For Halloween this year, a big name in entertainment and retail is getting involved in the adaptive costume business.
The Walt Disney Co. is selling a range of costumes featuring princesses, superheroes and Star Wars characters — Disney owns the Star Wars and Marvel entertainment brands — that turn wheelchairs into carriages and spaceships with the use of stretchy fabric, rigid plastics and plastic pipe supports.
The costumes are also designed with openings that make them easier to fit around medical support equipment.
"With today's announcement, we're better able to meet the needs of more of our guests, and we're excited to see this inspired collection continue to grow," said Stephanie Young, president of consumer products, games and publishing for Disney.
While there have been some people who make individual costumes and small companies making custom adaptive costumes, Disney's involvement makes it possible for kids to trick-or-treat as an official Cinderella or Buzz Lightyear or Black Panther, just like their friends and siblings.