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Leading online retail marketplace Adaptista has partnered with the British Academy of Fashion Design to launch a scholarship programme worth £8000, aimed at encouraging people with disabilities to pursue an education in fashion design.
The programme was conceived by Adaptista founder Maria O’Sullivan-Abeyratne, who is herself disabled, has been launched to achieve meaningful change within the fashion industry in the hopes of highlighting the need for “representation and progression for disabled people within education and employment”.
The partnership has attracted the interest of corporate support with John Lewis White City offering a top-of-the-range sewing machine and Includability, the inclusive job board, donating a year of membership to Adobe Creative Cloud and Microsoft 365 to the successful applicant, as well as supporting the student with career mentoring and advice.
Recently listed as one of the Vogue Business 100 Innovators, Adapitsta leads with the mission of celebrating one of the largest, yet frequently underrepresented minority groups, whilst the British Academy of Fashion believes that education should be accessible to all.
Of the new the new scholarship O’Sullivan says in a press release: “At Adaptista we are passionate about inclusion, representation and education for the disabled community in an industry which has historically excluded such a large proportion of the world’s population. We are delighted to partner with such a forward-thinking educational body in the British Academy of Fashion Design and together give the opportunity for a disabled person to pursue their dream of working in fashion. United we hope this scholarship will also help drive meaningful change within the fashion industry by highlighting the need for representation and progression in both education and employment.”
With Jane Gregory, Chief Executive Officer/British Academy of Fashion Design adding: “The British Academy of Fashion Design is committed to making accessibility a guiding principle of our organization. One of the practical ways we do this is by actively seeking to recruit a diverse community of learners to build a more inclusive workforce in the British fashion design industry. We are privileged to work with Adaptista to establish this scholarship and to support this important mission now and into the future.“
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