How To Look Good Naked- And Why We Need A Difference

In Tuesday’s Guardian, Penny Anderson called Gok Wan’s How To Look Good Naked… With A Difference ‘a move in the right direction.’ This it certainly is- I watched it yesterday (the wonders of Sky+) and was very impressed by two things. The first was Gok Wan’s sensitivity to Tracey, a wheelchair user from Leicestershire, and her needs as a result of her DisAbility. The second was that with the inclusion of the results of his survey on disability and confidence, Gok Wan managed to make the programme as educational to me as it was to any able-bodied viewer. I learned last night that only 17% of wheelchair users are born with their DisAbility, for example- a figure I found surprisingly low, because all the wheelchair users I know were born with their DisAbilities- but also because I hadn’t considered those people born with DisAbilities who don’t use wheelchairs.

Then there are the girls who, as part of the series, are campaigning to get more disabled fashion models into high street stores. What a great idea! One girl said that seeing fashion models in wheelchairs on the high street as a teenage wheelchair user would have helped her. Listening to her made me realise that, of course, this would also have helped my wheelchair-using friends-and me. After all, we wear the same clothes as everyone else, don’t we?

However, Penny Anderson also wonders why disabled women still need to be given their own ‘different’ programme. Let me respond to this by considering why we need differences in other areas of life.

Why do we need the Paralympics? Well, would it really be fair to ask DisAbled athletes to compete with able-bodied athletes in the Olympics? I don’t think so. I know that a few- those who feel able to- have tried to participate in able-bodied Olympic events- and they have done well. It is great that those who have wanted that chance, and asked for it, have been given it. However, every DisAbled athlete cannot handle competing with able bodied athletes, and nor should they be made to try. They do, though, have every right to play the sport of their choice, in an environment where their needs can be fully met- the Paralympics. All they ask is that the Olympics and the Paralympics should take place at the same time, and in this, they have my full agreement and support.

Why do we need special schools?  Many of us, including me, wish we didn’t, but the sad fact is, we do. Many DisAbled people have more than enough intelligence to handle the academic work at mainstream schools. I am the first person to say that those who want a mainstream education should be given one. However, every DisAbled student doesn’t want a mainstream education, and even for those who do, life in a mainstream school is not without its problems. In mainstream PE classrooms, for example, we stand out because we’re sitting down. Or we’re followed around by those lifesavers we call Learning Support teachers, who draw or write for us. However, this leads to what able-bodied teenagers call ‘social death.’ Because many of them are too scared of the teacher to come near us. Special schools are full of problems too, but at least in special schools, the students accept each other for who they are, because they know that they are all the same- because someone, somewhere, considers them all different.

Why do people choose only to socialise with others who share their skin colour or religious beliefs? Because they know that, in a place full of people who look the same as them, or believe the same things they believe, they won’t stand out and will be accepted for who they are. Faith schools exist because parents want children to grow up being accepted by people who share their religion and culture. Those who choose to use faith schools don’t want their children to stand out or be in a minority.

Finally, why do we need gay clubs? There is absolutely no reason why gay people can’t socialise in straight nightclubs. However, many people go to nightclubs to find romance. Quite a few long-term relationships start in nightclubs. So a gay person at a straight nightclub who was looking for romance and kept getting rejected wouldn’t have much fun, would they?

The sad fact of life is that, while everyone has every right to socialise, study and play sport with everyone else, human nature means that people who are considered to be different from everyone else form groups when they find others like themselves. Minority groups often choose to stick together. This is often, though not always, the best chance a person considered to belong to a minority group has of finding success.

Disabled women dealing with issues of body confidence, too, find that their particular problems are more likely to be understood, accepted and shared by other disabled women. We know that able-bodied women have their own issues with body confidence, but the sad fact is, we often can’t understand theirs, any more than they can understand ours.

Let’s face facts, Penny Anderson. Disabled women would stand out in the ‘normal’ How To Look Good Naked. Just as wheelchairs would stand out on catwalks filled with straight backs, straight legs and sighted, bright blue eyes. Just as sighted bright blue eyes would stand out on catwalks filled with women wearing dark glasses. No one likes to stand out- but disabled women still want to participate in fashion shows. All we ask for is a corner of your space, be it on a high street, on Channel 4 or at London Fashion Week, and a few minutes of your attention, so that we can all learn from each other.