Disability activists grace cover of British Vogue

‘Reframing Fashion’: British Vogue’s May issue highlights disability rights, representation and visibility in fashion.

In 2019 Sinéad Burke, Irish disability advocate, writer and CEO of Tilting the Lens became the first visibly disabled person to feature on the front cover of British Vogue. Fast forward to May 2023 and Burke is not only back on the cover, this time as one of five different covers each featuring an influential disabled talent, but she is also acting as consultant editor for this historic issue that is also available in Braille and audio versions (a commitment that will be extended to all future issues of the publication for the next year, in partnership with the Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB).

The issue features photoshoots and interviews with its five cover stars - Selma Blair, Ellie Goldstein, Justina Miles, Aaron Rose Philip and Sinéad herself, plus a number of other disabled advocates and talent from across fashion, sport, the arts and activism, including comedian Rosie Jones, racing driver Nicolas Hamilton, American sound artist Christine Sun Kim, and barrister Jessikah Inaba, who recently made history as the UK’s first blind black woman to be called to the Bar. Further content, including social and video, can be found online - explore here.

In an industry that is infamously exclusive (with Vogue arguably representing the height of this exclusivity) the essential question is how can fashion increase inclusivity and adapt to better support people with disabilities, or as editor-in-chief Edward Enninful writes in his introduction to the magazine “"Ultimately, these covers and portfolio ask a question: we all engage with fashion, but does fashion engage with all of us?"

Photo Credit: Adama Jalloh/British Vogue