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In Conversation: Design & Disability


On May 16, 2019, the Milwaukee Art Museum hosted "In Conversation: Design & Disability," a panel discussion that convened disability advocate and design strategist Liz Jackson, design historian Dr. Bess Williamson, and curatorial fellow Natalie Wright. This panel was held in conjunction with a display in the Milwaukee Art Museum design galleries entitled "Functional Fashions," which introduces the little-known Functional Fashions clothing line (1955-1976). Under this label, nearly thirty of the United States’ top clothing designers created garments to fit disabled bodies. In this conversation, Jackson, Williamson, and Wright situate this important clothing line within histories of rehabilitation and the disability rights movement.