… has been posted on Youtube.

Among the high points: The show grapples with standard concepts of beauty; contestants discuss how they feel about their own disabilities and who is “worse off”; fashion industry people confess their discomfort and wonder whether disability “sells”; a photographer asks the model prospects if he can shoot their impairments; contestants cope with access problems; contestants pose in lingerie; and judges debate which prospect might make the best “role model.”

Quotes from the introduction:

Beauty sells. Beauty is perfection.

Competition to make it as a top model in the cut-throat world of fashion is second to none.

So what are the chances of a disabled woman making it in a world obsessed with perfection?

“God, New York would rather burn their city down than put a disabled model on the catwalk, I reckon.”

“Disability has a natural place in life, so why shouldn’t it be part of fashion?”

As Britain’s Missing Top Model debuts, one of the judges writes on the BBC website about her hopes for the show. Lara Masters is a writer, model and actor who uses an electric wheelchair.

The fact is that fashion is a business and it is us, the consumers, who keep it thriving. Is it any wonder the industry sticks to a winning formula and largely shuns the idea of using bigger, more representational female models, let alone disabled models whose physical forms will be even more difficult to sell as aspirational?

Yet maybe the BBC’s reality show will make a difference. After all, fashionistas are always looking for something new, and disabled models are perfect to create intrigue and attract attention.

With video.

More about Lara Masters on BBC’s Ouch website.

From The New York Times:

Iraq, which has been in three wars in two decades, has a robust Paralympic team. Twelve of the 20 athletes who have qualified for the Paralympic games are disabled war veterans.

“As a country that participated in many wars since 1980, we have many disabled people,” said Ahmed Abid Hassan, a wheelchair fencing coach. “Our Paralympic team is better than our Olympic team.”

Above, Rasul Kadhim, a weight lifter with a paralyzed leg. (New York Times photo)

From the Cincinnati Enquirer:

Legislation has been introduced in Ohio that would expand the state’s hate crime law to provide protection to people with disabilities.

The measure was prompted by the attack last February of Ashley Clark, a teenager who has an intellectual disability and was born without limbs. Authorities say she was violently attacked in her rural home by two assailants who tied her up, beat her with a baseball bat, robbed her, cut off her hair and destroyed her prom dress.

The bill’s sponsor says that the attack would qualify as a hate crime if the proposed law were in place because Clark’s disability appears to be a key reason why she was targeted. Even if the bill were passed, it would have no bearing on the trial of the two suspects in the case.

Earlier post here.

From the Christian Science Monitor:

Injured Iraq veteran Andy Robinson found difficulty adjusting to life at home until he focused his intensity on handcycling and managing Team Semper Fi, a group of injured Marines who are endurance athletes.

“When I was riding my handcycle, they weren’t looking at me like, ‘He’s messed up.’ They look at you with a lot of respect,” says Robinson.

Team Semper Fi is founded and funded by the nonprofit Injured Marine Semper Fi Fund and supports Marines by purchasing equipment, working on recruiting, finding events for the athletes to participate in, and arranging the logistics.

Founding member Derek McGinnis, an Iraq veteran who uses a prosthetic limb to participate in races and triathlons, expects the team to eventually send athletes to the Paralympics or Iron Man competitions.

From the [UK] Daily Mail:

Debbie Van der Putten (left) is one of eight contestants on a new BBC reality show. “Britain’s Missing Top Model” will give a woman with a disability the chance to be a mainstream model.

The aim of the series is to challenge the boundaries that seem to exist in the beauty and fashion industries and cast new light on our concept of the ideal woman.

Van der Putten lost her right arm in a bus crash in 2005. She posed nude for Playboy earlier this year.

Along with limb loss, disabilities to be represented by contestants on the show include deafness and paralysis. The show debuts Tuesday, July 1.

From the [UK] Times:

Doll manufacturers are starting to turn out all types of “disability dolls,” with prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, blindness and Down syndrome (left). In addition to reaping potential financial benefits, dollmakers say they are hoping to build the confidence of children with differences, as well as educate children about disability and help to remove stigma.

The chief executive of the Down’s Syndrome Association in the UK cautions parents, saying the dolls lack a research basis and vary widely in quality and accuracy. Other professionals worry that they will serve to further isolate and stigmatize children who have lifelong conditions like cerebral palsy or Down syndrome.

Parents’ opinions:

Rosa Monckton: [Daughter] Domenica’s childhood is as full of joy, pain and sorrow as any other. She should be defined by her common humanity rather than by her Down’s syndrome. She does not want to live in a parallel world peopled with Down’s syndrome dolls distinguishable from the rest. She does not want to be defined by her facial features, or by the gap between her big toe and the rest of her toes being wider than most, or that she is half the height of her peers. Still less would she want these differences portrayed in a series of sickly looking, politically correct mannequins.

Simon Barnes: People with Down’s syndrome are people, not syndromes. The more such people we bump into in our daily lives, the less of a big deal it becomes. The Downsie doll is just one more minor symptom of a major change. The doll is ‘orrible, but I like it. The thought behind it, anyway.