Although acts of inclusion should be common practice in today’s society, online fashion retailer ASOS has been praised by disability right’s charities for including a disabled model in their new advertising campaign.
ASOS have released a new active-wear campaign that features a variety of different models, of different abilities, genders and background and have included model/blogger Mama Cax who is an amputee.
After being diagnosed with lung and bone cancer at the age of just 14, Mama had hip replacement surgery which was unsuccessful, leading to her having her right leg amputated. Mama stated that her preferred method of working out is yoga, which she can be seen practicing in the advertisement.
She told ASOS: “After my amputation, I struggled with chronic back pain. I was looking for a workout that was easy on my knee and yoga was the perfect solution.”
Charity Welcomes Move
Disability charity Scope have welcomed the move, with head of communications Richard Lane saying: “It’s great to see a highly-recognised fashion outlet like ASOS featuring a disabled model in their new active wear campaign.”
He added: “There are 13 million disabled people in the UK, but they rarely see their lives reflected in marketing campaigns, the media, in advertising and in popular culture.”
Perhaps one of the most pleasing aspects of the story and the campaign are the lack of communication from ASOS. It speaks volumes about their attitude to inclusion that they would include a model without thinking there is anything different about it.
A representative from ASOS told the HuffPost UK that they would not be commenting on the story, saying: “We think the campaign says it all”.
As said by Richard Lane from Scope: “Seeing more disabled people in the media is key to challenging society’s attitudes to disability.”
