By Layne Dixon

When strangers walk by the first thing that they notice is what you’re wearing. For me, I believe that your own fashion style is how you represent yourself in the world, and this also brings out your personality too. As a young disabled person, I didn’t know about this until after high school finished for me in 2019. 

Hi all, I’m Layne. I’m a writer, disability and inclusion activist and content creator. Today I am going to share my story about how important fashion is in the world we live in, and how the clothes we wear express who we are as people. 

Living with a disability has its tough times, and for me, a lot of this was during high school. High school can be a rough time for anyone, but for me, it was really difficult for me to make friends, and to feel included in both things that happened on the grounds and outside of school. I had heaps of spare time back then, so I resorted to TV and Netflix. This is where my first taste in fashion came from. I saw how everyone on TV looked so perfect, and therefore they got treated so well, so I ended up wearing similar clothes to these folks outside of my school hours. I felt a lot more like I “fitted in” when I started to do this. I wore very similar things to my fellow non-disabled peers at school and I just felt complete. Yes, I still wasn’t included in parties and things like this, but I felt a lot more like I was in the crowd.  

My first taste in multicoloured clothes, which I wear now, was for my year 10 river cruise four years ago. I was going for something a little bit different and not really who I was back then, but I had no clue what I was missing out on. I could actually feel a little bit more at home, at ease and relaxed in multicoloured/wild fashion. As always, I was so anxious about what everyone thought of me, but my non-disabled peers just wanted to have a good time. I felt a lot more like myself, and like a Layne who I wanted to become. 

Layne Dixon wears the Wide High-Top Canvas Sneaker (Kids) - Navy [Adult Sizes Available] (@laynecdixon) 

For those of you that follow me on Instagram you might know that I have just started sharing my outfit selections. Fashion is everything to me, but I didn’t realise this until I graduated high school two years ago. Wearing “out there” clothes made me feel more at home with myself, and this has also boosted my mental health. Clothes bring out my personality in me, and whenever I look at these, I always reflect on the work I am doing in the community. Sometimes we all just need a little reminder of who we are as people. 

If you find it a little bit hard to get on and off pieces of clothing; I would highly recommend you go and check out the range that EveryHuman has. Their collection of adaptive fashion is amazing, and as many of you saw within the pictures, I purchased my Billy Footwear Sneakers from this outlet. Go and look at their range today!