Eye Can Wear It (Gemma Styles Eyewear)

As usual, all questions in this article are rhetorical unless stated otherwise

I talk about Pleasing a lot (rightfully so), but so many companies and brands exclude wheelchair users. Another company still excluding wheelchair users is Gemma Styles Eyewear (which I’ll be shortening to GSE muliple times in this article).

I posted a Tiktok calling out their ableism in August of 2023, but I haven’t mentioned it since. I’m just now realizing I haven’t written and published an article about it until now.

Gemma [Styles] seems like a nice, caring, kind person, so it doesn’t make sense to me why she would exclude us. I understand putting that assumption on her isn’t fair and I could be wrong, she may not care at all. But witnessing her talking with Sophie Butler on Gemma’s podcast and Gemma sharing a post about some beaches becoming wheelchair accessible, I find that idea incredibly difficult to believe.

As far as I’m aware, GSE sells both clear, seeing glasses (for lack of a better way to describe them) and sunglasses. And, regardless of ANYTHING, able-bodied and nondisabled people aren’t the only people that wear glasses. Wheelchair users do too.

GSE has also already shared multiple photos of dogs wearing multiple pairs of their glasses. Dogs before human beings? Yeah. That makes sense. (I say with the utmost sarcasm.)

Something I hear a lot (and what you may be wondering) is “why does it matter” because “it’s just glasses”. Let me tell you this: you’re right. It is just glasses. It’s just glasses so why not include more people? And it matters because, no matter who it upsets, wheelchair users exist. We exist and we have our own lives. We exist and that means we deserve to be included. We deserve to see ourselves being included.

It shouldn’t even be a QUESTION.

Gemma Styles Eyewear doesn’t acknowledge that.

Their lack of action - their complete exclusion of wheelchair users - is not okay. This needs to change ASAP.

Comment why eyewear representation matters to you!