To put it simply, exclusion in the “fashion world” creates and perpetuates exclusion in the “real world”. Think about it this way. At this point in time, most business owners, employers, University staff, healthcare providers and - possibly the most important - politicians don’t see people with disability represented throughout fashion, TV, film, media, etc.
Language. It can be so empowering or so damaging. We are taught there is so much power in words, and ain’t that the truth.
As Occupational Therapists by trade, we are well and truly around person-first language. For those playing along at home, an example of this is saying “person with disability” rather than “disabled person” or “person with schizophrenia” rather than referring to someone as “a schizophrenic person”.
JAM has brought me on to write a few blog posts for them about the fashion industry, and the ways in which inclusion needs to improve. As an activist and model with disability, Molly & Emma have dubbed my experiences as “Insider Information”. I find this kind of amusing, but I can see what they mean - and I hope that some of you can learn a thing or two from what I share here.
Alrighty blog readers, we bet our bottom dollar that four out of five people reading this blog (if there is 5 of you reading) cut your tags off your clothes because they’re so darn annoying. We’ll let you in on a little trade secret - tags are SO not needed.
So, for those playing along at home thinking, what’s the difference between inclusive and adaptive? Well, adaptive just means inclusive, right? Not quite. We would define “adaptive” as products or items that are designed FOR people with disabilities to meet a certain need. Specialised products. Whereas, we see “inclusive” as items that are created with a mindset to be accessible to all.
So, full disclosure.. We sometimes get self-conscious about the fact that we are absolutely not traditional “business” people. We’ve had to learn so many new terms, abbreviations and are constantly treading water since we entered into the world of finance, business and marketing.
When we initially named JAM, we selected it over a myriad of other options because we wanted our brand to be about the people we were doing it for and who they are, not the fact that the clothing was “adaptive” or “assistive technology” (More on these words coming up in future blogs) or focused on people’s disability.......
