My Story

By Hannah Alexander

Despair. Despair was what my brother experienced twenty-three years ago, when I at two years old watched my brother walk away from a puppet show crying, and asking why he was not allowed to be there. The staff of the event told my parents that he was not allowed to attend children’s activities at a family camp that we had signed up to be a part of because he was “being too distracting,” by pacing and having a hard time sitting in one place. Unfortunately, this was only one instance of many that we experienced as a family. We belonged to numerous play groups in the El Dorado County area, to which all the parents loved my brother before he received his diagnosis of being on the autism spectrum, which was not widely understood at the time. Because of the ignorance of what autism spectrum disorder is, these parents believed that autism would “rub off” on their children. Children who loved to play with my brother were told “do not play with that boy. There is something wrong with him.” 

Autism Spectrum Disorder, or ASD, is a developmental condition that affects how a person experiences the world, interacts with others, and communicates. It is called a "spectrum" because it encompasses a wide range of symptoms and abilities, varying from person to person. People with ASD may have may have unique strengths, like exceptional focus or talent in specific areas. My brother is now a radio technician for the state of California and creates, builds, and repairs radios for first responders that are needed immediately all over the state. This means, that our first responders would not be able to respond or communicate during emergencies without the radios that he works on. What if the Los Angeles fires were unable to be managed without proper, immediate, communication between first responders? What if paramedics could not communicate with dispatch or hospitals to give people in need of emergency services care? Can you imagine how that would affect the nation, and even the world?

As an aspiring special education teacher, my goal is to inspire and empower the education system and other teachers to nurture the abilities of every student, no matter how their abilities appear. As educators, we have the responsibility to either enable or crush the next generation’s future. While I accomplished winning two pageant titles and numerous awards for various things throughout my life, I consider teaching a nonverbal student to communicate in full spoken sentences my life’s greatest accomplishment. If I accomplish nothing else in life, I hope to be able to give more students the gift of words, because that is what I consider success. I am currently your Miss West Coast Petite USA, which is a pageant that empowers petite women 5’6 and under to achieve a national USA title just like our taller counterparts. Our system transforms women into confident competitors and national level pageants queens through sisterhood and women’s empowerment. Becoming your Miss West Coast Petite USA has given me the platform to advocate for disability training throughout the education field as well as for lawmakers to continue to fund special education programs and resources. My platform operates by the belief that you can accomplish anything you want, if you believe that you can. And winning the national title of Miss Petite USA would mean that I would expand my outreach to a global level, (with a little West Coast flair!). 

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Photo by Natalie Vell

Hannah Alexander is the current Miss West Coast Petite USA. You can follow her on Instagram.

This is her first guest blog for Section 36 Forevers.