The Miss America Pageant may have a lot of stigma attached to it these days, as tales of scandal and corruption from behind the scenes rock the title and pageants in general get a bad rap because of shows like “Toddlers And Tiaras”; however, one teenager is looking to change all that this year.

18-year old Alexis Wineman says she never thought pageants were something she would get into, because after she was diagnosed on the autism spectrum she never believed she would be able to go onstage. A relatively late diagnosis–when she was eleven years old–meant she had to work extra hard to overcome her learning disabilities.

“For the longest time I just really wanted to know what was wrong with me,” she said. “When I was finally diagnosed I felt like it came too late.”

Wineman is pushing several boundaries this year; her entry in the talent competition is a stand-up comedy routine dealing with the controversial topic of women’s body image…something fairly unheard of in beauty pageants.