Accessible Halloween Costumes 2026

 

This year in stores was a total desert of accessible costumes. I couldn't even find wheel covers or the wagon covers that you could modify to go on related equipment. There are trends where costumes follow political agendas and right now like many different groups, those with disabilities are losing both their rights and visibility. This is reflected in the products you can find in stores. In the past places like Target even had cute Halloween decorations that helped bring the disability life to the decorations, even if it was a little bit of a stereotype. 

The above vampire sitting in a wheelchair is an example from a past year of a Target find. I remember being so happy when I saw it, but visuals like this have disappeared. So when trying to find accessible costumes this year I was not surprised that they were missing in stores. What little representation had been gained had been erased.

Most of the costumes I found online were just the same ones from previous years and you can check out my past articles for info on those.

Target

https://www.target.com/c/adaptive-halloween-costumes/-/N-66yhm

Most of their accessible costumes this year were either cape/poncho based or more focused on accessories and not really the base. This is a roll back from previous year's offerings. They did have a few costumes that were for full wheelchair cover or that included wheelchair covers.

Then new this year was this:

https://www.target.com/p/adult-barn-costume-headpiece-160-hyde-and-eek-boutique-8482-one-size/-/A-94877630#lnk=sametab

Because we all know that a costume that only involves the head is great to hide the rest of your body...sorry about the sarcasm, but really? This costume is just a barn that fits over your head. Yes they do have the model wearing farmer like clothes under it, I guess you could just wear all black as well... I guess head wear only could count as a costume....but yah, I just have issues with this being one of their "adaptive" focused costumes. Only the head matters and the rest of the body can be forgotten... The only way I see this one maybe working is if you could find an animal nose and be the animal sticking out of the barn.

Rolling Buddies

https://www.rollingbuddies.com/collections/halloween-costumes

This site specializes in adaptive only clothing and costumes. Their prices are on the higher end, but they have a good diversity of products in one place. Also not the best looking, but at least they are trying.

Halloween Express

https://www.halloweenexpress.com/costumes/adaptive-a1-560518+3435-1.fltr

Some good deals can be found here. Somewhat limited options. Nothing really stood out to me as new or exciting this year.

HalloweenCostumes.com

https://www.halloweencostumes.com/adaptive-costumes.html?q=Adaptive%20Costume

When I checked their site a lot were either sold out or discontinued. Super low options when compared to previous years.

To all those looking for an accessible/adaptive costume, good luck this year. If nothing else this reduction in costumes just means that you can let your creativity show this year by making your own. I would recommend Pinterest if you need costume ideas.

Top Picture From: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/landscape-huacachina-desert-ica-peru-1656955129?trackingId=b3534cac-5a42-4eec-8e8d-5b8ac9546785&listId=searchResults

VA Continues to Hurt Ex-employees

 

So the latest from the VA is that disabled employees who were kicked to the curb for having ADA accommodations that allowed them to work from home are not being able to get fair trials with the EEOC.

Example: An employee how had a fit to work test (see pervious article about this) weaponized against them was forced to retire from daily harassment and discrimination. While in the EEOC investigation their witnesses were never interviewed. They were assigned a Texas judge that would not step back from the case due to their political standing, and the judge said it was their right not to had the case to another judge. The employee had evidence that the judge would not acknowledge, even an official finding that their manager had been found in an investigation by the VA to have discriminated/harassed the employee. The judge played around with what the word "substantiated" mentioned to try and get the finding to match their cherry picked cases. If a judge does not understand important words like substantiated then not only should they not be a judge, but any degrees they have earned should be stripped from them. I can say this as someone that has worked in education for over 20 years. Just because they have the paper to back them doesn't mean that the have the knowledge or ethical backbone to support it. The judge blocked the employee from even getting a hearing where the VA staff would have had to account for the clear lies presented in the evidence and for their violations of HR SOPs. Without a hearing there is no accountability and the Texas judge knows it. I explained the situation to my two best friends who are Texan conservative Catholics. They asked me what part of Texas the judge was linked to. I looked it up and when I told them Dallas, they said that explained it all. When even people that fit into the other political side are calling BS, then you know how messed up something is.

There will be a fight to have both accountability from both the VA and the corrupt people that are allowing them to do harm. I know that this is a small blog, even compared to my other blogs in relation to foot traffic, but I want to help give a voice to those who have been hurt. If you are a veteran or an ex-employee of the VA who was hurt by the VA or had the EEOC try to silence you, I want to share your story. They should not get way with hurting people and only through sharing your story will the collective voice get louder. Many are fighting for even basic survival right now due to this harm.

Please reach out to me through this blog. You can star the conversation below in the comments section.

Accessible Costumes 2025

 This year I have noticed many differences in how the geek and accessibility world have been impacted by our current political climate. One of the forms that this is taking during the Halloween shopping season is that in stores I have found no accessible costumes or things that could be easily adapted to fit accessibility needs. Even last year Target had a few things, but with their pull back on DEI/JEDI it looks like they even pulled back on support the needs of the communities that they are supposed to be serving. It feels like we have traveled back in time where people have to make their own stuff again because retailers don't acknowledge their existence.  

It looks like this year if you do need to buy things the internet is the only option you have. This kind of shopping is not always the best you can't try on things to back sure that they work for you. Also shopping online can be really bad when trying to get anything of quality. You could end up paying big bucks for thin fabric and weak seams. Most of the costumes I also saw online this year were the same offerings from past years.

One of the few new costumes that I could find for this season. Wicked is currently popular, but finding the costume to work for this set up may be difficult. For wheelchairs you need dress bottoms that won't get stuck in the wheels or drag on the ground. Picture from: https://www.target.com/p/kids-adaptive-wicked-elphaba-wheelchair-cover-costume-accessory/-/A-1005524209#lnk=sametab

List of websites to check out:

https://www.halloweencostumes.com/adaptive-costumes.html
https://www.target.com/c/adaptive-halloween-costumes/-/N-66yhm
https://www.walkinrollin.org/
https://www.halloweenexpress.com/costumes/adaptive-a1-560518+3435-1.fltr

https://www.rollingbuddies.com/collections/halloween-costumes

https://www.amazon.com/adaptive-halloween-costume-kids/s?k=adaptive+halloween+costume+kids

Additional Reading/Resources:

"MDA Ambassador Guest Blog: Helpful Tips for Accessible Halloween Costumes" https://mdaquest.org/mda-ambassador-guest-blog-helpful-tips-for-accessible-halloween-costumes/

https://www.pinterest.com/opfsn/wheelchair-halloween-costumes/

VA Targeting Employees with Accommodations and People They Don't Like

 

Now that the unions' contracts have been terminated the VA has declared open season on attacking employees. Their latest weapon of choice is the "fit-to-work" process. This process allows them to terminate anyone they see as medically unfit to work even if these employees have formal RA (reasonable accommodations in place) or FMLA paperwork. Workers are scheduled without their knowing for a medical exam on super short notice with a VA doctor/representatives for an exam to see if they are physically or mentally fit to do their job. They are told that they can have on outside doctor do the exam, but they are not given enough time to arrange outside testing and if they go outside of the VA they have to do it at their personal cost. Forcing the VA doctor/representative allows the VA to use bias to get rid of whoever they want to.

Example: I have already told you in previous articles about some of the training issues with the VA not providing good training to employees on changes to their jobs. Also, the managers tell employees to ask questions and that it is a safe space to do so, when in truth they are building 'evidence' to get rid of employees. One employee who asked 'too many' questions was submitted to this process for being mentally unfit to do their job. The complaint against the employee was that they asked too many questions and that they were having issues to log into one of the computer systems (because we all know that technology works perfectly all of the time....). This is even with proof that others were experiencing similar issues/questions and even other supervisors had issues trying to get the computer system to work like it should. As soon as the employee requested to be transferred to a different position/department the exam was canceled. This clearly shows that the department was using this process to get rid of the employee and was satisfied with the outcome. This employee has filed formal discrimination and harassment charges against this department/leadership not only for their actions around the exam but also for microaggressions both before the surprise exam and after. The department is also dragging their feet in transferring the employee even though other employees have been quickly transferred in the past. This allows them to continue to mentally abuse this employee.

The VA knew that they would be going after employees and that is why they got rid of the unions. But the joke is on them. With the unions in place cases like this could have gone through an internal process to get resolved. Now the VA is open to lawsuits and external coverage like this.

If you have a VA story you want to share either as an employee or a veteran who have been mistreated by the VA do not be afraid to tell your story out loud. I would be more than happy to help you get your story out there to be heard. Just reach out to me. The VA need to be held accountable for the abuses they have done and silence will achieve nothing.

#AFGE #union #abuse #veteransadministration #VA

VA Leaders Lie To Employees and Find Another Way to Hurt Veterans

Now that the union is gone the VA leadership team in Colorado just dropped a pile of sh*t on MSAs. The MSAs had ben repeatedly by both HR and the Director that the mandatory overtime would end in October. Yesterday in a meeting the staff were told that even though they were going to be hiring new employees that the mandatory overtime is now permanent. These workers did not sign up for this and the VA leaders are ignoring all of the medical research out there about the negative effects that over time has on workers. For leaders in a health organization they have no understanding of basic health concepts and should be fired for this lack of knowledge let alone their bad business decisions.

This isn't all that happened in the meeting. The leaders in the VA are also wasting money on new software. Here's the kicker, they are not giving any formal training to employees on how to use the technology. They said a email will be sent out, but an email does not replace active learning/teaching. This means that employees are just going to have to wing it with the new technology. Not only does this not support employees in doing their duties, but this lack of formal training is going to negatively impact the veterans. Without training the employees are going to be slower then they would have been with training or if they would have been allowed to just keep the systems they already know how to use. Time issues have long been plaguing the VA with veterans having to suffer in the slow downs. I personal know about how slowly the VA is with experience from what my family members have dealt with. New technology that employees are not trained on will also lead to mistakes. Mistakes in the medical field can cost lives, but the current leaders do not care about this.

Some more info on lack of training:

Jones, M. (2023, August 16). The consequences of a lack of training in the workplace. Connecteam. https://connecteam.com/e-lack-of-training/#:~:text=The%20consequences%20of%20a%20lack%20of%20training%20include%20high%20employee,engaging%2C%20accessible%2C%20and%20impactful.

   -The first paragraph alone shows the issues with no proper training.

NASA. (n.d.). Evidence report: Risk of performance errors due to training deficiencies - NASA technical reports server (NTRS). NASA. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/citations/20160003868

    -Even though this article focuses on trainings more related to working at NASA, its comments about general training still hold true.

Pearson, C. (2024, June 14). What if your employees can’t use Tech?: The hidden costs of neglecting training and change management. Your IT Department. https://www.your-itdepartment.co.uk/employees-cant-use-tech/

   -This website shows how issues about rolling out new technology without employee training are well known.

Weinstein, M. (2021, September 27). Should you force technology change on employees?. Training. https://trainingmag.com/should-you-force-technology-change-on-employees/

   -I like that this article focused on the "if it's not broke, don't fix it." If it is broke you should work with the subject matter experts (the workers) about what needs to be changed to fix things. Time and again in my career in education I say leaders become victims of tech companies selling them on the idea that their technology will solve all of their current problems and have bells and whistles that will distract leaders from issues with the new technology. An example of this is when the Colorado Community College System decided to waste millions on the new technology Navigate when the Banner/DegreeWorks systems they already had could have done much of the same things if they were just willing to turn on certain features. Leaders are taken in to just by new and roll out new technology without getting feed back from the workers that will be dealing with the technology. These leaders are also mostly cut off from the actual work and do not understand what the real issues are that cause problems. Now with the VA not doing the employee survey they will be even more cut off. This creates blind leaders that waste money and make bad decisions.

Kennedy, E. (2025, January 9). How the Lack of Training Affects Your Organization. The Training Associates. https://thetrainingassociates.com/lack-training-affects-organization/#:~:text=Training%20is%20essential%20for%20upskilling,minimizing%20legal%20and%20financial%20risks. 

VA Leaders Can't Math and Don't Care About What Workers Think

The VA Leaders are at it again, and by it, I mean showing that they can't even function as adults let alone as Health professionals. The latest is that they can't even do basic math. They decided to go back on the changes they were making to the mandatory overtime due to push back from employees and employees turning in medical letters and sharing the current research on the negative impact that mandatory overtime can have if required hours overlap with the natural sleep cycle. For more on this check our previous VA article. Now though employees need to sign up for 1.5 hour shifts in order to meet the required 4 hours of overtime....yes, think about that sentence...

1.5 + 1.5= 3 hours ...3 +1.5= 4.5.... 4.5 and 4 are different numbers. This means that the new policy of 1.5 hour shifts actually forces employees to do more then the required mandatory overtime. So these leaders in the VA need to be fired because they can't even do simple grade school math. These are the people making decisions that negatively impact both workers and veterans, because they do not even have basic skills needed to function in life let alone in the workforce.

Lets look at more math that they just don't get. The current administration in Washington don't want money wasted, but because the VA leadership doesn't understand math, they are mismanaging the money they have been given. Right now with the mandatory over time they are wasting money instead of just hiring more employees. Don't take my word for it, let's look at the math.

Let's say an employee makes $30 and hour and they work a normal 40 hour work week (this calculation will be before taxes and other things like health insurance).

30 x 40 = $1200 

Over time is time and a half for the additional hours. This means that 4 hours of overtime is an additional $180 (30 x 4 x 1.5). 

If it takes 10 employees doing over time to get to the 40 hours to equal a new employee, this means that the overtime to pay current workers would equal $1800 per week or $600 extra paid out that would not have to be paid out ($180 x 10). That extra $600 per week would more than make up for what companies pay out in benefits for an employee per month (this would be $2400 per month which is more then needed for benefits at most companies).

This shows that hiring 1 new employee for every 10 workers doing overtime would not only balance out the work (helping the other employees with work life balance and mental health), but save money. The kicker here is also new employees could be brought in for less money because they are new. For example the minimum wage in Aurora, Colorado right now is $17. This would mean that the VA could save up to $13 per regular hour by hiring a new employee instead of forcing employees to do overtime. This just shows how little the VA leadership understands math.

(Checking on the usajobs.gov website it looks like the position of MSA makes around $17.51 per hour to start out with, $36,435 per year. This confirms that new employees make less and could save the VA from having to pay out overtime).

Another thing that came out today is that the VA is canceling their employee survey for this year. I wonder why....they know that workers are upset about all of the stuff they are pulling and they don't want any formal record of employee complaints. It is them trying to hide the abuse that workers are experiencing. The VA is doing everything it can to silence workers. The VA claims that they are not doing the survey to save employee time and money, but in reality they know that it will so that the VA is failing and that it is a toxic place to work.

A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability

 

A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability by A. Andrews

Sex is a complicated topic to talk about for able bodied people let alone adding in things like disabilities that may be hard for people to talk about as well. This book does an amazing job of trying to start that conversation. Mental health, sexual health, and physical health are topics that overlap and many times people may know how to address one of these topics, but not how they overlap. The book is filled with ideas that can help not only with the conservations around sex & disability, but also goes into some of the physical aspects and the different things that can impact intimacy. I would highly recommend this book to both those with disabilities and abled bodied people as well. This book is important for able bodied people because it will help them understand both their family members and partners in relation to how their lives are impacted by these topics and trying to find loving relationships. 4 stars out of 5 or a A-. The only reason why it didn't get the 5th star was because I wish the book was longer with more detail.