Disabilities-inclusive fashion show coming to Saginaw this weekend

SAGINAW, MI – There’s a popular event usually held in Flint coming to Saginaw for the first time this weekend.

The This Is Me fashion show will celebrate youths and young adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

Related: We Are Flint: This is Me special needs fashion show shines in its fifth year

Tracy Palmer, creator of the inclusive fashion show, said she’s excited to pair with Shortorah Carter and bring the event to Saginaw.

“I’m excited to partner with Shortorah because she is one of my faithful parents of This Is Me. Her son has participated in it in Flint,” Palmer said. “I was just excited, you know, to collaborate with a mom that deals with special needs all the time.”

Palmer added it’s important for her to create a platform and safe space for people in another city because families like the ones she has worked with in Flint are everywhere.

Carter is the founder of Grateful Love Foundation, which began after her son, Nehemiah Tarrant, who is now 16, was born.

Tarrant was born with Down syndrome, and Carter started hosting Down syndrome walks in the Saginaw area when he turned 3.

In doing so, Carter said multiple questions poured in from families with children who also had disabilities, and her nonprofit organization was born in December 2022.

Grateful Love Foundation “empowers, advocates and educates youth ages birth through 18 with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their families,” Carter said.

Related: A safe place for adults with developmental disabilities means everyone can be included

On Sunday, April 28, 13 participants will walk the runway showing off their personalities in their favorite clothes and designer-donated clothes.

There will be a dance number followed by three scenes in which participants will walk the runway and model different outfits.

The show will take place at 5 p.m. at the Buena Vista Community Center, 1940 S. Outer Drive. Tickets can be purchased at the door for $20 or online here.

“We get out in the community and support all kinds of things, events sell out, they deserve the same thing,” Carter said.

“I hope it brings the community together. We all need one another. Inclusion is big. Children, young adults and adults that have disabilities, they deserve to be included in things, they deserve to be celebrated, they deserve to be able to express themselves.”

Related: ‘Wonderfully Unique’ pageant celebrates people with disabilities

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