Uh Oh— Your Costume’s Ableist

Oct 29

A blonde woman with bangs and long, curled hair stands outside at night. She's wearing light-wash, high-waisted jeans and an orange long-sleeved crop top. She's drawn on a pink nose and whiskers. She's making a fierce face and holding her "claws" up.

Photo of me from 2019 (the innocent times) dressed up as a lion. Fun fact, I call my cat my lion because she looks like she has a mane.

Happy Halloween, friends. Spooky (and spoopy) season is upon us and this weekend we shall all don our costumes and masks (of more than one kind). While there are treats and tricks aplenty on all hallow’s eve, sometimes the spookiest thing can be how problematic someone’s costume is.

I’ll be including Instagram posts that I found really helpful when writing this post. You should go check those posts out and the people who created them!

Some Costumes are Already Off-Limits

I can remember some ridiculously insulting and harmful costumes people wore when I was in high school. I won’t repeat them here— I’m sure we all have our own examples we can think of— but even at the time I thought they were in poor taste.

People have been called out for the costumes they’ve worn and rightfully so. I don’t have facts to back this up, but it seems to me like fewer people are choosing harmful costumes like Pocahontas or doing blackface (and the like).

But Is Your Costume Ableist?

I can already hear people (who I admittedly don’t align with) saying “Come on, another thing I have to think about when choosing a costume? It’s just a costume! It’s not that big of a deal!”

I get it, on some level. It can be really frustrating to be told that your options are limited, especially when you think it’s an overreaction (which I don’t, but can understand that some people do).

But it is serious. It’s serious because your costume that pokes fun at people with limb differences can reinforce negative connotations with limb difference. It’s serious your Three Blind Mice costume can make blind people feel like they’re the joke you’re making (and they’d be right). It’s serious because your asylum patient costume contributes to the harmful stigmatization of mental illness which leads to direct harm for us.

A purple background with white text that reads: Disability isn’t a halloween costume. Around the text are bats in black.

This post by @beccawight on Instagram is a great read to better understand why it’s important to avoid ableist costumes for Halloween. The seventh slide talks about what she calls active ableism in response to a previous Halloween costume post of a similar nature which points to why this is a problem. (be aware that this slide and some others contain content that can be triggering so proceed with caution and care).

Some Characters Should Say on the Screen, Some Costumes are Just Not Okay

I’ve linked two Instagram posts at the bottom of this post that I found particularly helpful writing this post and for this section specifically I’m referring to the post by @thatsinglemum. This is a deep dive into a few costumes/groups of costumes that are ableist and harmful and is by no means exhaustive; for more info, check out the Instagram posts that are linked throughout this blog post.

Oompa Loompas

A black background with white text reading: Why These Are Not Halloween Costumes Either" with an arrow to swipe to next slide.

This post by @thatsinglemum goes through some specific costumes that are ableist. It's particularly helpful if you want specific examples of ableist costumes.

Most people have seen or read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and know about Oompa Loompas. Not everyone knows that when the book was first published the Oompa Loompas weren’t orange but African Pygmy people who Wonka “saved” who were so grateful they worked in his factory. It was changed after the movie came out. But that’s not the only reason it’s harmful to dress as an Oompa Loompa; they’re one of the most widely recognizable dwarf characters in media (alongside the munchkins in The Wizard of Oz) and, as you might be able to guess, it’s not a favorable comparison. It’s important to note this post was made by a woman with dwarfism (she seems to prefer person-first language, though I might be incorrect!). While no one person can speak for a whole community, she is speaking from within the community.

Physical Differences (Scars/Burns)

It may seem minor to someone without a physical difference like a scar or burn to wear a fake one during Halloween, but the trope of people with visible scars or burns killing because of them is extremely harmful to those who live with them every day. Characters who are depicted as killing because of their physical disability or mental illness contribute to the stigma against people with these conditions. Some characters to avoid can be found on the post by @thatsinglemum. Personally, I understand the conflict people have over this one but that’s because I don’t have a scar or burn. But from what I’ve seen, people in that community find these costumes/depictions harmful, and I respect that. (Information for this section came from the same post from above!)

Use of Medical Devices/Mobility Aids

The last category I’m going to look at here (and there are tons more that you should be aware of that you can find in the Instagram posts I’ve shared in this post. Using medical devices like oxygen tanks/cannulas and mobility aids like wheelchairs in your Halloween costume is really frustrating and harmful to those of us who need these things. One big issue is that it can take away a resource from someone who actually needs it. Another is that, when Halloween ends, you can put the walker in your closet or donate it, you can take out the cannula and go back to normal life. For me, as someone who uses a cane on my bad days, I don’t have that luxury (though I will note here that canes are also used as an accessory, particularly in history, and that’s different). To quote the post by @powerfullyisa, “Disabled people deal with discrimination and lack of access daily yet people love to put it on as a costume for 1 night and be done.”

Orange background with text in black that reads: Types of Ableist Costumes to Avoid this Halloween" with Halloween in white with a pink background. In the upper left, there's a tree with no leaves.

This post by @powerfullyisa talks about why people shouldn't use medical devices/mobility aids for costumes as well as why people shouldn't give themselves physical deformities as part of their costume.

In Summary (Basically a TLDR)

I think generally the reason it’s important to avoid costumes that require you to put on a disability is best summed up in that same post by @powerfullyisa: “When people use a disability as a costume in order to look scary or evil for one night, they stigmatize disabled bodies and force disabled folk to live with that discrimination every day of their lives, not just Halloween night.” I’d add to that that costumes that don’t make the wearer look evil or scary can be just as damaging: your blind referee costume makes the disability the butt of the joke; your Anna Rexia costume makes fun of a really dangerous and insidious eating disorder and is so hurtful to the people in the room who are struggling because you’re making them the joke; dressing as a mental health patient, again, makes them the joke and contributes to the stigma.

There are so many options for costumes that aren’t ableist the same way there are so many options for costumes that aren’t racist or anti-Semetic or homophobic or hateful in any other way. If you’re reading this, I’d wager you already do the work to avoid other harmful costumes. This is another way to avoid perpetuating harm with your costume.

Uh Oh— Your Costume’s Ableist

Some Costumes are Already Off-Limits

But Is Your Costume Ableist?