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You and Yours - Transcript 大象传媒 Radio 4 |
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TX: 04.05.07 - Wheelchair Fashion PRESENTER: WINIFRED ROBINSON |
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THE ATTACHED TRANSCRIPT WAS TYPED FROM A RECORDING AND NOT COPIED FROM AN ORIGINAL SCRIPT. BECAUSE OF THE RISK OF MISHEARING AND THE DIFFICULTY IN SOME CASES OF IDENTIFYING INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS, THE 大象传媒 CANNOT VOUCH FOR ITS COMPLETE ACCURACY. ROBINSON The Paralympic athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson says that when she was little she used to stick her tongue out at people who stared. And this spirit of defiance has found its way into her new clothing range for children that she helped to design - it was unveiled in Birmingham last week. Tanni Grey-Thompson created the range with Anni McMahon from the clothing company Rackety's. And they showed the designs to Adrian Goldberg. MCMAHON We've got real sporty looking jackets, lovely black with white trim and we've got the matching bottoms to go with them. We've got a lovely much warmer range with the fur hood and it's really - it's fleeced line ... GOLDBERG The fashion designer Anni McMahon outlining just some of the T&A range that she's created with Tanni Grey-Thompson, trendy gear for people in wheelchairs. But unlike Tanni Anni is able bodied, so how did she get involved? MCMAHON I worked in textiles, that was my background in the high street and I just had a look at what was available for young people with disabilities and the difference between what was on the high street and what was available was so much that they didn't seem to blend in comfortably and we thought it would be a great idea to bring some high street fashion styling into the adaptive market and give them a bit more choice. And when I started asking people they just sort of said - Come in, sit down, don't move, we are desperate for this stuff please help us. And I got such a fabulous response that it grew from there. GOLDBERG You've got a cream jacket there, kind of a posh kagool, I would call it, how would that go on differently compared to an ordinary jacket? MCMAHON Well the front's exactly the same, it's double ended because quite often people in wheelchairs are short bodied, so it's actually cut shorter than a normal jacket. There's a pocket inside the front, so it's easier to get to, you don't need pockets here where you're ruckled up. The hood comes off completely and the back of it opens out completely. GOLDBERG It is basically velcroed at the back isn't it, it's a jacket that comes apart. MCMAHON It comes into two halves completely if you need it to although you might not want to. The arms are wipeable because quite often if you're self propelling and it's raining you get absolutely splattered all up your arms and with this it's beautifully designed and subtly put in but you can just wipe it clean so it looks really nice the next time you go out. GOLDBERG Now Tanni Grey-Thompson, there is a range of styles here - there are sports jackets that young lads, teenagers, I'm sure would be delighted to wear, there's even some children's clothing there but at least one of the T-shirts does carry quite a challenging and defiant message - There's no need to stare, I know I'm cool. THOMPSON Well I think that's one of the really exciting things about Rackety's because the reality is if you have a child with a disability and a severe impairment level people do stare and you know the reaction I've seen from young girls who've been wearing the T-shirts is that people are staring and when that person realises that they're staring they kind of jump back. But also for that young person it's kind of one in the eye for them, it's a real challenge. And I think that's quite exciting because it changes people's views of impairment. GOLDBERG When you were growing up was this kind of clothing available? THOMPSON Well there was some adaptive clothing available when I was young but I just wouldn't wear it and luckily my mother wouldn't let me wear it either because she realised that it was for a much older generation. So what I had to do was I actually had to learn to sew and so did my mum and we used to do a lot of our own things. It's quite challenging, not everybody can do that. So it's nice to think it's one of the ways that disability and impairment and the understanding of it has moved forward. GOLDBERG You believe that body image is very important and especially to young people who have disabilities and I guess this is one way that they can overcome some of their shyness, self-consciousness and I guess boost their self-esteem. THOMPSON Well body image is important, I mean if you're a wheelchair user, like me, I pick the colour of my chair, I pick how I want to sit, I pick the colour of the fabric, you know like women pick dresses and shoes and handbags. For a disabled person it does make that level of difference. And it's just great to see young people wearing stuff - trendy, elegant, quite sophisticated, some of it a bit edgy but a lot of fun as well. GOLDBERG Well that's the official line but how's it going down with the punters? This mum is checking out clothes for her nine-year-old daughter who's in a wheelchair. How important is it for her to keep up with fashion? MUM Well it is very important because she's got enough to contend with sort of being in a wheelchair, she's got enough people staring at her as she goes along the street so to be able to have her looking like other children her age is very important. GOLDBERG Now you mentioned that sometimes your daughter gets stared at and there's a T-shirt just behind you there, a blue one with red lettering, saying: If you stare long enough I'll start doing tricks. Do you think you'd dress her in that? MUM I'm tempted sometimes to dress her in things like that because people do stare, particularly when she's a making a noise. But I have seen other children in them and I think they're a fabulous idea. GOLDBERG Now I've come over to another stall, also selling clothes for people with disabilities, it's the Alana [phon] stall, Sarah Smyth is here, and Sarah I guess it's fair to say these are for the more mature lady? SMYTH Yes I think they are but they are actually classic, they're clothing that will go on and on and when people have them they can wear them forever. Interestingly you should say that because I went to a support group for people with motor neurone and there was a young woman in her early 20s who took one look at the jacket and said - I'd like that for me. And that's exactly what people are supposed to do. GOLDBERG Now madam, I've just seen you trying on the big trench coat and also one of the kind of sportier outdoor jackets as part of the T&A range, you're in a wheelchair, how difficult is it for you to get clothing that is suitable? CUSTOMER It's very difficult, there are certain things that wheelchair users have a problem with, the thing is going out in the wet when wheels get dirty, sleeves and jerseys and coats and things like that get worn out, get filthy dirty and at the moment you just make do. All the jackets that I've got are worn out on the sleeves and it's very difficult to have actually really nice smart clothes and keep them looking nice smart clothes, I don't tend to buy very expensive clothes because I know they're going to wear out and not last. So it's really nice to see someone who's put some thought into that sort of thing. GOLDBERG Do you see this as a sign of progress for people with disabilities - the fact that there are now fashion ranges developing around wheelchair users? CUSTOMER Yes, I think it's really positive. Some of the catalogues that supply aids and equipment for disabled people do supply some sort of fairly hideous poncho type arrangements to keep the rain off and you look at them and you think I wouldn't be seen dead in that. And then I come to somewhere like this and I see that there's sort of trendy clothes being promoted by Tanni Grey-Thompson who, let's face it, is sort of one of the biggest names and faces in the disabled world and you look at it and you think yeah I'd wear that, that looks good. ROBINSON Adrian Goldberg talking to Tanni Grey-Thompson, Anni McMahon and some potential customers. We should say though that the range won't be generally available for a couple of months yet. Back to the You and Yours homepage The 大象传媒 is not responsible for external websites |
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