SIXTY-five children will take part in a catwalk with a difference today as part of York Fashion Week.

The York Inspirational Kids Fashion Show brings together disabled children and their families for a fun fundraising afternoon at York's Grand Opera House at 2.30pm on Saturday (March 30).

Inspirational Kids, a support group for families who have a disabled child, want to show fashion designers, retailers and others within the industry that disabled children want to be fashionable but need a few adaptations to help them access everyday clothing.

These adaptations create adjustable clothing, adapted fastenings such as magnets or Velcro, fashionable shoes with Velcro fastenings in adult sizes and seamless clothing to accommodate sensory issues.

Today’s show aims to raise awareness, encourage inclusivity and raise funds for Stimul8 to build a leisure and training facility for disabled children and young people in York.

Both Stimul8 and York Inspirational Kids are run by Ruth Thompson, from Poppleton, who has a disabled daughter, 14-year-old Georgina, who was born with the Cytomegalovirus (CMV) virus.

This caused her to have a stroke and attacked her optic nerve, leading to her being born blind – although she now has a little vision – with severe epilepsy and learning difficulties.

“As Georgina has grown, I’ve become more and more aware of the gaps in provision for play and development and just knew I needed to do something about it,” she says.

Ruth and business partner Jo Rodwell are fund-raising to build a state-of-the-art facility to provide nursery care for very complex-needs children, a fully-adapted play centre and NVQ/ training hub, plus some paid work for disabled children and young people.

“With Jo’s help, we know this is going to make a difference to so many families,” she says.

Today’s fashion show will “take you on a journey of creativity, colour and inclusion”.

As Jo says: “At the end of the day, they’re just children who want to have fun and dress like their peers. If they need wider legs to help go over splints, higher waists or longer T-shirts to enable wheelchair users not to get cold, then it really shouldn’t be too much to ask.

“Just getting a wheelchair into some of the stores can be impossible. This fashion show will highlight these children’s fashion needs and will showcase what some retailers are doing to accommodate them. We are so grateful that the Grand Opera House also thought this was a priority too and is enabling us to put on this show.”

Tickets cost £5 adults, £2 children, on 0844 871 3024 or at atgticketrs.com/york.