Inclusivity is the current mood, spirit and Zeitgeist in fashion – one that must be here to stay – and during Disability Pride Month (and all year), it is worthy to take notes from advocates Jillian Mercado, Becca McCharen, and Ben Barry, who are working to inform designers, stylists, and creators of what not to do when researching, designing, and creating for disabled people.

Jillian Mercado, model and actress

What do you believe fashion leaders fail to see or often overlook when creating work that specifically addresses disability concerns?

For starters, they don’t understand how important it is to hire our community when addressing our community. Sure, you can research and make focus groups about any specific garment or campaign or brand but when you leave out the most essential part of that creation, mistakes are easily made and the only way to not fall into that is by giving opportunity.

What needs should creatives focus on to develop fashion engagements that are more accessible for disabled people to attend or execute?

I believe before we even go into the fast-paced world of the fashion industry, we need to create an atmosphere where disabled people of all kinds feel included. A designer should focus their attention on different layers from the accessibility of the garment and the fit of the garment as well.

Why is it crucial for you to be a visible disabled fashion model in a global industry?

It has everything to do with the lack of representation when I was a child and fulfilling that need now. I went through many stages of grief not understanding why people like myself were not getting the opportunity to be whatever we wanted to be. I also realized at a young age that the world was not designed for the disabled community and how ableist mindsets have been poisoning our water. So I used all the opportunities and access that I had to get myself into a place where people will not only see me but hear me as well. And with that power, I make sure that the next generation has some sort of representation.

Who are three CFDA brands that you can see featuring yourself and other disabled advocates in their shows or campaigns?

Honestly speaking, I can see it for all of the CFDA brands…To have a disabled person as a part of fashion campaigns can definitely move the needle and the conversation forward. It is essential to have representation in the fashion industry and to be a part of the plan, not an afterthought.

Becca McCharen-Tran, founder and designer of Chromat

How did you take the initiative to cast disabled models in Chromat’s previous fashion shows and campaigns?

“We started designing adrenaline dresses that expanded and collapsed. I have worked with people in the disability community who were seeing what works for them. We started working with people who had prosthetics such as Lauren Wasser, Viktoria Modesta, and Mama Cax. This experimentation made us think of the body differently.

When I became interested in fashion, I was turned off by the singular body type: skinny, white, cisgender, able bodied, and young. It is very specific. To me, the fashion industry only centered, prioritized, and highlighted one type of body.. When I started engaging in fashion, I saw it as a way to experiment creatively with shapes and forms. I believe working with people with disabilities is a natural extension of that and what I stand for. Disabled people have to rewrite all the rules for themselves, seeing what works and what doesn’t. It is  interesting that any single one of us can become a person of the disability community at any point in our life. Ultimately, no one is excluded from this community. It is not a fixed community. It is not us versus them, it is all of us.”

Why are you committed to curating a brand that values disabled models along with all body types?

“For me, I do not see disabled people as outsiders. I see them as part of Chromat’s community. There have been many individuals who have forever been in Chromat’s world that are disabled, whether they use wheelchairs, have prosthetics, who are deaf or blind, or who experience l challenges in the world of ableist design.

It is important for us as designers to acknowledge what disabled people know they need for their bodies; then use design to create that world where they are empowered and where they are able to do whatever it is they want to do.

After our first runway show at New York Fashion Week, I started reading the reviews in the press, which was all about how we utilized models. And I was like, “oh, this is not normal for y’all but this is normal for me.“ At first I was like, ”y’all are weird for only choosing this one type of model, that alone should have been the story.”

Do you believe that it’s critical for designers to think and speak against ableism in the fashion industry? Who are disabled models you look forward to collaborating with in the future?

Yes, it is definitely critical. Sure, designers are pursuing their own fantasies and their own visions but also design is created to serve people. If not, it is just art which serves people too. I think anyone who’s creating things for the human body should be concerned with all different variations of the human body. For the film Joy Run by Tourmaline, we featured Jerron Herman. He is a dancer with cerebral palsy. There are people who I have been admiring from afar such as Aaron Rose Philip and Jillian Mercado.

Ben Barry, Dean of Parsons School of Design and principal investigator of Crippling Masculinity

As a queer and disabled educator, what experiences pushed you to be an advocate for disabled people in fashion?

As my vision shifted, my other senses took on richer roles in my engagement with fashion. It was coming into the disability community and learning from disability justice activists, disabled artists and designers and disability studies scholars that truly expanded my understanding of myself, fashion, and the world. I am forever grateful from the learnings from the project, Crippling Masculinity, which I recently co-facilitated. It explored how disabled men and masculine folks expand gender and fashion through their engagement with clothing in everyday life. The project culminated in an exhibition at Tangled Art + Disability in Toronto to showcase the fashion wisdom of disabled folks.

Why are you committed to centering disabled experiences in fashion regardless who becomes uncomfortable with the thought of change?

It has developed out of necessity because disabled folks have had to intervene into the design of artifacts, strategies, and systems in order to live in a world created for non-disabled people. The fact is that disabled folks have always been incredible fashion designers. We have altered clothing and developed new pieces because what exists was not designed for us and, for many folks, economically inaccessible. Disability activists and scholars call this perspective – understanding disability as a benefit – disability, d/Deaf or blindness gain.

It is the recognition that disabled folks have developed rich ways of living in the world that can benefit both disabled and non-disabled people. For design and design processes, disabled folks have developed innovative practices around, for example, multi-sensory engagement, artifacts that center access as functional and aesthetic, timing and pacing, and the practices of interdependence.

I want to use the privilege and position I hold to ensure that disabled folks—particularly those from multiply-marginalized disability experiences—can work in and lead fashion, with full value, recognition and compensation.

Do you foresee Parsons School of Design creating an outreach program for disabled people who have used their experiences to design adaptive garments?

Before joining Parsons, I had appreciated the work of faculty members to engage with the disability community. Whether through the school’s curricular collaboration with Special Olympics or the Open Style Lab, fashion students co-designed with disabled folks. Co-design projects will continue to be important spaces to engage in interdependent knowledge-sharing and create design while truly engaging disabled folks throughout the process, and fully credit and compensate them.

What I am personally committed to, however, is moving beyond co-design to creating pathways for disabled folks to move into educational and design spaces as fashion students, educators, designers and business people. Creating these systemic pathways and sustainable careers for disabled folks to work in and lead the fashion industry will create more functional, aesthetically original, engaging and inclusive design that benefits disabled and non-disabled fashion people.

For folks who want to learn more about disability creativity and wisdom, I’d encourage them to check out some of my favorite books, Crip Kinship: Disability Justice and the Art Activism of Sins Invalid and The Future is Disabled, and the podcast Crip Times.