SKIMS, the underwear/shapewear brand, by Kim Kardashian launched an adaptive collection as part of their Fits Everybody line and then released a campaign including models with disabilities wearing the underwear.

A huge advancement in inclusive mindset and long overdue.

This week Candace Owens’ comments on the advertisement saying how ridiculous this inclusivity thing is, and that DEI has basically gone too far with this ad.

This caused an uproar in the disabled community as it absolutely should because this type of rhetoric is ABLEISM.

Why is it, when we get to a place where disability is finally being represented, we have then gone too far in inclusivity?

News flash. Disability is our common ground, and will most likely enter ALL our lives. The work of educating and further the discussions is very important for our societal overall well-being.

Mrs. Owens comments are completely offensive, and are a direct reflection of why the efforts of disability advocacy in mainstream media must be continued!

The technology of adapted clothing is LONG overdue, and Mrs. Owens, obviously has no idea of how hard it is to put on shape wear when you cannot stand. I do and it is difficult.

We as disabled people have been forced to fit into and make products work that do not forever.

Many creative innovations through the millennia have stemmed from adapting products for people with disabilities, and I bet advancements in adapted clothing from SKIMS
to Slick Chicks to Liberare etc will be used universally disabled or not.

It is called the curb cut effect, the occurrence of disability-friendly features being used by a larger group than the people they were designed for.

Accessibility drives innovation, and disability should unite us, not divide us. I hope Mrs. Owens will consider allyship as a good thing in the future rather than digging herself in deeper and remaining an Ableist.