A Franklin woman was crown Miss Amazing Junior Miss this month at the national pageant.
Mickey Deputy, a 24-year-old cancer survivor with Down syndrome, has competed in pageants for years, but this is the first time she’s taken home the big prize.
Miss Amazing is a national pageant for girls and women with disabilities that aims to break down widely-held myths about the capabilities of people with disabilities, according to the pageant’s website.
Both the pageant — and Deputy — strive to create a world where women with disabilities are encouraged to consider their goals, challenge themselves and take pride in their identities.
Deputy has qualified for the national Miss Amazing competition three times — in 2013, 2015 and this year. In 2013, she won the state competition and was first runner up in the national competition. In 2015, she won the state title but didn’t place at nationals, said Jenny Deputy, Mickey’s mother.
She has also competed in local Miss America pageants and was the first woman with Down syndrome to compete in Indiana.
To family and friends, Deputy has been Miss Amazing all her life, for her advocacy and ability to overcome every obstacle in her way. Now, she is nationally recognized as amazing.
She was crowned earlier this month after a weekend-long pageant at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville, Tenn.
Deputy earned top marks at the pageant and inspired the judges with her monologue about how the world sees her.
“The world calls me a victim because I had leukemia. But I say I’m a survivor because I fought hard in the battle and won. The world wants to call me worthless because I don’t look, talk and act like everybody else …
“The world calls me a mistake because my chromosomes are not like everyone else’s. But I know I am complete and artfully made by the father and the one true king.
“The world calls me disabled because my abilities are different than yours. But they don’t know my special ability is to bring light, joy and happiness to the world.
“The world tells me to stop trying because it is impossible for me to ever win. But when has the impossible ever stopped me?”
Deputy keeps coming back to Miss Amazing because of the message, the lessons of self-confidence, celebrations of inner beauty and friends she’s made along the way.
“It is all about acceptance for Miss Amazing. Different abilities can be seen and their voices can be heard. People with different abilities can sometimes be looked down upon,” she said.
The best part of the pageant happens backstage, where she makes friends and prays with the other women competing, she said. She shared the Bible story of Esther with friends who needed a boost of courage from the woman who, according to the story, convinced her husband, the king, to save the Jewish people of Persia.
The crown and title feel right, like she was made for the moment, Deputy said.
“It feels amazing,” she said. “It feels really wonderful. Like it says on my shirt, ‘Perhaps you were made for such a time as this.’ It is from Esther 4:14.”
With the crown, she gains the honor of crowning the next Miss Amazing Junior Miss and representing the pageant at events around the state. A parade was held at Victory Christian Church to celebrate her win last week, Deputy’s first appearance in her official capacity.
Deputy plans to compete again in a few years when she’s eligible.
