The Electronic Directory for People with Spinal Cord Injury

                              "Because no one should cope with a Spinal Cord Injury (SCI) alone"  

Wheelchair-bound Lanham native wins CoverGirl contest

Lanham native Janice Jackson overcame a paralyzing spinal cord injury that left her wheelchair-bound 23 years ago to become the founder and executive director of the Baltimore-based nonprofit Women Embracing Abilities Now, an organization that has helped hundreds of women who suffered debilitating injuries adjust to new realities.

And now her inspirational story, once known only to family, friends and those whose lives she has touched, is going to reach a wider audience.

Jackson was selected in February as one of four women to represent Queen Latifah’s new line of make-up ‘‘The CoverGirl Queen Collection.” Jackson said the company was looking for women who had ‘‘overcome major challenges” and chose her from more than 4,800 entrants from across the country.

Her story will be profiled by the Lifetime television network on May 20, and she will be featured in an advertisement in the June issue of Ebony Magazine.

‘‘[CoverGirl] saw my accomplishments as the executive director of the program I started and they saw how my story shows people you can take a tragedy and turn it around into triumph and do great things,” she said.

A DuVal High School Class of 1978 graduate, Jackson at 24 was working as manager of a woman’s clothing store at Landover Mall in 1984. Driving home down George Palmer Highway, now Martin Luther King Jr. Highway, she saw a friend in another car. The two pulled over, got out of their vehicles and started chatting.

Moments later, Jackson said, an 18-year-old motorist dropped the cigarette he was smoking into his lap, lost control of his vehicle and barreled into her. Upon impact, she was catapulted into the air and landed on her head, irreparably damaging her spinal chord. She has been wheelchair-bound ever since.

‘‘At the point my accident happened, my faith was real strong and I just decided to turn it into something positive,” Jackson said. ‘‘Right from the beginning I just knew I had a mission to help other women with disabilities.”

Jackson graduated from the University of Baltimore with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in human services administration. She now teaches psychology there as an adjunct professor.

She founded the support group that would become WEAN in 1984 shortly after suffering her injury. She registered WEAN as a tax-exempt 501(c)3 nonprofit in 1995.

‘‘From a wheelchair, I decided to devote my life to other women with disabilities and help them realize that they are women and they are queens as well and they just have to believe that,” Jackson said.

As presently constituted, WEAN has 12 active mentors and ‘‘tons of volunteers” who staff the nonprofit. Private donations and various fundraisers throughout the year subsidize the organization, Jackson said.

Jackson said her nonprofit serves as a ‘‘bridge” for women who have suffered life-altering injuries to reenter society.

‘‘We mentor women with new disabilities,” Jackson said. ‘‘We help them rehab. We give them hope. We serve as peer counselors for them. We know what they’re going through and we know what they’re going to go through when they get back into the community. We try to tell them that even though you have limitations you still have abilities.”

Jackson’s mother, Althea, said she is ‘‘very proud” of her daughter and all she has been able to accomplish.

‘‘The one thing is she is very outgoing and another thing is she’s always wanted to help other people ever since she was very little,” the Lanham resident said. ‘‘She’s always been this way. She puts everybody before herself. Nothing surprises me about what she does but it just makes me proud.”

CoverGirl spokeswoman Anitra Marsh said choosing Jackson was not a difficult decision.

‘‘She really does represent inner and outer beauty,” Marsh said. ‘‘She’s amazing in the things she accomplished in life. We wanted to celebrate her achievements especially because of how she has been able to give back and serve others.”

Jackson, a Baltimore resident, said she is grateful to CoverGirl for the opportunity to raise awareness for women with disabilities.

‘‘In this society, you never hear the words ‘queen’ or ‘CoverGirl’ in the same sentence as the word ‘disability,’” Jackson said. ‘‘For them to choose me is such a blessing. Now I can expose to society another side of people with disabilities and let them know that we do care about our beauty.”

Jackson said she is looking forward to the increased publicity that women with disabilities will receive as part of the CoverGirl campaign.

‘‘I’m sure once the magazine hits and once the show airs the exposure is going to be phenomenal and help me in my mission to put a face on women with disabilities,” she said.

source