Wheelchair user calls for more accessible clothing

A wheelchair user from Leicester is calling for the fashion industry to make clothing more accessible.

Sheila Hawkins, 66, who went to college after she retired and studied fashion, says she has noticed difficulties in buying practical and stylish clothes as a wheelchair user.

She was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy 33 years ago and decided to run an online survey to highlight the difficulties faced when buying accessible clothes.

It received about 100 responses and found impractical clothing designs are not the only issue, with changing rooms also providing an issue for people with disabilities.

"Some shops are really difficult; they're very narrow," Ms Hawkins said.

"You get stuck between rails, things like that.

"They're too small, or there isn't anything wide enough to sit on to be able to try things on."

When it comes to clothes, Ms Hawkins said an example of inaccessibility was an A-line skirt "that rides up and shows more than you want necessarily".

She added that pockets are sometimes placed in the wrong place, which makes them "useless", as items will fall out.

Ms Hawkins said one person told her "just because we're disabled, we don't want to be dowdy".

She added: "The thing that struck me was how passionately people felt about it and how they wanted to choose and buy and wear clothes that made them feel good and represented themselves."

Ms Hawkins said she hoped to influence fashion designers to make modifications to their clothing to make them more accessible to people like her.

Rebecca Tortice, a fashion lecturer at Leicester College, said she was backing Ms Hawkins's campaign.

She said: "I think Sheila's just sort of the tip of the iceberg into how big this research could be in the future, and I think it's definitely something brands need to be listening to and reading and kind of taking on board, because there is a huge market for people that need accessible clothing.

"Brands need to up their game and be thinking about the sort of areas that they could add accessible clothing and pockets and trims, you know, to make the range fashionable but still accessible."

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