There are one billion people in the world living with some sort of disability, or about 15% of the world’s population. And while having a disability can impact many parts of a person’s life, one thing it should never hinder people from doing is enjoying holidays to the fullest extent, including of course, Halloween.
Below, we’ve gathered some of the most brilliant and creative costumes people with disabilities have sported for Halloween, proving that nothing can stop them from looking fabulous on October 31st. With a little bit of thinking outside of the box, these individuals have found genius ways to incorporate their disabilities into their looks, and their innovation deserves to be applauded.
Be sure to upvote the photos you find most impressive or that feature costumes you wish you had thought of yourself, and feel free to let us know in the comments if you've ever worn a costume that perfectly incorporated a disability of your own. And if this list isn’t long enough for you, have no fear. You can find Bored Panda’s previous publications on the same topic right here and here.
#1 Here’s My New Halloween Costume
Image credits: joshsundquist
Especially for children, Halloween can be one of the most exciting days of the year. Dressing up in an exciting costume, having the chance to stay up late trick-or-treating with friends and then hurrying home to eat as much candy as possible before mom and dad say it’s time for bed. Unfortunately, however, for individuals living with a disability, celebrating Halloween can come with extra challenges that can put a damper on the day.
Thankfully, there are plenty of people around the world showing that having a disability should never stop a person from wearing whatever costume they want on Halloween. This list features brilliant costumes worn by kids and adults alike, so if you have a disability that made you wonder what to dress up as this year, hopefully you'll get some ideas right here! From incorporating wheelchairs to using prosthetics as props, these costumes make one thing very clear: Halloween is for everyone.
#2 This Kid's Parents Built His Halloween Costume Around His Wheelchair
Image credits: Taron221
#3 Joyeuse Halloween
Image credits: marie_sol_peintre
While Halloween is for people of all ages to celebrate, it can be particularly important to ensure that our little ones enjoy the occasion. So if your child has a disability, RedTreehouse.org has a helpful guide for parents to make sure that their kids can get the most out of the day. For kids that are wheelchair users, for example, they provide a few resources to help make Halloween more inclusive and accessible.
According to Med Mart, if you’re taking your child trick-or-treating in their wheelchair, it’s always a good idea to practice the routine ahead of time. It will be nice to know how easy the path is to get around, especially in the dark when there are lots of other kids walking around. If many houses have staircases and it won’t be easy to get to their front doors, you might want to find the most wheelchair-friendly homes to visit. Even if there are challenges, it’s best to be aware of them prior to the big night to make everything as smooth as possible during the real trick-or-treating. The only thing on your child’s mind that evening should be having a great time.
#4 What's Better Than A Glass Arm? A Glass Arm That Glows
Image credits: bethesparkcosplay
#5 Another Year Of Incorporating My Wheelchair Into My Halloween Costume
Image credits: shehappens
#6 "I Figure Life's A Gift And I Don't Intend On Wasting It. You Don't Know What Hand You're Gonna Get Dealt Next. You Learn To Take Life As It Comes" - Jack Dawson
Image credits: jackinaction
If you’re taking your child who uses a wheelchair trick-or-treating in your own neighborhood, Med Mart recommends letting your neighbors know ahead of time that your little one plans to be stopping by their homes. They might be willing to meet you at the end of their driveway or set their large basket of candy close to the curb to alleviate the stress of trying to get close to their doors and having to maneuver back to the sidewalk.
And if the experience of going back and forth from people’s doorsteps is just too stressful or challenging to navigate logistically, you can always seek alternatives for your child. Many places hold “trunk-or-treats” in large parking lots, where kids can go from car to car gathering goodies without having to worry about encountering steps or crossing busy roads. You can always throw a Halloween party or gathering of your own too, inviting all of your child’s closest friends. The important thing is that they enjoy the occasion; there’s nothing wrong with thinking outside the box in how you celebrate.
#7 Lovin’ It
Image credits: MeganMompher
#8 The Whole Gang. Hermione, Voldemort & Harry
Image credits: samvsvwm
#9 Took Home Best Couple's Costume Award! I Wouldn’t Want To Be Attacked By Any Other Shark Than Her
Image credits: peaceful__moon
When it comes to making your Halloween more inclusive, one factor you might not have even considered is the decorations. And while I love smoke machines, fake cobwebs, and spiders and rats littered all over the floor as much as the next person, these decorations are not always conducive to every person's experience. If the path leading up to your home is extremely dark, requires maneuvering around a variety of props or your decorations limit visibility, you might be deterring people with disabilities from visiting, either children coming to trick-or-treat or your friends trying to stop by to deliver some goodies to you. Decorations with jump scares, loud noises and flashing lights can also be harmful for individuals with sensory sensitivities or epilepsy. Unless you warn people that they’re coming to a haunted house, try not to have any decorations that are too extreme.
#10 We Won The Yuk Yuk's Comedy Halloween Costume Challenge
Image credits: shockthew0rld
#11 This Is The Way. That All Wheelchair Costumes Should Look Today. Happy Star Wars Day
Image credits: walkinrollin
#12 Austin Loves A Good Costume
Image credits: walkwithaustin
As we all know, we cannot always tell that a person has a disability just by looking at them. Oftentimes, we would have no idea! But disabilities that have no visible cues can impact a person just as much as more obvious disabilities, so in 2018, one mother sought to find a way to help her son, who has autism, have an easier time on Halloween. Four years ago, Alicia Plumer posted a photo of a blue trick-or-treating bucket on Facebook with the caption, “If you see someone who appears to be an adult dressed up to trick-or-treat this year carrying this blue bucket, he’s our son! His name is BJ & he is autistic. While he has the body of a 21 year old, he loves Halloween.” This then sparked a trend of “Blue Buckets for Halloween”.
#13 For Halloween Costume Day In School, Zoe Asked If She Could Be A Vampire
Image credits: zoes_journey_with_cp
#14 What’s Pink, Has Feathers And Stands On One Leg? This Flamingo
Image credits: bridgetstrong1
#15 Halloween Is Coming
Image credits: amazingabigailgrace
Alicia’s post sharing her son’s blue Halloween bucket received lots of attention and has been shared to spread awareness about people with autism who may want to participate in Halloween just as much as everyone else, even if they have a hard time expressing it. “I believe it can be helpful, especially for the more severely affected kids who are nonspeaking, and for older kids who may appear to function at a lower cognitive age level,” writes Wendy Fournier on the National Autism Association’s site. “Some kids can’t say ‘trick or treat’ or ‘thank you’. They may not be able to make eye contact, and could also have sensory issues that prevent them from wearing an elaborate costume. For some kids and young adults with autism, there are a lot of challenges to overcome on Halloween, but like everyone else, they want to enjoy the fun and excitement of it.”
#16 I'm Here To Try Out My Sea Legs
Image credits: furterer
#17 This Is Halloween. That’s My 79-Year-Old Grandma As Dr. Finkelstein
Image credits: rstan25
#18 Jax The Jellyfish! They Crafted This Masterpiece Themselves. I'm Really Starting To Believe The Creativity Of Special Needs Families Cannot Be Matched
Image credits: letsgoplayinclusion
Another factor to take into consideration when choosing the Halloween goodies you plan to share with friends or trick-or-treaters is potential food allergies. According to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, in the United States alone, about 32 million people have food allergies, including about 5.6 million children. The most common foods people are allergic to are milk, eggs, peanuts, tree nuts, soy, wheat, fish and shellfish, so if you’re looking to pass out treats that will accommodate a variety of dietary needs or preferences, it might be wise to consult the Spokin app. Spokin breaks down all of the best candies and treats based on what allergens they are free from, so you can ensure that you or your loved ones can indulge freely without fretting about a frightening allergic reaction.
#19 Amazing Ghostbusters Ecto1 Wheelchair Halloween Costume
Image credits: mista_milla78
#20 Seriously, Just Wow. 8-Year-Old Jackson Had 2 Ideas For His Magic Wheelchair, So His Builder Combined Them Both. Cory Hunt, We Love You
Image credits: magicwheelchair
#21 Happy Halloween From Aladdin
Image credits: hopeniccolle
According to Spokin, some of the best dairy free candies available to pass out or enjoy yourself this Halloween are Dum-Dums, Twizzlers, Sour Punch Straws, Swedish Fish, Sour Patch Kids Watermelons, Jelly Bellys, Air Heads, Dots, Ring Pops and Smarties. If you’re looking for gluten-free candies, Spokin recommends York peppermint patties, Butterfingers, Reese’s peanut butter cups, Heath bars, Dots, Hi-Chews, Air Heads, and Tootsie rolls and pops. An allergy is no reason not to enjoy Halloween treats!
#22 Coolest Homemade Box Of Free Kittens Wheelchair Costume
Image credits: Leslie
#23 This Is One Of My Favorite Halloween Looks Of Myself
Image credits: justdanpb
#24 Happy Halloween From Grayson The Astronaut. Hope You Had A Rockin Good Night
Image credits: pipes1219
We hope you’re enjoying this list of brilliant costumes, and if you or a loved one is living with a disability, we would love to hear your best ideas for Halloween costumes in the comments down below. Remember that if there’s anything you can do to make your Halloween celebrations more inclusive and accessible, it will be worth making the effort. Keep upvoting the pics you find most impressive, and then if you’d like to see even more, you can find Bored Panda’s previous articles on the same topic here and here.
#25 Ready To Get Our Halloween On
Image credits: MeganMompher
#26 Debuting The Bathmobile Tonight
Image credits: pennamiteplr
#27 Is It Even October If I Don't Share This Throwback
Image credits: meeshellsullivan
#28 2021 Halloween Team Reed-Style Wheelchair Costume, When The UPS Man Is Awesome And You Love When He Comes To Drop Off Your Packages
Image credits: teamreedcrosby
#29 It's Officially Halloween Season
Image credits: magicwheelchair
#30 You Wanted A Bionic Sith, Well Now You Got One - Complete With Lightsaber Prosthetic Attachment
Image credits: bionicauthor
#31 Human Fidget Spinner
Image credits: joshsundquist
#32 Wheelchair R2d2 Costume Is The Best R2d2 Costume
Image credits: ScottFilmCritic
#33 Princess Freyja's Reveal Was Pure Joy And Pure Magic. Every Little Detail Is 100% Freyja And Her Reactions Say It All
Image credits: magicwheelchair
#34 No Boring, Trite Or Typical Costumes For Us
Image credits: hartna303
#35 Happy Halloween From Forrest Gump, Lieutenant Dan, And Everyone’s Favorite Little Shrimp
Image credits: megbertsmacros
#36 Construction Operator Danny
Image credits: jennymsan
#37 We Called Our Friends At Amazon Prime And Told Them All About Max And His Magic Wheelchair Idea From His Favorite Show, “The Stinky & Dirty Show”
Image credits: magicwheelchair
#38 This Noodle Is Ready For His First Halloween Out In Costume Tonight At Church
Image credits: teamreedcrosby
#39 Super Dad Spent Countless Hours Working On This Wheelchair Costume And I'm Pretty Sure That Hudson Thinks All Of The Attention He Received Made Every Hour Well Worth It
Image credits: wendilr
#40 A Fun Project I Got To Work On A Couple Of Years Back. An Aliens-Themed Power Loader Wheelchair
Image credits: freddyprops
#41 Halloween Costumes Of Past Years. Which One Is Your Favorite, And Are You Excited To See What I Am This Year?
Image credits: rachelles_wheels
#42 Happy Halloween 2021. Hi I'm Chucky, Wanna Play?
Image credits: wheelchair_lakers_fan
#43 2017 Seth Went As A Boxer. He Of Course Needed A Police Officer As A Body Guard, And Evie Came To Watch The Fight
Image credits: mmmarinello
#44 This Was The First Time I Used My Power Chair With My Costume, So I Made It Into A Shell Throne, You Know, Like You Do When You're A Mermaid
Image credits: alia_vera
#45 Where Are My Girls At Who Can Pull Off This Look
Image credits: bethesparkcosplay
#46 My Dad's Friend Has A Kid Who Is In A Wheelchair. He Does An Exceptional Job On His Kid's Costumes
Image credits: blaake
#47 Snoopy
#48 Oooooh. The Clawww. I Have Been Chosen! We Hope Everyone Had A Safe And Healthy Halloween
Image credits: landons_league
#49 Sam, Of Course, Chose To Be Sebastian Vettel For Halloween. Today Was The First Outing Of His Costume And He Couldn't Be Happier
Image credits: samvsvwm
#50 Happy Halloween. Amputee Halloween Costume
Image credits: amputiff
#51 When You Have Prosthetics You Have To Take Advantage Of It. My Husband Helped Me Make A Peg Leg As Well As A Hook! And My Service Dog Wazowski Is My Parrot
Image credits: wendilocatelli
#52 My First Renfaire After My Amputation
Image credits: fishwhispers17
#53 Help, She's Being Abducted
Image credits: kristynicolecalloway
#54 Happy Halloween From Alex Trebek
Image credits: hopeniccolle
#55 Wayback Wednesday
Image credits: karina_smolanovich44
#56 This Sundae Is Extra Sweet Thanks To The Spontak Family Every Year Mark Turns His Son’s Wheelchair Into A Show-Stopping Halloween Costume
Image credits: TheORainbowCone
#57 Halloween A Few Years Ago When I Made Jayden The Ultimate Mr. Bean Costume Car
Image credits: beardedhumor
#58 Sorry, My Arm Lost Control
Image credits: brittanyfay2
#59 My Spooky Season Costumes
Image credits: Illy_willie
#60 We Did The Best Halloween Costume For Killian's Wheelchair. He Wanted To Be An Army Guy With A Tank. So We Engineered A Wooden Box, Some Pipe And Added Dry Ice
Image credits: our_not_so_special_life
#61 As We Inch Closer To Halloween, This Was Our Last Year's Costume. Kennedy - Mother Of Dragons
Image credits: letsgoplayinclusion
#62 It's Spooky Season And I Felt It Would Only Be Fair For Walter The Wheelchair To Have A Halloween Costume. I'm Captain America This Year
Walter got these custom captain America shield inserts made by me.
Image credits: colleen_cosplay
#63 Family Always Makes Amazing Halloween Costumes Around 12-Year-Old's Wheelchair
Image credits: Ryan McCubbin
#64 Keeping Up With Our Costumes Until Halloween Theme, Check Out John! He Loves To Dress Up In Disney-Inspired Outfits With His Little Sister Josie Each Halloween
Image credits: letsgoplayinclusion
#65 Mason Already Tested His “Dinosaur” The Yellow Loader And Can Confirm It Holds At Least 5 Gallons Of Candy. He Is Officially Ready For Halloween
Image credits: magicwheelchair
#66 The Whack-A-Mole Machine
Image credits: aticcersguidetolife
#67 Pirate Mode For Halloween
Image credits: poa_tn
#68 Amputee Halloween Costume
Image credits: gimminnie_
#69 A Wounded Veteran's "Interactive" Halloween Costume
Image credits: whaaaaaaaaales
#70 My Grandpa Got His Leg Amputated Last Week. At Least He's A Good Sport About It
Image credits: Agent_Hank_Schrader
#71 Happy Halloween From Steve And The Enderman. The Eyes On The Enderman Light Up But That Photo Will Have To Be Taken Later
Image credits: bysarahhalstead
#72 Throwback To A Few Years To This Awesome Halloween Costume. The Wheelchair Has Given Me So Many More Possibilities For Halloween
Image credits: nick_fairall
#73 Wheelchair Speeder Bike Costume Was The Choice This Year. Fun To Build But Damn It’s Hard To Push
Image credits: ozzieowl
#74 James Is Getting All The Attention This Morning
Image credits: horacio_vhr
#75 Shark Attack
Image credits: spartankmarie24
#76 Happy Halloween My Fellow Pirates
Image credits: jamieganeadaptiveathlete
#77 Halloween Weekend
Image credits: adamgstarr
#78 I’m Amazed At My Husband's Talent And His Desire To Make Eliza’s Dreams A Reality. She Is In Love! And Won The Costume Contest At Treats In The Street At Jones
Image credits: jessbyrd_rn
#79 Halloween 2021. Loki In A Gold Space Chariot
Image credits: SamvsVWM
#80 "You Were Right, Clarke. Life Is About More Than Just Surviving." Lexa, The 100
Image credits: annieelainey
#81 Happy Halloween
Image credits: Tara_Moss
#82 It's Always A Great Day For Some Baseball. In This Throwback, We Revisit The Rockford Peaches And Their Announcer From, "A League Of Their Own" Film
Image credits: walkinrollin
#83 My Prince Charming Surprised Me With This Cinderella Carriage We Took It For A Spin Yesterday At Downtown Disney And Just Had To Have A Picture Of Him Returning My Slipper
Image credits: the_disabled_diva
#84 Another Epic Halloween In An Amazing Neighborhood And Trick Or Treating With Wonderful Friends
Image credits: lissettel827
#85 It’s Right Here, Ray. It’s Looking At Me. She’s A Cute Little Spud, Isn’t She? She Slimmed Me, And I Feel So Funky. Happy Halloween
Image credits: landons_league
#86 It Was The First Halloween Where I Was Completely Wheelchair-Bounded, So My Mother And I Decided We Would Go As Lou & Andy From Little Britain
Image credits: xlifewithleoandluna
#87 Recycled Last Year's Idea To Universal And Overwhelming Acclaim, All Along The East End Of Commercial Drive
Image credits: theadamroper
#88 Here's Our Couple's Costume
Image credits: joshsundquist
#89 The Flinstones Halloween Costume
Image credits: Ryan McCubbin
#90 We Built A Mario Kart Wheelchair Costume For A Kid
Image credits: ArgusRun
#91 I’m Three Weeks Out From My Amputation. Here’s My Halloween Costume. I Crocheted The Shark Myself
Image credits: Monster315Says
#92 The Time I Made A Custom Wheelchair Costume For My BFF's Sweet Grandson
Image credits: GermanShepherdMomz
#93 My Halloween Costume This Year! Gingerbread & Milk
Image credits: victoriajoy
#94 Family Costume! The Mandalorian, Baby Yoda / Grogu And The Pod
Image credits: mrplmr
#95 First Halloween Using My Walker For My Chronic Pain, So I Had To Think A Bit Outside The Box
Image credits: taytay1144
#96 Show Off
Image credits: walkwithaustin
#97 Wheelchair Budget-Friendly Costume: Barbie's Car
Image credits: aticcersguidetolife
#98 My Halloween Costume This Year. How Unoriginal Of Me, I Always Wear The Same Thing
Image credits: radicalmaxine
#99 Wheelchair Budget-Friendly Costume Reveal
Image credits: aticcersguidetolife
#100 Cancer Took My Eye Last Month But Not My Sense Of Humor. I Was Ralphie (A Christmas Story) For Halloween. You'll Shoot Your Eye Out
Image credits: orbitaltumor
#101 Mine And My Girlfriend’s Halloween Costumes Last Year
Image credits: coldpepperoni
#102 Some Halloween Wheelchair Costumes From Over The Years
Image credits: ellyhop123
#103 This Is Awesome. Russell Was Surprised Yesterday With A Custom Halloween Costume Made To Fit His Wheelchair. He Is The Court
Image credits: ABLE_Youth
#104 2016 Swimmer Seth
Image credits: mmmarinello
#105 Happy Halloween
Image credits: theadamroper
#106 Haddie’s Wheelchair Carriage Costume. Haddie Adored It
Image credits: little.brave_
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