Emerging Leader: Dominique Sessa
WMDT – A few years back, WMDT met Dominque Sessa, the girl in the pink wheelchair. Now she’s been recently crowned Ms. Wheelchair Maryland 2024. We caught up with her to learn about her journey to the crown and continual advocacy efforts for the disability community.
“As hard as it is to use your voice, it matters to someone, just like every person, your disability matters.” Sessa is a powerful voice on the Lower Eastern Shore and a beacon of hope for the disability community. Sessa’s neuromuscular disorder, while a scary diagnosis at the time, hasn’t slowed her down one bit. “It can feel that the world was not built for you or your voice or experience doesn’t matter. A lot of the time it’s just bridging gaps, and educating, I think there’s a huge stigma with disability but disability is not a bad word.”
Over the past few years, Sessa has used her experience as motivation to advocate for those going through a similar experience. Whether speaking in front of lawmakers, or local leaders or taking the stage to compete for Ms. Wheelchair Maryland, her platform remains the same; disability shouldn’t come at a cost. “Insurance won’t cover home modifications, you have to think about if your wheelchair gets damaged, the same with hearing aids. The things that make us thrive and be independent have a price tag, and that’s not fair,” says Sessa. “The more that we advocate and use our voice, we’re going to make changes and I’m committed to it.”
Sessa tells us, she’s been an advocate for rural disabled Marylanders since she realized she would be in a wheelchair. She now sees the gaps in building accessibilities, assistive technology, and financial barriers just to name a few concerns, and hopes her push to address them will one day pay off. “Advocacy for me is an act of love and kindness. When a person advocates, you learn I can do this too.”
While her fight, like many others, is far from over and there’s more work to be done, her journey to represent America is in the works, and she hopes others will see representation through her. “My message is always to disabled people, use your voice and embrace yourself.” Sessa adds, “You can do anything that you put your heart to, you just have to follow your heart’s passion.”
Sessa is hoping to compete for Ms. Wheelchair America with the competition being held in August. She is now raising money for the entry fee, the cost of travel, lodgings, and other expenses due to the nature of her disability.
If you’d like to help out, or just want to learn more about Sessa and her advocacy efforts a link to her GoFundMe page can be found here, or visit her Facebook page.
