IV Wybory Miss Polski na Wózku
Gala Finałowa 2016 – nasza relacja!
The engines roaring, lights flashing, loud music, excitement flowing from the crowd, waiting… And the deafening scream of the audience, when the finalists are coming up to the stage on motorbikes.
This is how the Miss Wheelchair Poland Final Gala starts – and it is just the beginning of a real show.
The preparations time to start!
On the 16th of July 2016 at 12.00 started the event, which had been prepared for months. The fourth edition of Miss Wheelchair Poland in Warsaw, yes that’s what we’re talking about, took possession of the minds of tens of people: the Only One Foundation employees, volunteers, partners and above all – the competition finalists, their families and friends. For ten days the Miss workshops in Warsaw were taking place, during which the twelve of the most beautiful Polish women on wheelchairs were learning choreography, taking part in photo shoots, visage workshops, talking to the coach, and all that just to make the Miss Poland Wheelchair 2016 Final Gala be the best it possibly could.
The good beginnings of the better
The Only One Foundation was started by two disabled mothers, that wanted to change the world for the better. The idea is simple: everybody can be whoever they want to be and the limitations are only in our heads. With enthusiasm and eagerness they started to unwind the first edition of Miss Poland Wheelchair.
Nobody at that time dared to dream that we would go that far – remembers Katarzyna Wojtaszek, president of the Only One Foundation – we wanted to organize the event, that would change the image of people with disabilities. We wanted to act on behalf of women in wheelchairs. Few years ago nobody associated a woman with disability with the role of mother or wife. Not to mention a model or Miss. When I remember those times and watch the Final Gala, the tear spins in my eye. A few years passed by and we keep seeing changes for the better. In our logo there is a butterfly, and for a reason. Our Miss are great women, of beautiful faces and good hearts. we help them spread their wings.
And in fact, from year to year Miss Poland Wheelchair 2016 Final Gala draws in more and more advocates of the project. We can see them in the audience, we read their commentaries in the internet. Those are full of warm words and notices, concerning the fact that every woman can be beautiful.
Saturday,July the 16th, about 8 p.m.
The show starts. After the introduction of partners and the Gala opening by the winner of the most prestigious TV award –Aleksandra Kostka, dance team Trans appears on stage. It’s not the only time when those masters of modern dance will be performing today. Later they will accompany the finalists in their choreography and diversify the waiting periods between the finalists’ appearances. The audience will remember the performance of finalists on wheelchairs with the dancers with lively music the best. Evenly, in the rythym of lively music. after all, everyone can dance. The applause will go on and on long after the performance and until the leading Aleksandra Kostka will manage to quiet down the enthusiastic crown. She will do it, as always, efficiently and in style. While speaking of the good hearts of the finalists and limitations which are only in one’s head. All that until the pompous final, when we meet the Miss Poland Wheelchair 2016.
Light and sound, gowns and music
But before that will take place, the finalists will present themselves several times on stage. Clad in wedding gowns designed by Viola Piekut, they will make the crowd hold their breath for a moment. Brunettes, blondes, all of them phenomenal like angels, talk about how they imagine wedding.
In the next appearance we see them in evening gowns. This time there are spicy women in charge, Since a wheelchair does not identify the nature, does not exclude unearthly sexappeal. Angels full of innocence change into devils ready to conquer the world. Everyone has in their head the image from the beginning of Final Gala, when they drove in with the rythym of sharp music, confident and combative. The red stirs emotions, thepink is the new black, emphasizing the finalists’ shapes.The bravely cut outfits in the colours of orange proclaim the motto of female power and uncompromising oy of life. Because there is only one life!
Miss Wheelchair World
But the jackpot of suprises has not run out yet. After a moment of silence the Only One Foundation announces the Miss Wheelchair World Project. On the screen there are speeches of finalists from different countries presented. The finalists from India and the USA speak of how their disability is not a limitation. They talk about what is their association for Warsaw, about the beauty which does not have a clear definition and express their suport for the Miss Wheelchair World and the President of The Only One Fundation Katarzyna Wojtaszek invites everyone to become a partner of the project and to suport it with the whole heart.
If there is anyone in the audience who thinks there is nothing that could delight them more, there appear three Miss Poland on wheelchairs:
Miss Poland Wheelchair 2013 Olga Fijałkowska; Miss Poland Wheelchair 2014 Julia Torla and Miss Poland Wheelchair 2015 Katarzyna Kozioł. Purpose? The official opening of a Miss Wheelchair World unique project, of which they are ambassadors. The spectators have a unique opportunity to see the trailer of the video clip promoting next years event taking place in Warsaw.
Miss Poland Wheelchair 2016 is…
The atmosphere reached boiling temperature, star of the evening performance – Sound’n’grace – encourage people in the audience to dance, and the leader moves on to the most important point of the evening. The results proclamation – it is always the moment full of tears of emotion, laughter and joy. It is a moment when the finalists stand arm to arm, remember the week they spent together and wait for the words that would change the life of one of them...
- Miss Poland Wheelchair Anno Domini 2016 becomes… a moment of waiting, building tension and finally we get to know the verdict – Adrianna Zawadzińska!
4-times Miss from Malbork
Adrianna Zawadzińska, 26-year-old girl from Malbork, does not believe what she hears. She becomes not only Miss Poland Wheelchair 2016, but also Miss Photo 2016, Miss Publicity 2016 and Miss Aesthetic Medicine Profemed 2016. She is posing for pictures, smiling widely and whispering something about the miracle that hasjust happened.
Every finalist has their story. Adrianna moves on a wheelchair for several months. The illness- Spinal Muscular Atrophy has caught her unexpectedly. Craftily, it has weakened her muscles more and more with every day. However Ada thanks to that understood that there is something more important in life than looks. She got interested in buddism and unconventional medicine. She has a blog, where she shares her thoughts and pictures. She believes that a man should first love himself, to be able to give that love to others.
Her adventure just starts – as Miss Poland Wheelchair 2016 she will participate in numerous projects, photo shoots or charity events, and all that to remind that a wheelchair is not a limitation. Also in helping others.
The most beautiful of the beautiful
Although all the finalists have delighted with their beauty and the jury this year had a really difficult choice to make, there is only a few titles. I Vicemiss Poland Wheelchair 2016 became Patrycja Wójciak, and II Vicemiss Poland Wheelchair 2016 Anna Płoszyńska. Moreover this year there was a Miss Social Media title awarded, which Agata Cybuchowska received. However the modt poignant moment was a moment of awarding the crown to Elżbieta Zarzecka, who received the most votes of Internet users, at the same time winning the Miss Popularity title, and all that thanks to her husband, who persuaded her to take part in the competition repeating, that she is the most beautiful woman in the world.
When excitement wore off...
The Miss Poland Wheelchair 2016 Final Gala is already behind us. Titles have been awarded. Today the Bemowo Amphitheatre looks sad. There are no people there. No smiling faces. Only somewhere among the walls, you can hear an echo of past events. An echo, that will carry on in the media lauder and lauder. Because the Only One Foundation does not give up. It acts to change the image of people with disability. And it has already started preparations for the next year’s Miss Wheelchair World competition. Constntly striving for a better life.
The Gala accessible for all...
Thanks to the suport of Culture without barriers Foundation, during the Miss Poland Wheelchair 2016 sign language translation, audiosescription and induction loop were provided. The event was held in a place accessible for people on wheelchairs
Sign language translation –Tomasz Smakowski.
Text: Sylwia Błach The Only One Foundation

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