Meet Ms. Wheelchair Michigan 2024: Shanta’ Favors’ Inspiring Advocacy Journey

VANESSA HARRIS: Hello, this is Vanessa Harris with Fun for the Disabled. I’m here with Shanta’ Favors, Ms. 2024 Wheelchair Michigan. Hi Shanta’, how are you?

SHANTA FAVORS: I’m good and yourself?

VANESSA: I’m okay. We recently met at the Abilities Expo, and I realized you’d be a great resource for our Fun4theDisabled followers, so I thought I’d interview you. So that’s why we’re talking today.

SHANTA: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me, Vanessa.

VANESSA: Yeah. Can you tell me how you became Ms. 2024 Wheelchair Michigan?

SHANTA: Well, I competed, um, on my state level, and I won. You have to choose a platform and then you go through workshops and judging panelists and the contestant they feel will be the best to represent the state go on and win.

VANESSA: Okay. Um, what have you been doing since you received that title?

SHANTA: Oh, Vanessa, I’ve been extremely busy. I have been speaking to lawmakers both on state and federal level. I’ve held forums bringing healthcare professions, direct caretakers and the disability community together to have a meeting of the mind. To see how we can best help each other as there’s obviously a caretaker shortage crisis, which are affecting the quality of life for many of us living with a disability. I have, um, participated in many events, offering community service, uh, going to coffee hours anywhere that I can hear my voice. They can hear my voice. I’ve been doing that. I, um, spoke at Detroit’s Disability Pride Festival, which was the first in Detroit’s history, which was absolutely amazing. Um, I spoke, uh, for the ADA celebration with the Detroit Disability Network, and then I went on to meet with a city mayor in Westland to talk about accessibility and inclusion. Um, I just have been really, uh, hitting the ground rolling. I said, I’ll be intentional in my advocacy. And I’m doing it. I am literally not just having this crown and sash as a symbol, but an actual tool to push the agenda and champion my cause to bridge the gap between direct caretakers and the disability community.

VANESSA: Excellent. Excellent.

SHANTA: Thank you.

VANESSA: Um, how did you become a wheelchair user?

SHANTA: Okay. Well, July 3rd, 2018 at 7:43 a.m. I was at work and I worked as a director of care. Um, I tripped and fell walking upstairs and I broke my neck, my C2 to my C7. Yeah.

VANESSA: Oh, wow. Okay. So, um, how did that affect your life?

SHANTA: It affected my life physically and mentally. Um, I went from a director of care Um, to needing total care, so that was a new reality for me. It was a total shock. Um, it had affected my, my bowels, my bladder, my mobility, um, every aspect of my life. Um, however, I have decided to turn this adversity into, uh, advocacy and opportunity.

VANESSA: Excellent. Excellent. What is Bridging the Gap and how are you using your platform as Ms. Wheelchair Michigan? And how will you use your platform to win Ms. Wheelchair America?

SHANTA: So bridging the gap is just that there’s obviously a gap in the, the caretakers and those that they provide the care for. There’s a huge gap and that has a lot to do with the lack of benefits and low wages. And so which leaves a lot of us at the mercy of a broken system. So bridging the gap, I’m going to these lawmakers to say, Hey, we need these things in place in order to save lives and eradicate the caretaker shortage crisis. So I have a unique perspective when it comes to this provision of care, because I’ve been on both sides of the equation of care. So I plan to win Ms. Wheelchair America 2025 by being my authentic self, showing them that I not only have this lived experience, But I do have that professional background that can be very effective when dealing with lawmakers and health professions. Specifically, those direct caretakers say, Hey, I know what you’re going through. I can relate. I can relate on both sides. So I give that, uh, 360 perspective, which is where that 360 come from and I hashtag 360 Bridging the gap.

VANESSA: Okay. Um, Are there any bills on the book so far for bridging the gap, federal or statewide?

SHANTA: I know on a federal level they have something called the care credit which will allow family caregivers a tax credit. I think I wanna say $5,000, don’t quote me on that, but there’s an amount that they will allow for you could claim back on your taxes, right? However, it’s, um, it’s not enough. So what I’m doing, I’m trying to get a personal care assistance fund established, which would afford all disabled Americans access to receive personal care assistance. Regardless of the insurance status. So this means where the state level governments fall short, the federal government would then pick up, and I’m also trying to get safe guards for our caretakers as they are the unsung heroes who make living possible for so many of us. So I’m trying to get better safe guards. If there is better safe guards for caretakers, we wouldn’t have a caretaker shortage crisis, which definitely transcends state boundaries. It’s not just happening in Michigan, but it’s happening all over the country, which I feel it is the most crucial issue facing the disability community in 2024. There’s a lot of stuff we deal with, but this is the most crucial issue facing the disability community today.

VANESSA: You’re right about that. I used to take care of my mother, before she passed away, for about 10 years and I didn’t get any support at all.

SHANTA: Wow. And they’re trying to change that right now. So you- let’s say you had a family member that’s providing that care, right? And a lot of people we have, we’re going to say, um, a lot of people who are disproportionately impacted, they are on a very limited income. Um, so they may receive state assistance, let’s say if they was on SNAP benefits or, um, cash assistance or Medicaid, then themselves, but now let’s say they’re being compensated for this care that they’re providing for their loved one. Now, they want to penalize that, that payment and take away those, those very much so needed benefits to have a quality of life, not only for that individual that’s dealing with the disability, but now that family member. What happens when the family caregiver needs a caregiver? The, the reality is, Vanessa, we, we will all need disability someday. We will also, we put those plans and those provisions in place right now, we can assure a much greater future. And that is what, and that, and that is what my, um. My, my aim and my goal is I have, I have literally been giving this platform, which is my passion, my very all. It, this platform is my passion. It come, I came up with this platform in two minutes time. I said, this is what my platform will be because I know I can do it. And I, um, I’ve been very effective. I don’t know. You looked me up on Facebook, but I have been extremely effective with this advocacy. It is amazing. I’m, and I’m enjoying it.

VANESSA: Excellent. You are very effective. Shanta Favors: Thank you.

VANESSA: What are the requirements for Ms. Wheelchair America?

SHANTA: So you have to be a woman to use a wheelchair, 100 percent mobility in the community. Um, I, some people may only need it for long distance or something. I need mine. I’m a wheelchair user. I need mine. I can’t, I don’t have use of my legs. Um, but you have to be, uh, 21 years of age and you have to be a wheelchair user, 100 percent mobility. That’s what it requires. You have to choose a platform. You choose that platform, and you, if you win on your state level, you go on to compete on that prestigious national stage.

VANESSA: Okay. When and where is actual competition taking place?

SHANTA: It will be at the Amway Plaza Grand Hotel in Grand Rapids, Michigan, August 19th through the 25th. And it’s open to the public on the 23rd of August, as well as the 24th. 23rd, we will give our, uh, platform speeches, and on the 24th, Ms. Wheelchair America 2025 will be crowned.

VANESSA: Okay. All right. Okay. You’re also up for the People’s Choice Award.

SHANTA: Yes, so all title holders get to, uh, get their friends and family because Ms. Wheelchair America, that lies solely on our shoulders. No one can vote for you for Miss Wheelchair America. You have to put in that work and show the judges that you are worthy. You are that individual that belong, that crown belongs to you. So the people choice allows for friends and family members to cast their vote to vote for their people’s choice. Those funds is raised because there’s a dollar per vote. So you vote 20 times, that’s $20, vote five times, that’s $5. But those monies then go on to whatever state wins the competition. They get 40 percent of those proceeds. And the 60 percent goes to, uh, the Ms. Wheelchair America’s personal care attendance fund. So if she has to have a caretaker travel with her, those funds would then be used to assure that that caretaker can go.

VANESSA: That’s excellent.

SHANTA: Thank you.

VANESSA: You sound like someone who never stops.

SHANTA: And you know, when you, um, when you’re committed to something, this- people’s lives lies in this balance. And I am a former director of care and I absolutely love my job. You know, some people, they have a job or a career and they’re, they’re just going because it pays their bills, but I absolutely love my job. I love my job. I love my staff, my residents. Right now, today, I can call any one of my former staff, and if I didn’t have someone to help me, I’m going to have someone to help me. And um, so I have chosen this platform because I felt that I can give it my all, and I, and that’s, that is what I’m doing. I am committed to not only increasing my quality of life and my quantity and quality of care, but for those that need it, there’s individuals, my email right now, Vanessa, it gets filled with people saying, how could you help me? And we’re not talking about people just local. I’m talking about people across this country and I, I take every opportunity that I can to try to help them as best as I can.

VANESSA: I can tell that. I can tell.

SHANTA: Thank you.

VANESSA: Thank you for all you’re doing. Is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

SHANTA: I just want to say the Ms. Wheelchair America organization is an amazing organization. A lot of people haven’t heard about Ms. Wheelchair America, but it was founded in 1972. It’s a phenomenal organization. It gives so many women a voice, you know, and a platform too. So we are here. You know, and I said, I want people to know about Ms. Wheelchair America, look it up. Um, we have a current amazing president, Ms. Wheelchair America, Shelly Luce. Uh, Shelly Luce is actually my state coordinator for Ms. Wheelchair, Michigan. And she has been since I want to say after she was Ms. Wheelchair, Michigan, 2007. And since then, she has been literally dedicating her life to this amazing organization. I just want to, um, all the title holders, I think there’s 23 states being represented, um, on the 19th through the 25th. And each one of these women bring a unique perspective to those platforms that they’re choosing. Each and every one of them are amazing. And I’m looking forward to embracing my sisters in person.

VANESSA: Okay. Thank you, Shanta’ Favors, Ms. Wheelchair Michigan 2024.

SHANTA: Thank you Vanessa.

VANESSA: This is Vanessa Harris with Fun4theDisabled signing off. Bye bye.

SHANTA: Have an amazing day on purpose.

VANESSA: Thank you.