Fashion Styling for People with Disabilities | Stephanie Thomas | TEDxYYC 

ABSOLUTELY LOOOOOOVE THIS!!! It is so necessary Stephanie thank you so much! I'm so proud.

she is awesome. what a wonderful job to have

Thank you for being aware of those with a disability for dressing. The fashion industry has ignored them. Who else did they ignore? Those who dress modestly are looked upon with such disdain it's incredible. It took me about 8 hours on the internet to find some fabric in the form of a sport shirt to fill in a low neckline.

I'm a wheelchair user who is breastfeeding & involved in medieval recreation. I made an adaptive outfit of my own design (based off of a family tree portrait from I think 1500s Germany if memory serves) that allows me to breastfeed my child while seated in my wheelchair, and that fit over my belly while I was pregnant. The "dress" is actually separate top & skirt (held together with hidden snaps for easy on/off and the ability to toilet by dropping the skirt instead of raising it, which I personally find easier to manage). I also hid four large pockets on the front of my skirt (one on each thigh and one on each shin) since I can't wear belt pouches (they get caught in my wheel path). I also made the skirt less full than usually worn, to keep it from getting into my manual wheelchair's wheel path or spokes. I would be thrilled if others wanted to make improvements on my design and use them, for modern or medieval wearing.

I'd love to not look dumpy and all wrinkled in front and my pants pulled down in back when I'm in my wheelchair. I also need elastic in the waist because of a pain pump in my belly. Shopping is so difficult for pants especially! Love the zippered pockets, too. She's awesome. People are taught from childhood to "no stare" at disabled people, so they grow up trained to not look at or communicate with them. The Invisibles.

That's my old teacher! Great presentation Ms. Thomas!

This made my night.

Amazing speech, you are doing a great job. As a wheelchair user, I thank you so very much! Hugs from Spain.

"I couldn't just talk about it. I had to be about it" is a bada$$ thing to say. Her style! Her suave! Her joi de vivre! Stephanie Thomas, you are amazing.

Love her mission and her energy!

FABulous! So glad to see this worthy subject gaining much-deserved momentum.

Beautiful, Needful, Necessary!!! Thank you, Stephanie!! You are a blessing!!!!

This is amazing. Your disability was your gift and uniqueness to create this line of fashion. You are amazing 😉

Thanks to help people with disability (ies) like me show the best self, their beauty and improve their confidence.. You are such a good person!

Damn once she warmed up she was going. This lady is a total fucking boss.

This is an awesome way to go. Great information and ideas I could present to my clients and teams.

This was so beautiful and empowering. I cried!

Love this content!! Powerful as a wheelchair user!

Who dislike this. This is amazing ! How someone can think that people with disabilities should not have clothes that fit them ?

Fantastic work! we need more fashion styling for different types of disabilities.

Lovely job !Stephanie Thomas

amazing. hats off

I love it! Sharing!

Also, maternity pants are horrible for almost all body types and the under-belly ones exponentially worse for those of us with a seated body type. PLEASE help improve those. The material for the over-belly ones doesn't stay up and makes sensitive pregnant belly skin extra itchy. I had to wear a layer of cotton under the stretchy over-belly fabric, otherwise I was constantly twitching & having skin-crawling sensations from the nylon stretch fabric.

SUCH AN AMAZING WOMAN!!!

I am autisitic and I have chronic back pain (well fibromyalgia). I usually don't wear clothes because they are uncomfortable or pull on me. I have found two things help. soft material. Idk what it is but at Walmart I got this very soft yarn. I wanted to make myself a fox tail and I was making a belt to go around me and hold it. well as I was fitting it to my body and trying it (I'm still making it) I noticed that I like it. it's very soft and doesn't irritate my skin. and it's tight. it doesn't move around which makes the fabric rub on my skin lightly. that feels like bugs on me and like my skin is burning. it is also flexible so it moves with my body if I need to bend down or change positions. just enough give. I also found that the tightness from that and also from ftm binders really helps with my back pain. a lot. and it cuts down on clothing stimulation too so I usually wear one when I have to wear clothes. I don't have the resources to be able to widespread make these things. but I hope I can make enough for myself and maybe some friends and get other people interested in making similar clothes so that it can maybe be more readily available. I'd love that.

Very interesting!

beautiful thankyou

thats amazing!!

Steph You Rock!

Hey Stephanie. Congrats to your passion to stylist disabilities. Luv God Mom..Earlene from Louisville,Ky

amazing...

I have MS and sit a lot and walk with a cane i want to look stylish and scomfortable and warm or cool as well. The pants have to be easy to pull up and down so i just buy them a size bigger than i am. Dresses are easy in the summer but winter layers are a challenge. I have a tightening feeling around my waist called the MS hug. I want to be comfortable and stylish so that has been an issue. I have trouble with buttons and zippers so i avoid zippers. I have a tool that buttons my clothing but still avoid them. Soft fabrics are a must too. It would be a huge challenge is not impossible andunsafe for me to try on clothes in a changing room so have had to buy my clothes on Amazon and hope for the best!

awesome. thanks to Ms. Thomas I will start designing for disabled rt now, rt here

Awesome!!! 👍👍👍

I love you, you saw a great need and set out to meet it!

Love this fashion show is there any apprenticeships available I live in Waterloo Canada this would be awesome I am also a full-time wheelchair user

Damn, I love her!

This is woooooooooow!!!!

I love this. Are you in the United States and available for consultation ?

i want footlocker stuff designed with me in mind but aint gona happen lol paraplegic btw and the trouser thing is real but tbh if you thin i dont make too much different. i never wear anything with pockets or buttons

My friends sister has a disability and clothes designed for her would be so great

She is so damn good!

where can I buy clothes like these ??

Well done.

Holy shit! That was dope!

Nice. :)

This is the 'Lady boss' magazines should be shouting about

Smart brain woman

I wish I could go to ai in California so you could be my teacher

howww, yes, i'm make the diference in life...

I'm not sure what the point here is. Clothing and fashion is bound by the same principles as any other business venture: profit, supply and demand. Why are there so few places to purchase clothes for disabled people or abnormally sized folks? The answer is in the question. They are abnormal, production of new product costs money, if the demographic is that small, it simply does not justify an investment. This has nothing to do with how people feel about the disabled. Its business. Id like to see more adaptable clothing and clothing designed for disabled people. (or ridiculously tall people like me, I can't wear half of the clothes in any given store.) But it's not a morality crisis.

I can't think of anything I care less about. =/

she ain't disabled!