slipping on a shirt buttoning it up tucking it into trouserswhat most people do in less than five minutes takes justin vijay jesudas four times longer in 2009 a spinal cord injury left him paralysed neck down while he could use his shoulders and there was some movement in his elbows and wrists his fingers didnt function so i needed help with buttons and zips there was never any privacy as someone would have to assist me recalls the 38yearold para athlete who works as a researcher with cognizant in chennaithen one day he discovered adaptive clothing shirts that snap up with velcro strips zippers with a big ring attached to pull them up and down trousers with elastic waist for jesudas it meant freedom and dignity i can dress and undress on my own last year i travelled alone to the us for six weeks with a set of adaptive clothes i needed just 10 minutes to dress he addsadaptive fashion aimed at people with physical disabilities or impaired movement is part of a larger shift towards inclusivity and even mainstream designers are dipping their toe like tommy hilfiger who launched a special line tommy adaptive last year and online retailer asos which sells disabledfriendly clothingin india home to 268 crore differently abled persons there are only a handful of designers who address the issue one of them is shalini visakan married to a wheelchairbound polio survivor visakan started tailoring clothes for her husband in 2016 and now has a client base of around 60 in chennaia graduate from the national institute of fashion technology visakan closely studied the problems her husband had wearing regular clothes for instance while being transferred from the chair to a car or to a seat on an airplane he would be lifted with his elbows which was painful and often resulted in dislocation so i made trousers with strong cloth loops like handles on both sides of the waist the person can be lifted using these loops another customisation is making the crotch area of the trousers bigger so it can accommodate a catheter or a urine cup says visakan she also designs adaptive saris which look like a sari but are actually structured like nighties that can be easily thrown onamongst mainstream designers wendell rodricks is perhaps the only one whos tried his hand at inclusive fashion with visionnaire a line of tactile clothing for people with impaired vision delhibased designer amit aggarwal has been designing a special collection for tamana an ngo working for children with special needs for the past five years but he hasnt gone mainstream with itin kochi joe ikareth designs a limited edition move ability clothing along with his wife murielle the couple has a daughter tilottama whose right arm is partially paralysed she was our inspiration we have developed clothes that allow her a sense of independence develop her confidence and change the way people look at differently abled people says ikareth a nift graduatemost