How to WIN the Costume Contest
If there’s ever a time to get away with being something you’re not, it’s on Halloween. For one day a year, you’re allowed – even encouraged – to transform into anything you want.
Despite my detest for Lord of the Flies, this quote is pretty perfect: “…the mask was a thing of its own, behind which Jack hid, liberated from shame and self-consciousness.” Basically, by disguising yourself, a costume is actually an opportunity to free yourself.
Can you tell it’s my second favorite holiday?
Unfortunately, even the best costume can’t “free” some people from using a mobility aid. Since my Ataxia symptoms didn’t start showing until after college, I did not grow up with the challenge of finding a good, disability-accessible costume, but I understand the struggle it must bring.
Granted, I’ve seen some pretty good Lieutenant Dans, but using a mobility aid shouldn’t restrict your Halloween attire.
In fact, I’d argue that it’s an advantage, since you have a prop most people don’t.
I don’t think people should offer advice without personal experience (believe me, people with disabilities get that all the time), so, instead, I’m going to list some pretty great Accessible Costume resources I’ve found, & end with a funny Halloween anecdote.
* Note: I guarantee you’ll be entertained by how creative and clever these pictures are, even if you’re not in the market for an accessible Halloween costume. So click on the maroon titles to check out the specific pages I found!
HalloweenCostumes
This website is particularly great because of the variety of ages and genders with great pictures. Plus, I love that these costumes use the wheelchair to an advantage instead of trying to hide it.
Refinery29
These costumes are for adults with disabilities (not just wheelchair-users), so they’re not as “cute,” but some of them are very clever & funny.
Of course you can find great Halloween costume ideas Pinterest! I like this particular board because of the number of options provided. Plus, how creepy is that spider?
Amazon
Amazon has a whole bunch of “wheelchair costumes.” They’re not necessarily noteworthy, but you can get it quickly, don’t have to handcraft anything, and there are tons of options!
Magic Wheelchair
Last but not least, we have Magic Wheelchair – “a nonprofit organization that builds epic costumes for kiddos in wheelchairs at no cost to families.” You have to fill out an application, and I’m not entirely sure of the process from there, but these personalized costumes are awesome. They’re more elaborate and probably intended for special events, but Halloween is pretty special, so there you go!
If you have any suggestions or resources, please share them in the comments below! And now, onto my memory…
Story Time
One of my favorite teaching moments came, appropriately, on Halloween.
Every year, I do a fun creative writing activity where I display a picture prompt on the front board, and students have 5 minutes to start writing a story.
Since students secretly enjoy this lesson, I let them choose their own seats on these days. They’re generally focused and quiet, no matter who they’re near. So my trouble-maker boys were, of course, in the back row, closest to the windows.
Towards the end of class, I displayed the scariest picture prompt I had:
The room was dead silent for maybe 30 seconds when all of a sudden a loud BOOM came from the windows!
Immediately, one boy was under his desk, one sprinted to the front of the room, one stayed screaming with his head down in his seat…
A bird had flown into the glass – something that actually happened quite often, but the set up and timing of this occurrence could not have been more perfect had it been planned.
Don’t get me wrong, I love these kids, but the fact that this happened to these boys had me laughing so hard I was crying.
And with that, I’m wishing you a wonderfully stereotypical October that ends with a perfect Halloween.