Growing Family Fun

Congratulations to Growing Family Fun staff member Angie Plager of Cambridge for being selected Ms. Wheelchair Iowa 2009.

Since 2007, Plager has welcomed guests, helped distribute maze maps and provided maze instructions at Growing Family Fun. She’s traveled the entire 10-acre corn maze and enjoyed a ride on our accessible hayrack, with a lift built on it for wheelchairs. She has also helped transport pumpkins by driving her accessible van.

As Ms. Wheelchair Iowa, one of her accessibility awareness projects is to increase accessibility and safety of refueling vehicles at gas stations for persons with disabilities, the elderly and parents with children with disabilities. While Plager drives her own modified van using hand controls, she is unable to refuel the van because of her physical limitations. She is advocating for this change by sharing her story with key stakeholders and a Chicago-based company. Plager says the current law states a gas station with more than one employee is supposed to send an employee out to help pump gas for persons with disabilities. Because of environmental noise and inadequate employee training, the current law is not practiced.

A car accident on Aug. 23, 2003, left her a quadriplegic. She can move her arms and wrists, but not her fingers.  She now volunteers as president of the Spinal Cord Injury Association of Iowa.

Plager will compete in the Ms. Wheelchair America Pageant Aug. 24-29, 2009, in Rapid City, South Dakota. Ms. Wheelchair America recognizes women of accomplishment that happen to use wheelchairs for mobility. The competition selects a spokesperson for individuals with disabilities. There are more than 52 million Americans living with disabilities.