AN ADAPTIVE IDEA

A er entrepreneur

brand, Adaptive Clothing UK

Before she set her sights on launching a business, Helen was a police officer, but while on duty in 2010 she was assaulted and hit on the head multiple times. This left her with hemiplegic migraine disorder causing blackouts and seizures, and hemicrania continua, causing pain in her head and face that varies in severity. Living with these conditions gave Helen an understanding of the support people can require while dressing.

“When I have those episodes, I have paralysis down the right-hand side of my body and that can last minutes to days,” reveals Helen. “My husband and daughter have to assist me when I struggle like that.”

Idea

Alongside her own experiences, Helen’s niece is autistic and her friends also have disabled children. She knew that there was a gap in the market that needed filled to make dressing easier for disabled children alongside parents and carers.

Helen was no stranger to adjusting clothing, around a decade ago she made her first adaptive piece: a swimsuit for her eldest daughter that opened like a vest to make changing nappies easier. It wasn’t until three years ago that she decided to turn her ideas into a business.

Research

“I started doing market research to find out what I could do to make dressing less painful for children or to help carers, and it just grew from there,” explains Helen. “I asked a bunch of questions and narrowed it down to people’s main problems which were stress, pain and time. That’s how I’ve adapted the clothing, to try and give them those three things back.”

Adaptive Clothing UK’s first range is due to launch this spring, with a percentage from every sale donated to the charity Just 4 Children (www.just4children.org).

“There are so many people with di erent needs out there, we’ve tried to accommodate that as much as possible,” stresses Helen. “The beauty of it is that this clothing can be worn by anybody because we’re concealing the adapted areas, but it is designed with

young disabled people in mind.”

Range

To begin with, the range will cover from 0-3 months, all the way up to 12 years depending on the item, and will include swimsuits, a sun-safe suit, onesies, jogging bo oms, leggings and more, all with di erent adaptive features.

“There’s flat lock stitching with everything, there will be no labels, it will all either be printed or hidden,” reveals Helen. “The onesies open fully so you can lie them flat on the floor and put the baby or child on top and just close it around them, and the poppers are all nicely spaced so there’s access for feeding tubes or other equipment.”

Helen has hopes to grow the range in the future, expanding into adults’ clothing, but for now, she’s just happy that the launch of her new company could help disabled children and young people.

“It’s really exciting to know that I’ll be launching something that can hopefully have a positive impact for these children,” emphasises Helen.

For More Information

Follow along as Adaptive Clothing UK grows by visiting their dedicated website www.adaptiveclothing.uk

Tim Rushby-Smith

Originally from London, writer, artist and paraplegic Tim Rushby-Smith is now based in Australia. He is the author of two books: Looking Up and Beyond the Break.

Follow Tim on twitter @trushbys