Ashikeen Iqbal will represent Malaysia at the 2022 Miss World Wheelchair competition
KUALA LUMPUR: Tragedy in 2008 changed his body but not his spirit.
For Nur Ashikeen Iqbal or more commercially known as Kimi, she did not expect to be given the opportunity to represent Malaysia for the 2022 Miss World Wheelchair competition in Rosarito, Mexico.
Kimi describing this opportunity as a platform to prove that special people are also capable of meeting challenges just like normal individuals.
“My journey to Mexico will take more than 20 hours before arriving there. My challenge has already started since my movement is very limited, it doesn’t matter…for the sake of Malaysia, I’m willing to do it.
“This is my first participation in a world-class wheelchair beauty pageant. Before this, I had won the title of Wheelchair Queen Malaysia 2018 thus qualifying me to participate at the world level as well,” she said.
The second child of the three brothers said, despite being paralyzed from the waist down to the feet, lack was not used as an obstacle to forge success.
“The wheelchair has been a ‘friend’ since the age of 18. At first it was difficult for me to accept because I had to depend on a wheelchair for the rest of my life but the support of family members and friends made me enthusiastic through the coming days.
“I was involved in a hit-and-run incident while living in Singapore that left me paralyzed. After the incident I moved to Kuala Lumpur with my family and started a new life here.
“I also just graduated under the Master of Business Administration (MBA) program at Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) and will continue my career as a social entrepreneur,” said Kimi, who is also pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology at Wawasan Open University.
In the meantime, Kimi asked Malaysians to pray for her to be given good health and to start his journey in Mexico later.
Miss World Wheelchair 2022 is represented by 27 privileged women from all over the world in an effort to change society’s perception of people with disabilities.
This event will take place from October 23 to 29 and Kimi is expected to return home on November 2.
source – Faida Rahim
