Disabled Miss SA entrant gets support from thousands
● Laura Wagner-Meyer is not statuesque. Her spine is severely curved, her body does not fill out a normal bikini and her legs are not traditionally shapely — yet she has her heart set on becoming the next Miss South Africa.
The 25-year-old part-time model this week entered the national beauty pageant with a TikTok video that lit up the internet and sparked thousands of supportive comments for the one thing that makes her different — Wagner-Meyer is disabled.
“Miss South Africa is not a look. It’s a purpose, it’ sa cause. But most importantly it’s an attitude. My story is a lot like the South African story. We’ve gone through a lot, but we’ve come through smiling,” she tells the camera in her entry post.
Wagner-Meyer, who is a programme manager at Seen TV, is also an inclusive fashion designer and a model. She was born with congenital neural tube defect, which means her body is uniquely shaped, she needs crutches to walk and has limited mobility in her legs.
She first got the idea to enter Miss South Africa when her twin sister Emma — equally attractive, but tall and ablebodied — told her: “You should enter. I really think you could win.”
Wagner-Meyer entered in 2022 and 2023 without success and decided to give it another shot in 2024. She showed her entry to her boss, tech entrepreneur and multimedia journalist Yusuf Omar, whose forte is telling stories.
“Laura is one of the most exceptional humans I have ever encountered. Our company has about 55 staff and she is the go-to person for almost everybody. When she showed me a video that portrayed her disability as the forefront of her story, I told her, ‘But you are so much more than that.’
“When you are trying to tell a story and create empathy, you can go for sympathy and pity. But I suggested that she flip the idea and go for what she’s really about, which is awesomeness and inspiration,” Omar said.
So Wagner-Meyer rescripted her piece, Omar filmed some shoots with her and she edited it all into the TikTok video that is now drawing hundreds of thousands of views.
“It just blew up. I am so surprised. I didn’t expect such genuine love, support and validation. People are telling me to keep going, that they believe in me. I feel like the Springboks getting all this love from complete strangers,” she said.
Wagner-Meyer attributes her success and cheerful approach to life to her mother, Dr Rolene Wagner, head of the Eastern Cape health department.
Wagner, who has been a single parent since her girls were four-year-olds, said in 1998 that the happy discovery that she was carrying twins was soon followed by the revelation at nine weeks that one of the babies had congenital defects. It was recommended that she abort the defective foetus as it was unlikely to survive until birth, and if born would have no quality of life. But after determining that there was nothing wrong with her baby’s brain, she decided to go against all medical advice and warnings from family and friends.
When the twins were born at 31 weeks, Laura was rushed into surgery as her organs had grown outside her body. She was only united with her mom when she was two days old. She developed a cyst that had to be removed when it started damaging her spine. She could bend her ankles, but not her knees. Many major surgeries followed.
But Wagner saw both twins as normal and enrolled them in mainstream schools, and Wagner-Meyer just got on with life as though she was able-bodied. Today she shares a flat in Cape Town with her twin Emma, a candidate attorney. They are often visited by their mom and younger brother Phillip who live in the Eastern Cape.
Stephanie Weil, CEO of the Miss South Africa Organisation, said: “Since we took over the competition in 2019, our goal has been to be more inclusive and embracing. The world is finally opening up to changing beauty standards and the understanding that it is not one size fits all. We applaud Laura for her entry — her personality shines through on her TikTok video. We wish her all the best.”