disability is not your halloween costume! 🎃 #halloweencostume #disabled #disabilityawareness

At first I was a little confused on how scars could be offensive, and then I thought of this book I read earlier this year (a scar like a river, it's not out yet my school gave me an advanced reader copy) and how the scar affected the main character's life and it clicked in my head. I wouldn't have even thought of it if you hadnt said something. So thank you for spreading this message even if others dont think its worth listening to ❤

I’m not here to fight or even entertain the notion of non-disabled folks “right” to cosplay disability! Let’s not act like it wasn’t literally illegal for folks with body differences and visible disabilities to be in public up to the 1970s (yeah, the ugly laws)! Yes, all of these, including large scars and burn marks can be offensive to those with skin differences who can’t take off their “costume” the next day. Yes there is nuance here, a cartoon zombie scar is not the same as full burn makeup! That’s because no disabled person looks like a green zombie but some folks with burn scars do look like Freddy K. It’s not about if the character is a real person but if the trait or aid itself is real! Mythical/fantasy accessories are fine because they don’t exist, real disability aids are not as they cause real issues for disabled people! No, you don’t have to use a disabled character’s trait or aid to cosplay them, just skip it! And if you do have to use it, the costume probably isn’t for you! Edit: cosplay is no different than a costume if you can take it off the next day. Just skip the trait! Would you slant your eyes to be more like an Asian character? Absolutely not. The same goes for any marginalized identity. You can cosplay characters without using traits you don’t have that ✨real✨ people are still marginalized for. Intention is not more important than impact. No, it’s not the same as a disabled person using their own traits and aids as that’s always okay.

THANK YOU. the asylum nurse costumes especially pmo because if these people would actually LOOK into the history of asylums and all the cruel eugenicist misogynistic racist violence that happened within asylum walls, I'm sure they'd rethink their costume..

Reminds me of when someone was dressed up as a “Chinese person” for Halloween… yeah that’s scarier than most things I see around this time of the year 😬

Completely agree! I'm disabled (a wheelchair user) and I've ndver understood why people would want to act disabled for a costume.

As a disabled person who uses a mobility aid I have had people say something opposite to this, saying my costume shouldn't be a character who doesn't use an aid because it's 'not accurate'.

Any costume that is based on one trait of a person (such as race or identity) immediately gets a side eye from me, because why would someone want to dress as just some person that is different, especially since Halloween tends to be a more silly and sometimes jokey holiday so it just feels like they're making fun of that group of people and it's disrespectful

I used a cane for my Halloween costume last year and I was so thankful for it because I’ve been having a hard time walking lately with out server pain or unsteadiness (I’m getting tests done right now on what going on) and I’ve been using it whenever I can now if I am having a hard time with mobility

im being a enderman so i have a REASON to not make eye contact hehe

I hope I don’t see any kids coming to my door with asylum costumes. I went to a pysch ward for a bit earlier this year and I don’t want to cry from a memory being triggered :(

Ok question would it still be wrong to use a cane when that character uses for style reasons? Like I enjoy doing historical costumes and alot use canes because that was part of everyday wear in that era

There’s people who make disability costumes? Unless it’s a trait of a character you’re cosplaying, why?

Omg thank you so much for bringing this up. Having it said like that makes me realise the costume I was going to wear is inapropriate in that regard, I'll be changing it. Thank you for advocating :D

On the other side of the coin, I have seen some hilarious costumes from disabled people. Amputees dressed as lawn flamingoes, wheelchair users turning their chair into part of their cosplay, autistic people cosplaying as the concept of prolonged eye contact (truly the scariest thing of all) just to name a few 😂

Theres some characters where scarring and stuff is a main thing to their character, and I'm wondering if it's okay to cosplay a character like that (todoroki from mha is the only example I can think of at the moment). Similarly, having a cane was a huge fasion thing some hundred years ago, is it okay to use one if your costume is of the era?

You can dress up as characters with disabilities, but if you're dressing up as that character not because you like them but specifically for a disabled trait, then maybe you should rethink...

hellooo! I have a quick question, i am going as jinx from arcane and if you have seen the show, she has a robotic finger, would that be ok to include?

agree! i saw one and it was a blind [insert normal job] and it was so odd because it just made it so clear that the whole joke is that theyre blind. not only does it frequently mock the disabled but people then doubt the disabled people's aids during halloween because costumes of them are so normalised

Counterpoint: some disabled people might use dressing up as an opportunity to use a mobility aid when they normally wouldn't be able to do so without mistreatment. The difference imo is that the mobility aid should not be the butt of a joke. Anyone can use a mobility aid to try it out and see if it helps them. But disability itself is not a costume and it is not a thing to make fun of or to imitate from an abled pov.

if it’s really that hard to make a costume that isn’t offensive, then put a sheet over your head and cut out the eyeholes… you aren’t special for using people’s struggles as a costume