With Halloween just around the corner, let’s talk for a minute about adapted costumes. Whether you, your family member, or someone you are working with, that has a disability, is planning on heading out for trick-o-treating, attending a party, being involved in a play, or dressing up for a costume event, finding the right outfit is important.
Putting together a costume can be challenging, especially for those that use mobility aides such as wheelchairs and walkers or who have sensitivities to materials. Over the last several years there has been an increase in the availability of adapted costumes for purchase, through large and small retailers. There are also numerous ideas and directions online of how to design and create do-it-yourself costumes custom to the individual. This increased availability has shifted the activity of dressing up for those with disabilities to a higher level of inclusivity which results in a great deal of fun!
Over the years, I have enjoyed dressing up for plays, themed events, and Halloween. Each activity required some type of costume adaptation or costume creation from scratch. The costumes had to meet my unique needs at a given time and work well with my wheelchair. I’ve been a Cowboy, Wizard of Oz Flying Monkey, Batman with a Batmobile, Peanut Man, and even the Gordon Fisherman, just to name a few. There really is no limit to what you can create, especially if you have a few people to help with ideas, creativity and assembly.
A few points to consider related to adaptive costumes:
- Time and Cost: Start as early as possible on identifying what the costume will be so there is enough time to find or make all the important main parts and accessories of the costume. Time is needed to try the costume on to ensure fit and to make adjustments. Some can take a long time to put together and others can be pulled together in 10 minutes. Generally, costumes range in cost from very expensive, to no cost at all. Many costumes can be created with a bit of cardboard, tape, paint, scraps from the hardware or craft stores, items found at home, school or local businesses.
- Design and Preference: Incorporate design elements that work with wheelchairs, walkers, or other equipment. If a person uses a wheelchair, part of the costume could be something with wheels and the person that uses the wheelchair could look like they are the operator of that vehicle. For example, building up what looks like an ice cream truck design and the person using the wheelchair would be the ice cream man/woman. Another idea is to not decorate the chair at all and focus only on the outfit the individual will wear. If you are the family member or person providing support, be intentional to find ways to include the person who will wear the costume into the development/design/selection/creation of materials.
- Functionality and Safety: No matter what the design is, functionality and safety are critical. A good design makes sure that mobility is not effected for the sake of a costume. There are some great ideas out there, but they might not be the best idea for all individuals. As part of designing and trying it out, consider safety for the person wearing the costume; is it too heavy, or a tripping hazard, does it impact ideal body positioning, or impede breathing, hearing or vision, can the individual fit through doorways, move up and down stairs, curbs, or access ramps, what type of assistance is needed to get the costume on and off quickly if necessary?
- Sensory and Ease: Use fabrics that are soft and non-irritating. If your costume requires paint, consider paint brands with low or no odor, allow plenty of time to dry and the odor to dissipate. Large masks can sometimes be uncomfortable and hot to wear or make things hard to see, a smaller minimal mask could be used instead. An alternative to a mask could be hypoallergenic skin sensitive face paint or a headband matching the costume. Choose or alter costume fasteners for something that is easy to manage, such as Velcro, magnetic closures, and zippers, to facilitate dressing and undressing. A one piece outfit may need to be split into two pieces.
For additional considerations and to find where to buy adapted costumes or ideas on how to make costumes, a quick online search of “adapted costumes”, “accessible Halloween costumes”, “costumes for wheelchair users” or other relevant detail will lead you to multiple great ideas. Get out there and get creative!
Let us know: Did you find this article interesting? Would you like to read more of these type of articles? Do you have a topic you would like to see highlighted? Contact me through email Gabe Ryan gryan@scoolhealth.com. I’d love to know how you’ve used the information from the SchoolHealth Access Angle segments.
