Ms. Wheelchair California 2024: Julienne Dallara’s Inspiring Journey to Advocacy & Community

VANESSA: Hi, Julienne.

JULIENNE: Hi, Vanessa. How are you? What a great day.

VANESSA: Great. Great. I’m here with Julienne Dallara. Miss wheelchair California. How are you, Julienne?

JULIENNE: I think this is our best Chicago Friday we’ve ever had at the Abilities Expo. Last time I checked the um, admission we were like at 18, 1900 people already in through here.

VANESSA: Really?

JULIENNE: I remember like a decade ago Chicago over three days was 1900 people and this is just for a Friday. So I’m jazzed. I’m really happy. Me too and people are coming to our booth and getting all kinds of treats.

VANESSA: Well, that’s because you’re awesome.

VANESSA: They’re signing up for our newsletter, and they’re saying, Yes, I really want to hear about you, but it’s not about me today. It’s about you, Julienne.

JULIENNE: Oh. She’s awesome.

VANESSA: Ha ha ha ha ha! So, Julienne, tell me about becoming Ms. Wheelchair California.

JULIENNE: Well, it’s a good story. Um, because I work for the Abilities Expo and the Ms. Wheelchair California pageant, is held at the, uh, L. A. Abilities Expo, right? So it’s gonna be the last day of the show, the Sunday of the show, and right before the show, I found out, what, about three weeks before the show, I found out that a bunch of the contestants had had to just drop out. You know, death in the family, they were sick, whatever. And so I said, no, no worries. I’ll help you find more women to run for Ms. Wheelchair California, because it’s great, right? So I started asking women in wheelchairs, okay, so why aren’t you doing Ms. Wheelchair California? And they turned to me and said, well, why aren’t you doing Ms. Wheelchair California? And I, I- blah (sputtering) so, I ended up running and I ended up winning and now I’m going to be in Grand Rapids, Michigan for the Miss Wheelchair America competition. In August

VANESSA: What is the criteria for running for Ms. Wheelchair California?

JULIENNE: Excellent question. Um, I, I first ascertained that I did not have to wear a bathing suit in front of other people. So it’s not that kind of pageant. It really is a lot of what you’re doing. It’s all about advocacy, so you’ve gotta have a platform that you’re passionate about. Right. And, um, my- I wanted, as I’ve been in the non profit business a long time, and I’m constantly frustrated because the non profits seem to be reinventing the wheel, forgive me. Um, a lot of non profits are doing the same thing, all with really good intentions, but why can’t we all just get together and cover more material? You know, without having to do the same thing? And why don’t we share? So, um, you know, my platform is to get to the nonprofits to collaborate, you know, progress through collaboration. And you can take that on an individual level, or you can take it to a company level, you can take it to a politics level. Anyway, that’s my platform.

VANESSA: Let’s share.

JULIENNE: Let’s share. Yeah.

VANESSA: Too many silos.

JULIENNE: Too many silos.

VANESSA: And that happens everywhere. Doesn’t it? It happens in politics, and it happens to people with disabilities. I don’t know why people do that when it’s so easy just to say, let’s come together.

JULIENNE: Yeah, why do I need to do that? He’s already doing that. But I want to do this, and he’s not doing that. So, how about, yeah. That’s, that’s my passion.

VANESSA: Tell me, how did you start working with the Abilities Expo?

JULIENNE: Another good story. So, um, I woke up paralyzed from transverse myelitis in 1996. And pretty soon after that I started selling accessible vans. And, of course, the companies would come to the Abilities Expo, so I was on that side of the Abilities Expo. I was in the booth selling vans for, phew, a decade at least. And then, one day, I got a call from the Abilities Expo saying, we finally figured out we should probably have somebody in a wheelchair working for us. So, they had narrowed it down to three people in the community, and I did the interview, and they got it. So that was a dozen years ago. Yeah. I love it. My favorite job ever. Yeah.

VANESSA: And what do you think about working for the Abilities Expo?

JULIENNE: Some of the nicest people you’re ever going to meet.

VANESSA: I agree.

JULIENNE: Yeah. Yeah. And what I love, somebody just, a new person with me at the Abilities Expo just said, Somebody just came up to me and said, Thank you for doing this. We love it here. And she goes I used to sell real estate. Nobody ever thanked me for doing what I did. And I said, it happens at least once a day at the show. That a complete stranger will come up to you and say, Thank you for putting this on. Thank you for being here. You’re making a difference.

VANESSA: What else do you want out of life? You know? So what do you plan to do, uh, when is Grand Rapids?

JULIENNE: August 19th, and we’re going to be there for a whole week. And as I understand it, because I’ve never done this before, um, the first part of the week is about the women getting together and hopefully sharing and helping each other reach their goals. Which, how amazing is that? Right? And then I think we have a theme night, we get to get dressed up. And then the last Friday and Saturday are the speeches, the judges, and those people can buy tickets and they can come and see the whole affair there in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

VANESSA: Yeah. Why are you down in Grand Rapids and not Chicago with DNC?

JULIENNE: Apparently they choose different places because I think last year was in Arkansas and I went Arkansas? No offense, Arkansas-ians, but I thought it was a, I thought it’s, yeah. Yeah. I thought it was an odd choice, but I Maybe it’s like the Super Bowl they wanna share. Okay. You know, share the wealth.

VANESSA: And what do you plan to do for your Grand Rapids?

JULIENNE: Well, my sister is going to fly there with me. And my sister lives, I’m in Southern California, she’s in Northern California. So, I get to spend time with her. And then, my daughter, who lives in Connecticut, my sister’s going home, my daughter’s coming in. So, I don’t care if we just sit in the hotel room the whole time. I just want to be with my girls. Isn’t that great?

VANESSA: Yeah. And so what kind of, uh, activities, what kind of things do you have to do in order to win Ms. Wheelchair California- America?

JULIENNE: I think it’s well, they it’s they make you fill out a bunch of stuff, write an essay. Um, and then when you go there, you give Two speeches, I think, and you know, and your platform. And then it’s kind of a little bit like Miss Congeniality. So I understand it because I’ve never been to a pageant before. But also, you know, it’s how you get along with the other women, what the other women, you know, think of you. Everybody votes for each other. There’s various levels to it, but I don’t care if I get Miss Wheelchair America. Really, I’ve got enough going on. I want to Meet the other women, support what they’re doing, and just be in an atmosphere where people want to make change. I just think, what can we do? At Ms. Wheelchair America, you can elevate the Abilities Expo even higher. I’m working on, I’m working on the wave. What will be will be. I firmly believe that God’s in charge and it’s none of my business. I just want to do my best job.

VANESSA: Anything else?

JULIENNE: I just really want to thank you for all the stuff you do. I don’t know how you get everything done. The amount of change that you’ve brought about and entertainment, joy, just the amount of things that you have managed to do. I don’t know how you do it and you look as young as you do. But, thank you.

VANESSA: I won’t give away my age.

(camerawoman and Julienne laugh)

VANESSA: Well, thank you very much, Julienne. This was fun. Thank you.

JULIENNE: You’re welcome.

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