Underrepresentation In Fashion

Underrepresentation of Disabilities in Fashion ARP Rough Draft Underrepresentation of physical disabilities in the fashion industry leads to the misrepresentation of the disabled community in society such as unintentional discrimination. An image portraying a female model wearing a prosthetic leg, posing on a fashion show runway displays an example of an almost avant-garde movement in fashion because of how disabled people are undermined by society. An image displays a woman posing with her left hand on her hip and her right arm in a sling. Her right leg is a grey prosthesis and she is standing on a runway with a crowd on both sides of her. The lighting above her is illuminating the entire runway and she is wearing clothing that is slim fitting …show more content…
A research study done by Jane Workman and Elizabeth Freeburg of Southern Illinois University analyzed the difference in stimulation levels of participants, working women, between displaying them fashion models in wheelchairs versus displaying them fashion models in lawn chairs. It was found that “consumers in this study who viewed an advertisement featuring a model in a wheelchair indicated that they [were more likely to purchase the clothing]” (247). Within the research journal it is mentioned that the reason for increased likelihood of purchase amongst the subjects could be due to increased credibility companies receive for displaying disabled models. Adding on to the possibilities of increased purchase, someone could be more inclined to purchase the product out of pity because a disabled individual is modeling the clothing. There could be many different reasons that consumers seem more interested in a product with models that have physical ailments, however, how society views disabled people as unusual stimuli is harmful to the community. This is harmful because it means that whether people are conscious of it or not, they are discriminating against the physically disabled by viewing them as abnormal or rare compared to able-bodied people. The illusion that disabled individuals are rarer than they actually are is a façade caused by the underrepresentation of disabled individuals in the media. The study was made in 1996 and at this time period, it was recorded that about 1.5% of people displayed in media were disabled and around 15% of people in the United States had one or more physical disabilities meaning that only 10% of the disabled population were being represented in the media (239-240). The image of the disabled model on the runway is an important statement in representing physical ailments in the