Sinéad Burke

Sinéad Burke
Nationality Irish
Website http://minniemelange.com/

Sinéad Burke is an Irish writer, academic and broadcaster, popular for her TED talk on 'Why design should include everyone'.[1]

Education

Burke trained as a primary school teacher, graduating from Marino Institute of Education at the top of her class and winning the Vere Foster medal. She is currently working on a PhD at Trinity College, Dublin on human rights education, with a particular focus on how schools allow children to have a voice.

Fashion and design activism

As a 16 year old, Burke often felt excluded from fashion conversations and experiences due to her limited choices available to her as someone with achondroplasia, so she starting blogging to highlight the exclusive nature of the fashion industry. “People didn’t take me seriously because of my physical aesthetic, so I started blogging… and calling out the [fashion] industry”.[2] She co-founded the Inclusive Fashion and Design Collective (IFDC) with the US disability advocate Liz Jackson in order to "challenge designers who traditionally haven’t been thinking very diversely, to work with people with disabilities, and find beautiful solutions to these problems. Aesthetics are so important, but if you look at products specifically designed for the disabled community, they’re quite ugly." Jackson and Burke were invited to attend the White House for an event titled 'Design for all' where the Obama administration highlighted the intersection of fashion and disability.[3] Burke actively campaigns to highlight the importance of inclusive design in all areas of life due to the practical challenges she faces in living and moving in a world that was not designed for people with disabilities. "Design is an enormous privilege, but it is a bigger responsibility".[4]

Burke is an ambassador for the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children and the Irish Girl Guides.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Burke, Sinéad, Why design should include everyone, retrieved 2017-12-11
  2. ↑ Gorman, Brigid O (2016-07-08). "Social media changed my life, says Sinéad Burke". Silicon Republic. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  3. ↑ "How Sinead Burke is making the fashion world wake up to disability". 2017-02-04. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
  4. ↑ "Sinéad Burke has designs on a more accessible world". 2017-07-29. Retrieved 2017-12-12.
  5. ↑ "Meet our new Ambassador! - Irish Girl Guides". Irish Girl Guides. 2017-05-02. Retrieved 2017-12-11.
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