	November 1997

Adapted Clothing

Functional and Fashionable Modifications Make Life Easier
By Danielle Sweeney

D.
Danielle Sweeney is a Baltimore-based freelance writer. She writes frequently on parents and children within the disability community and has contributed to more than a dozen parenting publications around the country. Locally, she is a columnist for Baltimore's Child and a contributing editor for Horizons.

You can reach her at:
bedlam@erols.com

You might be surprised to discover that although there are more than four million children with disabilities living in the United States, there are only a handful of companies designing and manufacturing clothing for this population.

Adapted clothing allows children with special clothing requirements to dress themselves more independently-or be dressed with greater ease. Adapted garments have features such as Velcro( closures for kids who lack the manual dexterity to button buttons, shorter trousers for children who use wheelchairs, openings for feeding tubes, and special fabrics for kids who have sensitive skin.

Nine-year-old David Perry had a somewhat unusual dressing problem that his mother solved by creating a piece of adapted clothing. Because of CP, David is a steady drooler and needed to wear a bib, but naturally didn't want to wear a "baby bib." At the time, those were the only kinds of bibs a parent with Perry's need could buy, so she started sewing bibs for David herself. That was five years ago.

Designing the bib appropriately was important to Marcie Perry who wanted to give David clothing choices and preserve her son's dignity, so she created a functional bib suitable for a young adult. Her large-sized bibs with cowboy and baseball motifs were a big hit with David and popular with his friends at Gunpowder Elementary as well. Eventually, Perry started getting orders and marketing the bibs as part of "David's Collection," and a cottage industry was born.

Marcie Perry wanted to give David clothing choices and preserve her son's dignity, so she created a functional bib suitable for a young adult. Her large-sized bibs with cowboy and baseball motifs were a big hit with David and popular with his friends at Gunpowder Elementary as well. Eventually, Perry started getting orders and marketing the bibs as part of "David's Collection", and a cottage industry was born.

"I started sewing the bibs to make them more pleasing to the eye-and more pleasing to the child" Perry says. "The style doesn't jump out at you that it's a bib, plus, they are more age-appropriate for young people, and David is very particular about what he wears." Perry has since expanded her services to include a variety of custom alterations and custom tailoring and adult bibs.

Adapted clothing items are also available for premature babies whose underdeveloped bodies can't fit into regular baby clothes. If you've ever seen a premature baby in an ICU ward, you know that many lie nearly naked in an isolette because few hospitals have clothing small enough to fit their tiny two- and three-pound bodies. Linda Standiford, (whose own daughter, Mandy, was born weighing one pound, four ounces and had to wear a Cabbage Patch Doll outfit in her isolette) owner of That Lucky Child clothing company in Hunt Valley, believes that it is important that parents of preemies see their children dressed-and be able to dress them-in an intensive care environment.

"From a parent's standpoint, dressing your baby allows you to feel like you are doing something 'normal' with your child, something that every other parent takes for granted." Standiford asserts. One recent customer, a mother whose baby was born at 26 weeks, had a long commute to visit her baby in the hospital and couldn't be there in the ICU ward every day. A friend sent her one of Standiford's catalogs and the mother was thrilled to be able to do something for her baby.

"When you're in that situation, you can't see beyond the moment and you are not in control; you can't make choices," Standiford says. "But the mother was able to make a choice about the clothing. She was able to do her 'mothering' part," she adds.

Another adapted clothing resource is the PRIDE (Promote Real Independence for the Disabled and Elderly) Foundation, a Connecticut-based organization that helps persons with disabilities and their families solve clothing and dressing problems. PRIDE founder, Evelyn Kennedy tries to meet the needs of the disability community that aren't currently met by clothing manufacturers. If an individual has a dressing concern PRIDE can help them modify a garment that they may already have, design a pattern to suit their needs, or recommend sources of ready-to-wear adapted clothing. PRIDE produces several books on adapted clothing and clothing modifications, a travel trunk fashion show, articles on scoliosis and kytosis fitting problems, and will send speakers to address groups interested in clothing modification.

Today, there are more than a dozen adapted clothing companies in the United States. They create fashions for adults and children in attractive styles and in contemporary fabrics. Many also do custom work to accommodate all types of disabilities and lifestyles. For a list of adapted clothing resources, including companies, books, and organizations, send an e-mail message to bedlam@erols.com. Indicate adapted clothing in the subject header.

David's Collection
9800 Wilbert Avenue
Baltimore, MD 21234
(410) 668-0068
bedlam@erols.com

Adult and youth bibs made to order, special needs alterations, custom work.

TLC Clothing Company
P.O. Box 245
Hunt Valley, MD 21030
(410) 876-9071
(800) 755-4852

TLC sells 100% cotton Preemie Tee and Cap for preemies weighing 1 or 2 lbs. Numerous outfits and sets available for babies 2 lbs and up. Discounts for grandmas and multiple births.

PRIDE Foundation
391 Long Hill Road
PO Box 1293
Groton, CT 06340
(860) 445-7320

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