Selma Blair’s Journey to Redefine Clothing For Disabilities

My husband and I sit everyday and having our breakfast and morning coffee infront of our TV. It's one of our favorite itmes of day. One of our activitys is watching "The Today Show". As we were playing witho our iphones and laptops, getting in a Wordle game or Connections from the New York Times. We heard heard Suvannah Guthrie introduce Selma Blair and Isaac Mizrahi to talk about their latest project.

My husband and I stopped what we were doing and looked up from our iPhone and laptop screens to listen in.

First, I thought Selma Blair was there to talk about her battle with MS and give the latest update on her health. The upbeat interview began in a very different tone. It was about fashion!

Selma and Isaac were talking about their last fashion creation which they will be selling on QVC. They are working together to come up with stylish adaptive fashion for the disability community.

As Selma spoke she had her service dog, Scout, slept peacefully by her feet. Selma, looking so happy. Selma was thrilled to be talks about her new role as a model for the disability community.

Selma has even spoken at the White House on the legacy of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Listening to her talk about clothing being easy to take on and off, washable, and fashionable brought tears to my eyes.

This is what we need more of!

To give back the freedom for independence to others who have chronic diseases, chronic pain, or illnesses. To be able to dress as they want, to feel good about themself and to feel happy to leave their home, this is so important.

This really landed for me because, as I watch Selma show off the magnetic buttons on her shirt, I began to have flashbacks of my Mom. My mom has been gone for 2 1/2 years now, but remember the pain of dressing is still with me.

My mom had Atrial Fibrillation, thisis a heart condition that would cause an irregular heartbeat. when she would dress herself, her heart would go out of whack and she would be left with sweating and exhausted from this simple task. She also had Peripheral Neuropathy, a very painful nerve condition. the nerve pain would be on her hands and arms making it difficult to button or snap clothing up.

Sjögren’s syndrome, which is an autoimmune disease that attacks the joints and muscles, also causes extreme dryness of the eyes and mouth. Both of these problems made the simple act of dressing a nightmare.

I would spend hours searching the wed for easier clothing for my mom. To see if I could find something to make it easier for her to dress. But, it was very hard to find something even remotely nice looking. the clothing was far from fashionable. This caused my mom to get more upset and depressed.

We decided a nightgown with a short robe was the way to go. this lack of fashion though resulted in my mom never leaving the house. WE even had her war her nightgown at times to the doctors with a large coat.

She felt embarrassed, ugly and frustrated. Her chronic illnesses kept her a prisoner in her home. this made me very sad that I couldn't make it better for her.

So to watch Selma on the Today Show with her magnetic button blouse and trendy cane, I turned to my husband and said, “If only we could have had this for Mom.”

Thank you, Selma Blair, for showing the fashion world that they can redesign clothing for the disabled and who suffer with chronic disease.

To see more about this full interview check it out here.

Disclaimer: chat GBT helped me with the grammar.

This was original published on Medium.