If you walked by the JCPenney in New York City, you might notice something a little different in the store window display. Something amazingly different. The five mannequins reflect physical diversity. Modeled after five real people, they include a woman in a wheelchair, a man with dwarfism and a double-leg amputee, along with a plus-size woman and a 6-foot-one-inch man. The mannequins are part of the store’s “When it fits you feel it” campaign, and were specially made for the TODAY show’s Love Your Selfie series, as Today.com reports.
As the parent of a child with disability, I love this. Traditionally, initiatives in support of body image (especially from the fashion industry) have to do with plus-size women. It makes total, wonderful, awesome sense to celebrate the physiques of people with disabilities, too. The more others can see people with disabilities in mainstream settings, the more they will come to think of them as being mainstream. Too often, that’s still not the case.
Model inclusion is also happening more frequently, slowly but surely, in advertising. Nordstrom’s July catalog, reports ABC News, includes a man with a prosthetic leg showing off running shoes and model Jillian Mercado in a wheelchair modeling boots (she made headlines this spring for appearing in a Diesel ad campaign).
The mannequins are on display through August. I think they should go on tour!
From my other blog:
8 ways to include kids with special needs in programs, events, classes, camps, wherever!
Let It Go, like you’ve never heard it sung
On wondering what your child with special needs will do when he grows up
Images: Screen grab, Today video; Nordstrom catalog