Explore how support workers can respect identity and self-expression through clothing, hair, and personal style in everyday disability support.

Adults with disability are first and foremost adults. Yet all too often, they’re spoken to in patronising tones, offered limited choices, or treated as though they lack the maturity or rights that other adults take for granted. Whether intentional or not, this behaviour is infantilising—and it undermines autonomy, self-esteem, and human dignity.

In disability support work, upholding adult status, agency, and decision-making rights is fundamental. Respecting someone’s autonomy doesn’t mean leaving them without help—it means offering support in a way that empowers, includes, and never diminishes.