Everyone is familiar with the Miss America pageant, but did you know that there is a national pageant for women who use wheelchairs? The Ms. Wheelchair organization aims for their contestants to educate and advocate for those living with disabilities. The competition highly values advocacy—which is Latavia Sturdivant’s forte. Latavia, who was featured in ADAPT’s 2024 Leadership Awards Gala Film, was crowned Ms. Wheelchair NY on March 8th, 2025.
Latavia’s journey with ADAPT began in her preschool days, when she attended the Bronx Children’s Program. Inspired by the speech therapy she received growing up, Latavia decided to earn her degree in Speech Language Pathology, even returning to ADAPT for her clinical practicum. She now works as an adjunct professor at CUNY Lehman College in the Bronx.
Latavia had her eyes on the Ms. Wheelchair NY pageant for years, but wanted to wait until she had solidified her presence in the advocacy world before entering. The Ms. Wheelchair pageant judges contestants based on advocacy, achievement, communication, and presentation. As an educator, she chose “Breaking Barriers in Education and Leadership” as her platform for this year’s competition.
Ms. Wheelchair NY 2025 was held in Troy, NY, where contestants are encouraged to display their skills and accomplishments in three stages. The first is a private interview, where judges ask contestants how they advocate in their communities. The second is a “platform speech,” which gives each contestant a 2.5 minute time slot to explain their advocacy platform and what they would do with the crown. Finally, the judges bring contestants to the stage and interview them again, this time in front of an audience.
Latavia expressed that being surrounded by young women who were also disability advocates was a uniquely wonderful experience.
“It was amazing to see that we’re all out there trying to make a positive and effective change,” she said. “I could see that everyone there was trying to carve out a lane so we could be visible and be seen.”
Ever since she was young, Latavia knew she wanted to fight for the rights of differently abled people. She was treated differently by strangers, some of them even looking at Latavia and asking her mother, “Can she talk?” These experiences led her to create a podcast dispelling misconceptions about the differently abled community. The podcast, called “Queens on a Roll,” invites guests to speak about disability issues and the struggles they face.
In addition to hosting her podcast, Latavia is also a political activist. Recently, she has organized two protests in Albany, calling for New York State legislators to protect disability service providers and increase their budgets.
Latavia’s Ms. Wheelchair journey isn’t over yet—she is currently preparing for the national competition, which will take place in Michigan from August 18th to 24th.
Latavia’s advocacy schedule is filled to the brim, but she considers it her duty to protect the differently abled community.
“I have to use my voice to make change,” she said.
