Meet Alexis Wineman, The First Autistic Miss America Contestant
Miss Montana will make pageant history when she vies for the crown this weekend.
1. 18 year-old Alexis Wineman is the first contestant with autism to compete in the Miss America pageant.
2. Alexis was labeled “different” and “difficult” during elementary and middle school. She was bullied and teased for her speech impediment and eventually stopped talking to avoid attention, descending into self-abusive behavior.
3. Socially isolated and struggling with school, Alexis would sometimes bang her head against walls or descend into screaming fits when frustrated.
4. After a two-year process that included counseling, a battery of tests, and behavioral medicine, Alexis was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Disorder, including borderline Asperger’s syndrome at age 11.
Alexis with her mother.
5. Alexis was able to develop strategies for coping with her condition during her last year of middle school. Encouraged by her family, she joined the cross-country team, cheerleading squad, and drama group in high school.
Alexis with her older sister Danielle (L) and twin sister Amanda (R).
6. Alexis began competing in beauty pageants as a last-minute attempt to get scholarship money for college. She was crowned Miss Montana in June 2012, one month after graduation.
7. Through her pageant platform, “Normal Is Just A Dryer Setting: Living With Autism,” she aims to raise awareness about the developmental disorder.
8. Since her crowning, Alexis has formed partnerships with special needs groups Autism Speaks, AbilityPath and Generation Rescue and spoken at schools and autism conferences around Montana.
Alexis at the Childwise Autism and Asperger’s Disorder Conference in September.
9. At age 18, Alexis will be the youngest contestant in this year’s Miss America pageant. Her talent is comedic monologue and she will be performing a stand-up comedy routine entitled, “I Think, Therefore, I am Fat.”
10. If she wins Saturday’s Miss America pageant, she hopes to use the national spotlight to change people’s perceptions of autism.
Alexis on “Fox and Friends.”
11. Alexis Wineman: “I want show the world that being on the autism spectrum is not a death sentence, but a life adventure.”
12. Alexis speaks about her condition in her official Miss America 2013 video:
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- adams64 thinks Meet Alexis Wineman, The First Autist... is Win
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kristenr14 4 months agoI have a sister who is severely disabled. Where my sister lies on the autism spectrum, she will never be able to socialize with others or ever be able to live independently. For the rest of her life she will require 24hr care. In light of this I’ve consistently noticed people with Asperger’s tend to have it tougher than those that are more acutely disabled. Its very important to understand that socially speaking, there is more patience and acceptance for people who are clearly mentally and physically disabled. People on the moderate to light end of the autism spectrum deal with a lot more ridicule and stigma. They have to fight to fit in, and socialize appropriately. This is due to the fact that they aren’t in any way obviously struggling with a disability. I so admire Miss Wineman for putting herself out there on a public stage to talk about this. The more knowledge there is in the world, the more we can grow as a society and culture. The more understanding there is about human beings, the more accepting we can all be about everyone. Soap Box statement complete! I wish her the best of luck!
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mrose 4 months agoThank you for so eloquently stating what is an absolute truth with regards to the social stigma tied to mental illness. My son is suspected of having ADHD, anxiety and a possible mood disorder. Prior to being transferred to a private school for children with Special Needs, he struggled every single day in his public school environment due to the ridicule, lack of understanding, acceptance and aid for his disability. At the age of 6, he was so severely depressed that he frequently talked of wanting to die. Heartbreaking for me as his mother to hear. Little by little, due to much therapy and a healthier school environment he has begun to thrive and I have high hopes for his future successes and happiness. Seeing a beautiful woman like Ms. Wineman refuse to allow her disability to rule her is a beautiful thing in itself and an inspiration to those who struggle with their disabilities daily and their families. Even if she doesn’t win Miss America, she is a WINNER in life!
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- paolaa2 Meet Alexis Wineman, The First Autist... and thinks it’s Win
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kerryhopec 4 months agoA beautiful woman, me and her are the same age (18). My little brother, age 12, is autistic and this made me cry when I first read this. I maybe from Alabama, but I give her the best of luck in this competition! She is possibly an inspiration to millions, including me. <3
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Mock Turtle 4 months agoHey dipshits, guess what? Asperger’s isn’t the same thing as Autism. I know, I live with Asperger’s every day, and while it is on the Autistic spectrum, to call it Autism is both inaccurate and offensive to all parties involved. This to say nothing of the fact that she’s only “borderline Asperger’s.” I don’t know what her struggle with pervasive developmental disorder been like, and I sympathize with her; but to say “she’s Autistic” is sensationalist, offensive garbage, even more so when she labels herself as Autistic when she’s not. Try spending some time with some real Autistic people and see what it’s really like. Until then, shut the fuck up and quit tossing around words you know nowhere near enough about.
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freak dageek 4 months agoYou’re not the voice of Autism or the Autistic community, regardless of your diagnosis. I think it’s fair to suggest that if someone is on the Autism Spectrum could be called “Autistic.” I don’t make that suggestion, but I don’t think that it’s quite reasonable to call it “offensive garbage.” Personally, I don’t like the term “Autistic.” In describing my own daughter, I much prefer saying that “she has Autism.” In my view, it’s a thing she has, it’s not a thing she is. The medical community is moving more and more towards blurring the lines that currently exist in diagnosis, and away from perhaps more difficult delineations between things like Asperger’s, PDD, PDD-NOS, Autism, “High-Functioning” Autism, etc. Fair or not, that’s the trend. I think it’s great that this woman is doing what she’s doing by trying to help people understand what Autism means to her, and it seems terribly unfair to call her sensationalist and offensive for doing so.
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thaddeusdangerjudei 4 months agoAs an Aspie myself, I vehemently disagree with you in just about everything you said. I do find it annoying that Asperger’s is now just part of the spectrum, because it does differ in some ways. However, journalists must report using facts, and the facts are that Asperger’s is just a form of autism now. That is how the APA has decided it will be, and the media should report it as such.
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kelseycoffeltd 4 months agoAsperger’s IS autism, because Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s, PDD, Child Disintigrative Disorder, and Rhett’s are ALL on the autism spectrum. Asperger’s is a specific type of autism. This is why it is referred to as a spectrum. When the next diagnostic manual comes out in May, there will be nothing called “Asperger’s”. It will all be referred to as autism with qualifiers behind it, i.e. “Asperger’s” will become “Autism with verbal fluency”. It makes more sense to refer to everything on the spectrum as autism with qualifiers than to have one specific type be the only one named after the person who “discovered” it. I’m not sure you know very much about your own diagnosis. However, they should not be referring to her as PDD AND “borderline” Asperger’s, you can’t be both at the same time. My guess is that A: these are from two different doctors or B: someone else is confused about what is and isn’t on the spectrum.
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Blarista 4 months ago
Actually, Autism, Asperger Syndrome, Childhood Disintegrative Disorder, and Rhett Syndrome are all Pervasive Developmental Disorders, so you can have Asperger’s and be classified as having a PDD. Whether or not Asperger’s is considered on the spectrum is something that most professionals can’t even agree upon. The DSM will be combining the diagnosis to contain Asperger’s on the spectrum, but some consider it to be part of it anyway. Being borderline Asperger’s is probably more PDD-NOS, with the person showing some or most but not all of the signs in the list of diagnostic criteria.
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Mock Turtle 4 months ago
@freak dageek
I never claimed to be the voice of Autism, nor was I trying to diminish what this woman has accomplished. However, when one hears “Autism,” the average person automatically associates that with the type of Autism that involve little to no communication, difficulty in caring for the affected person, etc. This, of course, being known as Autism proper before the APA decided “fuck it, let’s call ‘em all the same thing.” As for sensationalist and offensive, admittedly that was more directed at Buzzfeed, but I do think that she’s calculating what would be best for her here: saying “I have Autism” is a lot more likely to attract attention and votes than “I have PDD and kinda sorta Asperger’s.” @thaddeusdangerjudei
Well, Aspie to Aspie, I’d love to know why you disagree with me. As for the APA, like I said, I hate that they decided to just lump it all together. And even if that is how the APA reported it, Buzzfeed isn’t exactly the highest standard of reporting, and almost certainly didn’t take that into consideration. Again, “Autistic Miss America Contestant” is bound to generate more clicks than “PDD Miss America Contestant.” @kelseycoffeltd
A spectrum is a collection of similar things, not things that are the same. Red and blue are both colors, but red is not blue in the same way that Asperger’s is not Autistic Disorder or any of the others, and vice-versa. I disagree that it’s easier, especially since they’ve all been known by their respective names for so long. Suddenly calling them all “Autism with…” just muddles everything up. The fact that Asperger’s is named after the guy who discovered it is irrelevant and doesn’t warrant a reclassification; it might as well have been called “Pat the Bunny syndrome” and it still doesn’t warrant being renamed. And while I’m no doctor, as someone who’s done a lot of reading and spent a lot of time with doctors regarding my Asperger’s, I like to think I’m at least semi-qualified to speak on something I’m so intimately acquainted with. Video largely unrelated but awesome. - Show 1 More Contributions ...
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freak dageek 4 months ago
Depends on how you’re defining things, I suppose. Many are moving more towards putting all Autism Spectrum Disorders under one umbrella of “Autism” rather than having all these fine-line differentiated diagnoses. It’s also extremely over-simplified to say that anything is a “world away from Autism.” Autism covers a wide wide spectrum of impact, effect, abilities, etc.
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thaddeusdangerjudei 4 months ago
But it isn’t anymore. The APA has now defined Asperger’s as simply being on the spectrum of Autism. There is no separate diagnosis. The media has a responsibility to use the correct terms for these things, and as of now, that would be the correct term.
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kelseycoffeltd 4 months ago
I already posted this another place but it looks like I’m going to be the autism-understanding police. Asperger’s IS autism, because Autistic Disorder, Asperger’s, PDD, Child Disintigrative Disorder, and Rhett’s are ALL on the autism spectrum. Asperger’s is a specific type of autism. This is why it is referred to as a spectrum. When the next diagnostic manual comes out in May, there will be nothing called “Asperger’s”. It will all be referred to as autism with qualifiers behind it, i.e. “Asperger’s” will become “Autism with verbal fluency”. It makes more sense to refer to everything on the spectrum as autism with qualifiers than to have one specific type be the only one named after the person who “discovered” it.
However, they should not be referring to her as PDD AND “borderline” Asperger’s, you can’t be both at the same time. My guess is that A: these are from two different doctors or B: someone else is confused about what is and isn’t on the spectrum. -
Blarista 4 months ago
I think you should look up the defining characteristics and known causes for each of those you just listed. They are not all on the autism spectrum. It is called a spectrum because of the severity of symptoms and level of functioning or adaptive skills. However, Rhett’s, CDD, and some say Asperger’s are not on the spectrum. They are separate categories of symptoms/behaviors/diagnoses that have their own separate criteria and are part of a larger umbrella term: Pervasive Developmental Disorders.
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kelseycoffeltd 4 months ago
Yes, they are all considered Pervasive Developmental Disorders. My point is, when you look at the DSM, the only difference between the diagnosis of Asperger’s verses classic Autistic Disorder is whether or not there has been a delay in the acquisition of verbal skills.
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- victoranon added Beauty And A Beat to the mix about 4 months ago
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