Create Halloween Costumes for Mobility Aids With Free Online Tutorials

Families across the country will soon begin preparing their Halloween costumes, and children living with disabilities who rely on mobility aids will once again face the unique challenges of this festive tradition. Dream Costumes, which creates bespoke costumes seamlessly integrating wheelchairs and walkers, seeks to empower children to “dream big” for the holiday while inspiring families and schools to make something extraordinary inclusive Halloween Costumes.

Families around the world can benefit from free online tutorials of the Dream Costumes, which have been viewed by thousands of parents and children worldwide. These videos offer easy-to-follow instructions for anyone wanting to make their own special costumes for children with disabilities. The hope is that parents and teachers will be inspired to use the patterns and tutorials but also share the details of what else they came up with – so that the knowledge share increases and kids anywhere can benefit.

Free Online Tutorials Help Make Your Child’s Halloween Dreams Come True

The website with tutorial videos grew out of an annual collaboration project between Beit Issie Shapiro, a global pioneering leader and innovator in the field of disabilities, and industrial design students from the Holon Institute of Technology (HIT). The Design Technology students are tasked each year with creating custom-designed costumes for elementary school children attending Beit Issie Shapiro’s Special Education School. The final designs ingeniously incorporate each child’s mobility aid as an ingenious X-factor component of the costume and are displayed during a special fashion show held by the school.

Dream Costumes Instill Joy, Confidence, and Pride

The costumes bring the children joy, boost their confidence, increase their pride in their mobility devices, and empower them as self-advocates. At the start of the process, the children meet with the designers to discuss the costume they want. The program intentionally promotes the children as the sole decision-makers for the concept of their costume – whether that be a princess, a superhero, a TV character, or anything else.

Bringing Dreams Safely to Life!

HIT designers then set to work bringing those dreams to life. While creating stunning visuals, the designers take into consideration safety, mobility, and comfort. The designers also give special attention to the child’s line of sight when wearing the costume. Ella Kotler, Liron Zelait, and Yuli Horvitz, who created an astronaut costume for Ariel, noted, “We put a lot of thought into what he would see from his point of view inside the costume as well as what those looking at it see.”

Part of the Israel-based non-profit’s mission is the international sharing of their innovations, technological advancements, and best practices. Consultants to the United Nations on Accessibility and Inclusion, as well as international consultants on snoezlan rooms, hydrotherapy training, modified dental care for those with disabilities, and more, have impacted over half a million people worldwide.

“After several years of the successful, local event, the natural next step was for us to ask the design students to make clear, detailed patterns for others to follow so that our success is a win for children anywhere,” explained Ahmir Lerner, CEO of Beit Issie Shapiro.

Fostering Inclusivity for All!

“Everyone of all abilities should get to fully participate in this joyous and creative time of year. Walkers and wheelchairs can be transformed from an impediment to a great costume, to a creative catalyst for all of us to think with fresh ideas about how to make kids’ dreams come true at holiday time.”

The program brings smiles and independence, giving these children and their families the tools necessary to dress up. Beit Issie Shapiro hopes that the tutorials page online inspires others to submit their patterns and ideas as well.

Founded in 1980, Beit Issie Shapiro is Israel’s pioneering leader and innovator in the field of disabilities, developing and providing life-changing services and exporting best practices for a more inclusive society around the globe. The institute impacts over 500,000 people annually in Israel and worldwide through a three-step innovation, research, and scale model. Beit Issie Shapiro has extensive knowledge and experience in the field of Assistive Technology and operates a professional training institute.