Did you know that 1 in 5 people is disabled?

Well, that depends on your definition of disabled. However, the rates are generally about 1 in 7 (14%, Canada) to 1 in 5 (20%, Scotland, US), among the range of definitions of disabled. Regardless, it’s a lot of people when you multiply that rate by the tens or hundreds of millions of people in a population.

And what do you think they wear?

For most, it’s the same clothes the non-disabled people wear. For some, that’s OK. Their disabilities don’t get in the way of their fashion much, like if they were deaf. For many, though, it’s a nightmare. It’s so bad that Stephanie Thomas, a Disability Fashion Stylist for the Cur8able site and blog, claims “It is  easier to buy fashion for a pet than for someone with a seated body type.”

I don’t know much about fashion challenges for the disabled, but I can imagine some and I don’t doubt Stephanie one bit!

You can hear more about the issue from Stephanie at this Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Radio interview on the show, The Current. You can also check out her site and blog, as well as have a look at their Spring 2015 Lookbook to get some insight into fashion for the disabled. There is definitely a huge demand for it, and business/profits aside, it’s about time the fashion industry became more friendly towards fashion for the disabled.

I don’t know enough about creating fashion for the disabled right now, but in the future, I will definitely want to give a garment or two a try to learn more about it hands on.