BY CHLOÉ TOSCANO: For Complete Post, Click Here…
We have a ways to go before products are universally accessible, but these makeup, skin-care, and hair products show we’re moving in the right direction.
As an above-elbow amputee who loves beauty, I’ve spent a lot of time studying products in order to find ones that are great in terms of both quality and ease of use with one hand. There’s nothing worse than struggling to open your lip gloss and finally dropping the wand on your white pants. But in my ventures to find accessible products for myself, one thing constantly bothered me: Some things that were great for me sometimes weren’t accessible to those living with other needs, such as people who are visually impaired.
When I started looking at products from a different perspective, many questions popped into my head surrounding accessibility on this front. I can’t speak from personal experience regarding inclusivity in the world of beauty for those with visual impairments, so I reached out to some members from the blind community who shared their thoughts on product accessibility and helped me understand what might make a makeup, skin-care, or hair product more accessible for someone who’s blind or has low vision.
Cailey Darling is a plus-size influencer and makeup enthusiast. Darling became disabled and visually impaired with a rare eye condition in 2012, and as her vision changed, so did her approach to products. “I was someone who became visually impaired after already being interested in beauty products. As my vision issues shifted and deteriorated, I noticed it was the first time I had new standards when searching for products,” Darling says. “I stopped shopping with brands that didn’t include detailed color and formula information on their website and brands that didn’t include color swatches on skin.”
