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Highlights from “No Fashion Without Disability: Embracing Disability as Knowledge and Access as an Aesthetic”

Author: rcooney

A lecture by Dr. Ben Barry, Dean of Fashion at the Parsons School of Design in New York

Blog written by Natalia Rodriguez-Felipe, Junior in English and WGS

“Access to fashion is access to life.” – Dr. Ben Barry

Dr. Ben Barry is a renowned advocate for body positivity and inclusivity, relating to his experiences with disability; Dr. Barry has low vision and explores fashion through touch. “My body is my vessel in this work,” he said. This lecture provides the context of what he wants for fashion for disabled people.

Question inclusion: access for the sake of access is not necessarily liberatory. 

  • – Which disabled people have access to fashion?
  • – Into what world does have access to fashion and disabled people?
  • – How does access to fashion for disabled people center inclusion and justice?

He questions the superiority over what body is considered “normal” for fashion. Adaptive fashion assumes that non-disabled bodies are the standard from which designers must adapt, which reinforces sartorial assimilation through dominant styles even as it facilitates participation in fashion culture (for those who can afford it.) 

Sartorial assimilation sanitizes disability by concealing the very design features that provide access to their needs, as well as perpetuating independent personhood (a reality only for some disabled people regardless of people.) 

Sartorial assimilation can bring…

  • – A joyful and radical feeling when bodies are deemed “extraordinary” when given access to dress “ordinary”
  • – Secure employment, ease of anxiety at social gatherings, and protection in public spaces
  • – Preservation of energy to simply survive by reducing the intensity of ‘stares’

Yet only access to sartorial assimilation isn’t enough because it devalues disability. Most adaptive clothing and accessories minimize the experience of disability and reduce disability as dressed as markers of difference.  

Dr. Ben Barry explains the term ‘crip,’ which is a slur that is used against people with disabilities but is a political stance that actively rejects the idea of disability as something that needs to be ‘fixed’ or assimilated into the norm, instead asserting that disability is a valuable and desirable part of human experience and world. Dr. Barry details his interventions with fashion for people with disabilities, with the first one being Access as an aesthetic and Cripping Masculinities. 

“Crip the adaptive fashion movement that is failing many queer, trans, fat and racialized Disabled wearers.” For this intervention, Dr. Barry talked with participants to create mannequins representing people with disabilities. 

  1. He discussed how they wanted to be represented and made 3D mannequins of disabled bodies. “Mannequins weren’t to adapt, but to create a starting point in fashion.”
  2. 1. Turn the access feature into an aesthetic feature, such as incorporating a visual description of the model as they move. This feature gives access to folks who are blind, slow, or have low vision.
  3. 2. The design process is relational and care-centered. For example, fabrics that are light on the skin, easy to wash, and not easy to sweat.
  • 3. Authorship must therefore honor the ongoing relationship, negotiations, exchanges, and genealogy of thought that collectively contributes to the design of clothing. 
  1. 4. Design beyond the usual body to multiple sensory experiences.
  2. 5. Facilitate disabled people’s intersectional experiences. Recognizing disabled folks, also navigate oppressive spaces while resisting smooth integration.
  3. 6. Build up disability that over time manifests a new social order, which makes disability integral. 

The second intervention is Disability Wisdom and the Parsons Disabled Fashion Student Program. 

17.8% of disabled adults have graduated college, in comparison to the 35% of non-disabled adults. The medical model of disability still dominates, while accessible fashion is often infantilized, when it’s meant for adults. A recommendation for change is that fashion programs collaborate with disability services to create studio-specific spaces, as well as funding affinity groups to formalize Disabled student networks and develop workshops on fashion disability.  

“Any change that occurs overnight is most likely for marketing purposes and doesn’t serve the needs of communities it supposedly represents. The change requires intentionality, resources, and a commitment to rebuild a system. That must begin with education, because we don’t know what we don’t know.” -Ben Barry

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