan Crim competed for the crown and sash Saturday at the event hosted and sponsored by Mary Free Bed. Both contestants went through private and panel judging questions, gave platform speeches and answered on-stage questions. After going through that process, it was announced that Shanta Favor was the new Ms. Wheelchair Michigan. 

“I feel really good. I’m excited to be a voice for the disability community,” Favor said. “I’m very outspoken and outgoing, so I’m excited.”

The Ms. Wheelchair Michigan program is an advocacy-based competition where one woman who uses a wheelchair is selected each year. Their role is to advocate, educate and empower all. Each contestant runs on a platform. Favor’s platform is “bridging the gap between caretakers and patients.”

“Nobody should be limited about the amount of care they get based on their insurance. I think, for lack of a better word, I think it’s disgusting,” Favors said. “Proper caregiving equals equality of life.”

Favors is from Taylor, Michigan, and works as a full-time wife, mother and advocate. She uses a wheelchair because in 2018 she sustained a spinal cord injury.

“I’ve lost my physical ability to walk and my physical ability to do certain things, but I haven’t lost my physical ability to speak,” Favors said. 

She is now preparing for the Ms. Wheelchair America competition, which will happen next year in August in Grand Rapids.