As Disability Pride Month comes to a close – a time for celebration and amplification of disabled people and their voices – it’s the perfect time for reflection too. Between now and next year’s celebration, how can we continue to uplift the community and push for progress with genuine disabled representation?
It’s an issue I highlighted in a feature three years ago, but where are we now in 2025 and has any progress actually been made? For beauty YouTuber and author Nikki Lilly – who has been creating beauty content since she was eight after she was diagnosed with arteriovenous malformation (AVM) – despite noticing more awareness around inclusion, progress remains slow.
Instagram content
“Back then, there weren’t as many people doing this because they were scared, but now there are so many amazing individuals who are blind, physically disabled, or have physical differences making their voices heard online, which is incredible,” she tells GLAMOUR. “However, when it comes to major campaigns or billboards, I haven’t seen much change in who brands are choosing to represent. I feel fortunate to work with so many incredible brands in the beauty space, but I sometimes question whether the commitment to true inclusivity is really there.”
“It’s not just brands. The same goes for press and magazines,” Nikki continues. “When a spotlight is put on someone with a disability, it can sometimes feel like a one-off spotlight rather than part of a long-term commitment. People outside of our community might think we’re asking for special treatment, but really, we’re just asking for equal opportunity to be genuinely seen, wanted, and validated in the spaces we work in and love.”
As one of the longest-running inclusive beauty brands, Kohl Kreatives has been committed to including and creating for disabled beauty lovers since its launch in 2018. For founder Trishna Daswaney, listening to the community has been integral to survival. While fellow accessible brand Grace Beauty, which launched in 2019, has now shuttered and Unilever’s accessible deodorant – billed as the “world’s first” – never even made it to the shelves after being unveiled in 2021, Kohl Kreatives approaches inclusivity from a holistic perspective to include people of all abilities.
“The dynamic change has been big, but it’s not big enough yet,” she says, referencing brands like Olay and Herbal Essences who have introduced accessible lids and packaging, while Rare Beauty’s Made Accessible Initiative ensures accessibility across all of its product design. “We try not to pigeonhole and make things that everyone would be proud to use.”
Kohl Kreative’s longevity in the space is a testament to this, understanding that one size doesn't fit all. “Not every disability is the same,” Trishna says. “Only 10% of the population reads Braille, so we devised a raised number system alongside the Braille instead. If you can read Braille, great, but if not, you could feel a shape or raised number that would help you identify. It’s much more than just doing, it’s also about thinking about what you’re doing too.”
More positively, the past few years have made space for newer inclusive beauty brands to join the market – from Australian adaptive beauty brand ByStorm and cosmetic brand Tilt Beauty, launched by Aerin Glazer in March. “I really wanted to make a brand that made beauty accessible but still brought joy and fun to anyone’s routine,” Aerin tells GLAMOUR.
“It came in a moment of frustration and I felt like this category needed a space to bring a lot of positivity in a non-patronising tone. Regardless of physical abilities, Tilt is a place where people can feel empowered and don’t have to choose between accessibility and enjoyment when it comes to beauty.”
Aerin’s goal for Tilt goes beyond empowering people, to “change the way people with disabilities are viewed to be seen as beautiful, confident, smart and capable of anything they set their mind to”, she says. From playful packaging to featuring disabled influencers and celebrities like actress Marissa Bode on its Instagram account, Tilt appears to be no different to any other burgeoning beauty brand.
Instagram content
“It was extremely important to me that beyond my own community, the arthritis community, didn’t feel excluded because I felt that feeling being sectioned in the disability aisle and it always made me feel different,” Aerin says. “The more we went along and did focus groups, the more we realised there’s so much we’re not taking into account and that we should and have.” The expansion of the brand’s reach earned it the Ease of Use certification from the Arthritis Foundation – the first brand to achieve it and a standard that Aerin would love to see other brands integrate into their products too.
In the UK, Millie Flemington-Clare has also been pushing for an accessible certification akin to to Leaping Bunny, since she launched Human Beauty in 2021. “Accessibility should be the standard, not the exception,” she says. “There are loads of products that haven’t been designed specifically to be accessible, but inherently are so it would allow us to celebrate brands who are already doing good things and help other brands to make tiny tweaks. Accessible products are much better for everyone and it doesn’t have to cost the world. I don’t know why it’s taken this long.”
Instagram content
It’s a deceptively simple answer to a problem as longstanding as this, but everyone agrees listening and learning – not just saying it, but actually taking action – is the only path forward. “I talk to my community a lot and having decision-makers who are part of the disabled or neurodivergent community will inherently make better decisions from within a company and using talent like photographers from the community is an organic way of making change. The biggest one is always talking to us.”
It’s advice echoed by Trishna, tasking more established brands with incorporating disabled representation into their offerings, but also encouraging newer names to come up with solutions to specific issues they identify. “It would be really silly to say everyone has to do everything, but there are very easy ways that people can get involved. Support the community, give them resources, get information from them when testing your products,” she says. “It’s nice to be able to have different products that speak to different people as well – we’re all different!”
Even in the face of longstanding adversity, there’s a sense of optimism that things – albeit frustratingly slowly – are hopefully moving in the right direction. “Change isn’t easy. But if I can see someone actively trying to make that change and sticking with it, then that means everything,” Nikki reflects. “Progress can be painfully slow. It’s like a snail’s pace. Sometimes it stops, sometimes it painfully moves backward, and then takes small steps forward again. It’s never a straight line or easy. But those little signs of movement that’s what gives us hope.”
