Do you have a favorite T-shirt or pair of jeans that transforms you and makes you feel confident — makes you feel like you? That's because what you wear can affect your mood, your health and your self-esteem, says fashion designer Mindy Scheier. Inspired by her son, who was born with a degenerative disorder that makes it hard for him to dress himself or wear clothing with buttons or zippers, Scheier set out to make clothing that works for everyone, including the differently abled. Learn more about how she's made fashion history by producing the world's first mainstream adaptive clothing line.
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I friend with autism and this video helped him a lot
Sirat Mokha really?, how?, I thought autism wasn’t a physical disability
My friend aadi really love to dress properly and don’t we all
Appreciate your efforts miss..
Being an individual with special needs (I was born with Spina Bifida) this video just hit home for me with such force. I actually just started creating content here on youtube at the beginning of January. Reason being, when I was 8 I attended a summer camp for children with medical special needs of all sorts. It liberated me. Instead of having people around me that questioned within themselves what I was capable of doing, I had counselors at the camp asking me what I was interested in doing and they made sure there were resources available for me to try my hand at anything and everything I could think of. I am now 33. I am in the process of developing a nonprofit summer camp just like the one I went to as a kid. I decided to take on the endeavor of youtube in hopes that once I got enough subscribers and I had enough content that I might be able to monetize the content and the money I make from YouTube will go toward helping me further the process of developing the camp. Once the camp is funded and built I will continue to upload to youtube and use it as my source of income, because I do not believe in taking a paycheck from a nonprofit that I am the founder of. I do plan on being the Director of the camp so that I will have daily involvement in it because I miss that environment. My content will ultimately be heavily targeted toward the special needs community, but hopefully, it will end up appealing to everyone, or at the very least teaching and entertaining everyone, regardless of if they are a special needs individual or not. Thank you for posting this video. I needed to see this. -Ryan
Motor Mouth Midget – I’m so proud of your efforts. I had 2 special needs sons. Unfortunately, government sources frequently have a negative impact on families and people with disabilities. Good luck in mentoring these young people.
Financial hardships due to medical bills are the exact reason I designated the camp as a nonprofit. There will be absolutely no monetary responsibility put on the parents of the children. Thank you. If you subscribe to my channel, eventually when we are further along in the development process I will be posting update videos on the channel. We are currently in the process of obtaining our tax-exempt status so that we can take donations and so the people who give donations can claim it on their tax forms.
Yeah!!! definitely needed and I glad it is addressed.
This is so beautiful and heartbreaking. I may have no interest in fashion but after what she said even I can understand how important what you wear really is.
I am a stroke survivor, and wear a leg brace on my left side. I find shoe shopping so depressing. I can only wear new balance sneakers; because they have a wide toed shoes.
I so wish someone could come up with something cute to wear with my brace.
I personally hate wearing sneakers with a skirt.
I wish there was something out there I could wear to make myself feel sexy wearing a skirt in the summer!
I also can’t wear heels! Even though I never wore them before, but it does matter that the shoes I wear with the outfit I wear matters !!
Please help !
I love this video!!
You go girl!!!
Vandna Mittal I wish that you will buy a lot of shoes which will completely fit your physical and esthetic mood.
If you need wide toes, have you tried Clarks/Bostonian? That’s the only way I’ve been able to wear really cute shoes.
Vandna Mittal ask a podiatrist to refer you to the right professional who can help you shoe shop. And maybe you can find someone to modify your leg brace :)!! Get excited about your dream and you moving toward it :).
Love! This is the thing that shows how resilient we are. Take your circumstances and run your race!
As someone who dealt with a bit of social anxiety during high school I also believe that the way you dress has a huge impact on confidence and self-esteem. Absolutely brilliant speech and initiative.
I’ve seen a lot of great TED talks, but I think this was one of the most moving. Thank you for sharing with us, Mindy.
I am disabled. This is wonderful. Thank u
“How adaptive clothing empowers people”…
You know what I’m thinking.
*DON’T LOSE YOUR WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY*
Hey I’m disabled and poor, how exactly does this empower me when I have no chance of owning anything like this?
Well. Nobody thinks about the poor. Everyone thinks about profit.
You can “McGyvor” the heck out of clothes from Goodwill. We shop there all the time and find alot of great clothes.
I’m Cheezy appeal to emotion and business spiel. Oh and a sort of sad arrogance.
Moog, that’s a good question. What are you doing everyday to improve your situation? What motivates you?
The goal here is to make it more mainstream, to take these adaptations and add them to the clothing already being sold, or at least have them being offered side by side, with minimal differences in every aspect, including price. Maybe this is still several years in the future, but progress is being made. Make your voice heard because I know many people truly care about people in situations like yours. Awareness is the best way to make some sort of difference.
Love your spirit
Great work!, good to know that you are addressing this very important issue
I work in a group home with adults with disabilities, and I’ve seen how clothing can empower them. Most of them are nonverbal, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have autonomy over their lives. There’s a woman with cerebral palsy who always makes sure you tuck her blouse over the seatbelt on her chair so that there’s one less barrier that people see. She’s 72, and she’s dyed her hair pink and purple before to express her amazing bubbly personality. Seeing my quadriplegic client get to choose small things like what t shirt he wants to wear today can make a huge difference in his mood. Another one of my guys loves fashion. He has 30 different pairs of sunglasses, and a very impressive bow tie collection. Many of the individuals I work with aren’t able to express themselves with words, or even common body language. But they can express themselves through their style. And as I dress them in the morning, I see them in a very vulnerable state. Often times, while they’re being changed, the staff member does what’s easiest for them. But allowing the individuals to have the choice to wear what makes them feel good, despite their disability, can be very empowering. Thank you for this talk and bringing light onto something that often flies under the radar.
Thanks so much for this. I will now design clothes to incorporate these needs.
A good way to make stuff like this mainstream is television shows. If characters on tv wore adaptive clothing, people would follow that trend.