CALASIAO, Pangasinan — Some 13 women with disabilities from all over Region 1 will compete to become the advocate of their sector’s right to be included in policy or decision-making in the country in the Ms. Inclusion Philippines 2018 regional pageant, which is slated on July 28 at Robinson’s Place here.
“Women with disabilities are sometimes left behind, they are the most vulnerable because they are women and also with disabilities and most of them are even below poverty threshold, hence we wanted the community to hear the pleadings of the women with disability,” said Jennifer Garcia, president of the Regional Association of Women with Disabilities (RAWD) in Region 1, in an interview with the Philippine News Agency (PNA) on Friday.
She added that the pageant aims to search for an advocate who knows what inclusion exactly means.
The participants are women with disability, aged 18 to 30 years old, single and bonafide resident of the participating province or city, based on the mechanics of the pageant.
Garcia said they will be judged according to their awareness on the concept of inclusion, beauty and confidence, talent or skill, online media votes and audience impact.
During the event, candidates will wear their chosen national costume representing products from their province or city at the start of the pageant, said Garcia.
“There will also be a sport’s wear competition, long gown competition, presentation of talent or skill, question and answer portion with sign language interpreter. Women with orthopaedic disability will use wheelchair while those who are deaf or hard of hearing may opt for a sign language interpreter,” Garcia said.
Ms. Inclusion Philippines 2018 regional winners will receive PHP10,000; PHP6,000 for the 1st runner-up and PHP3,000 for the 2nd runner-up. They will also be given a crown, sash, boquet of flowers, trophy and certificate of recognition, said Garcia. (Hilda Austria/PNA)
