STATEMENT
Fashion has long played a role in increasing the visibility of racialised, trans, fat, and disabled bodies. Its influence was overdue, but has been strengthened by recent conversations around disability, diversity, and inclusion. Fashion serves as a vehicle to address disability and its often antagonising or assimilative processes in society. In short, fashion — and design — have long acknowledged disability and the disabled body as an imaginary site of inspiration. Yet the terms of this inclusion are often complex and biased.
Even more troubling, disability is frequently portrayed in the visual mainstream in negative, disavowing, or fetishised ways. People with disabilities are often reduced to freaks, anomalies, or “inspirations” for their non-disabled peers.
HUMN.AID offers a counter-narrative: a project where people with disabilities take centre stage, with their own stories, needs, and agency. We created not only a collection of fashion accessories, but also a platform where disabled people can feel safe, celebrated, and proud. We should never have to hide our disabilities, illnesses, or differences.
HUMN.AID centres the voices of people with lived experience of disability. By placing agency, pride, and empowerment at the heart of the project, it shifts the gaze and reclaims representation. In the spirit of the slogan “Nothing about us, without us,” HUMN.AID is carried by the creativity, expertise, and strength of disabled people.
HUMN.AID positions fashion as both an empowering statement and a conversation starter: a way to reflect on how society sees disabled people, and how disabled people see themselves. It is an opportunity for design and fashion to disrupt the canon of “normalcy” and instead celebrate difference.
HUMN.AID is a collection of fashion accessories for people who use an insulin pump or catheter. Yet the designs are for everyone: our collection is made to be “cripped up” and worn by anyone who wishes to claim it.
HUMN.AID is rooted in sustainable values and local collaboration. Our partners were chosen not only for excellence, but also for their fair and inclusive approaches. Together, we shaped the collection using innovative and future-facing sustainable materials.
HUMN.AID wants to grow. Do you have ideas, proposals, or collaboration plans? Feel free to contact us.