Kate Annett-Hitchcock is a Professor in the Wilson College of Textiles at North Carolina State University, USA. Prior to this, she was on the faculty at East Carolina University, Virginia Tech and the Savannah College of Art and Design. Her research focuses on clothing for health and well-being; fashion entrepreneurship, and historical and cross-cultural inspirations in fashion.
Infused in a historical context of adapted clothing designs, lies a recurrent reminder to each of us with disabilities that we deserve continued designs to assure our unadulterated inclusion in society. Kate’s decades of dedicated work will enable me, and other Occupational Therapy educators, to proliferate the future of dedicated and skilled therapists to join Kate’s efforts to promote a cultural change in the inclusion of all bodies, despite each person’s uniqueness. May the memory of my friend Birdie Minor continue to shine through many more women with disabilities as they advocate for disability rights adorned in clothing that allows them to feel whole. -- Paige Moore, Licensed Occupational Therapist and Adjunct Faculty at James Madison University and Mary Baldwin University, USA Marginalized fashion consumers are finally given voice in Kate Annett-Hitchcock’s hugely important book. This is fashion history as well as fashion present, the most timely analysis of fashion and disability that we all need to read. -- Dr Kate Strasdin, Senior Lecturer, Cultural Studies, Fashion and Textiles Institute, Falmouth University, UK