I Love Fashion, but It Hurts My Skin.
The New York Times
A reader seeks advice on how to feel stylish while still sticking to safe fabrics.
People with disabilities of every kind have long been fashion’s biggest blind spot — and, as far as I am concerned, missed opportunity. Though the industry has been getting notably better about acknowledging and trying to address many of its own failings, including a history of racism, sizeism and ageism, it still falls short when it comes to disabilities. Even if last season there were a few models in wheelchairs on select runways.
Given that, according to the C.D.C., one in four adults in the United States is living with a disability, this seems not just wrong, but plain old dumb. After all, those millions of people buy clothes. And as my friend Sinéad Burke, an activist, often points out, they want and deserve to wear clothes that express their identity and values and make them feel great about themselves.
Which is to say: fashion.
