Clothing that talks , so I don’t have to.
WE ARE EENIE AND OODIE AND WE HAVE AUTISM. HOW WE GO ABOUT THINGS IS WAY DIFFERENT THAN MOST TEENAGERS. WE TYPE TO TALK, ALL THE TIME NOT JUST WHEN WE TEXT, WHICH CAN TAKE A FAIR AMOUNT OF TIME. WE HAVE FOOD ALLERGIES UP THE WAZOO WHICH STINKS! WE LITERALLY DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY EVEN THOUGH WE ALL LOOK DIFFERENT, WHY EVERYONE TRIES TO BE SO LIKE EACH OTHER? EVERYTHING ISN'T JUST BLACK AND WHITE, WE SPEAK FROM EXPERIENCE. WE WE MAKE DIGIT FIDGET POCKET HOODIES TO SHARE THAT MESSAGE. DIGIT FIDGET POCKET HOODIES ARE WAYBEYONDTHELABEL! THEY AREN'T LIKE ALL THE OTHER HOODIES, AND WHILE WE ALL SHARE SIMILARITIES WE ARE WAYBEYONDTHELABEL TOO! WE ARE INDIVIDUALS WITH OUR OWN "POP OF COLOR."
Words are hard for us. So, when we use them, please know that they are chosen very carefully and are full of meaning. There are lots of words on this page. Words that will try, as best we can, to describe what it is to be Beyond the Label.
Beyond the Label evolved from struggle. We struggled to fit in. We struggled to meet expectations. We struggled to check boxes. We struggled to meet the ideas of what society says we should look and sound like. One day, we gave ourselves permission to live our lives beyond those labels that weighed us down. We allowed ourselves to jump outside the boxes that our struggles confined us to and allowed us to begin life our way.
Beyond the Label is also a story of healing. The brand was started by Keagan and Ben Sweeney, siblings who are nonverbal. Their daily battles for acceptance led them and their family, to a place of frustration, fear, and a life full of exclusion. Everyone had ideas of what they should be doing: school, teachers, aides, therapists. So many ideas were prescribed, except for 2 critical pieces that were always left out. No one ever bothered to stop and ask for Keagan and Ben’s ideas. What were their goals for themselves? What dreams did they have? What difficulties were they going through? No one knew. Because no one asked. Keagan and Ben needed space from others’ ideas and expectations. They needed a place to share what was in their hearts and on their minds in real time.
Feeling the need for that space, Keagan began to look for ways to advocate for herself. So, one school day, she put her silver sequined mini skirt in her sweatshirt pocket. She loved the way it felt to rub her hands across the smooth shiny fabric that gently tickled her hands. Without words, she declared this is what I need. Her mom heard her clearly and asked grandma to sew the skirt into Keagan’s pocket so that it would be there for her every day. This was the birth of the first ever Fidgetpocket. It was also a beginning for her because something else was born that day: Keagan’s realization that she could have power over her own life.
There are 2 million AAC device users in America, over 2 million people who also communicate their wants and needs non-verbally, just like Keagan. Yet there is very little access to AAC communication within the cities and towns that they live in. Schools may set goals for learning to request basic wants and needs, but beyond that there are limited environments that AAC users can actively engage in without being the only ones speaking it, teaching it, or asking people to slow down to interact with it.
Finally, Beyond the Label is a mission. Our mission is to celebrate the many joyous ways humans exist in the world. Some of us communicate verbally. Some are AAC users. Some have 20/20 eyesight; some have low vision or no vision. Humans come in different sizes, different shapes, different colors…SO. MANY. LABELS. We want to encourage people to see beyond them and just begin. Begin to embrace who you are, who others are, your advantages, your challenges, and choose to live your life Beyond the Label.
This is our place that we created to break free from boxes and we invite you here to share our space with us. Her is a safe place where you BEGIN! You begin to do it your way, however that looks, and there is NO wrong way. Life in real time. Life unscripted.
