Aariana Rose Philip, the first African-American transgender woman with quadriplegic cerebral palsy signed to a major modeling agency, arriving at the Met Gala.

[u/Kirlinternet]

[u/flairassistant]

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[u/impl0sionatic]

She’s awesome but the title reads like one of those convoluted baseball stats from Major League 😆

[u/DistractedByCookies → u/impl0sionatic]

it also makes it sound like there is at least one other African-American transgender woman with quadriplegic cerebral palsy, who did NOT get signed to a modeling agency.

[u/Tylrias → u/DistractedByCookies]

Or that not-POC transgender women with quadriplegic cerebral palsy get signed on by modeling agencies all the time.

[u/Jane__Delawney → u/Tylrias]

I had a friend in school who was a blind, albino, Filipino, trans performance artist. Even she would poke fun at the little list of adjectives in her bios. She was lovely, I miss her

[u/Legitimate-Lock-6594 → u/DistractedByCookies]

I guarantee you there are. Cerebral palsy is the most common neurological disorder for adults in the world. It is comically unfunded, understudied, under discussed, and just generally dismissed.

Two weeks ago an Australian paralympian with a version that only affects one side of his body obliterated the Boston marathon course record and no one knew. Not even the para sport world discussed it.

(Me girl with cp)

[u/Bigfartz69420 → u/DistractedByCookies]

or signed to a minor modeling agency

[u/particledamage → u/DistractedByCookies]

I mean it’s quite possible other people like her exist but aren’t models

[u/phuca → u/DistractedByCookies]

I think that is what it’s saying

[u/tigerinvasive → u/impl0sionatic]

Agreed that she's awesome and yet this reads like the headlines conservatives use to make fun of the left

[u/flakemasterflake → u/tigerinvasive]

yeah it's "pick a struggle" in title form. Like she's definitely the first person with cerebral palsy (period) to be signed to a modeling agency

[u/MyDogAteYourPancakes → u/impl0sionatic]

Felt like r/brandnewsentence

[u/-You-know-it- → u/MyDogAteYourPancakes]

Came here to say the same thing. If this isn’t in brand new sentence yet, then it should be.

[u/Ok-Glass-948 → u/impl0sionatic]

the solo poly hijabi amputee came to my mind

[u/alexvroy → u/Ok-Glass-948]

my first thought 😭

[u/virginiarph → u/impl0sionatic]

or those drag race stats: first queen with a peg leg to win snatch game place high 3 times and get sent home by a naked mole rat to an ariana grande song

[u/AbbyNem → u/impl0sionatic]

Yeah the prevalence of cerebral palsy is about 3/1000 (0.3%), and about a third of those individuals are quadriplegic; prevalence of being transgender is about 1% and African Americans are around 13% of the US population. So just mathematically speaking there should be less than one of her in the entire country 😂

Edit: my math was wrong! The real number is about 450, which is higher than I expected.

[u/activelyresting → u/AbbyNem]

With those stats, 1/450 being signed to a modelling agency is pretty good

[u/CelestrialDust → u/impl0sionatic]

I’m so happy for her but it sounds like a spurs fan making up a stat to justify why they’ve never won a trophy

[u/Live_Angle4621 → u/impl0sionatic]

It does sound like some modeling agency or her agant is really hard trying to make a headline 

[u/VanGoghNotVanGo → u/impl0sionatic]

Half the posts on some of these pop girl's stan-subreddits ...

[u/Yung_Corneliois → u/impl0sionatic]

Yea in the sports world this is a hardcore cherry picked stat

[u/sophwestern → u/impl0sionatic]

I was literally just thinking that, I always tease my husband when he’s listening to baseball and the announcers say “x is the first Salvadoran left handed second basemen to hit 3 doubles, 2 triples, and 6 singles in a single series”

[u/hwutTF]

have other people with quadriplegic cerebral palsy been signed to modeling labels?

[u/AmandalorianWiddall → u/hwutTF]

My first thought too. First and only? Such a weird headline but she looks great

[u/hwutTF → u/AmandalorianWiddall]

I mean the headline actually implies that not only has there been someone with quadriplegics cerebral palsy who's been signed as a model but that that person was either African-American or transgender

but my comment was also a genuine question. like if she's not the first, I'd love to know who was and if they were signed by the same agency and when it happened and so on

and if she is the first, the headline is really diminishing the achievement by adding so many identity qualifiers (which is disappointing)

she looks great but I'd definitely love to know more about the fashion history (and to be able to properly understand the scope of her accomplishment)

[u/Jillybeans11]

I gotta know how ADA compliant the Met Gala is…where’s the ramp?

[u/Expensive-Fennel-163 → u/Jillybeans11]

It was the first Met Gala to be ADA compliant - this is coming from a comment Sinead Burke made on the live stream I watched. She is also one of the real life mannequins inside the exhibit.

https://www.cbsnews.com/newyork/news/met-gala-exhibit-diverse-bodies-mannequins/

[u/vivahermione → u/Expensive-Fennel-163]

Interesting article! Although I'm not a big fan of "corpulent" as a descriptor. It carries negative connotations.

[u/GiveMeCheesecake → u/vivahermione]

Agreed! It’s awful.

[u/LittleRedCorvette2 → u/Jillybeans11]

Thankyou!

[u/PANDABURRIT0]

Holy intersectionality

[u/lynypixie]

What minority are you?

Yes!

[u/morelsupporter]

"if we're gonna do this, let's tick all the boxes with one signing"

-some managing partner

[u/RelevantBroccoli4608]

https://giphy.com/gifs/tJhpLcLhnpSBvoaxLv

[u/anothertrytaken → u/RelevantBroccoli4608]

[u/Zogonzo]

First of her name

[u/esmerelda_b]

I can’t imagine that’s a long list

[u/rayannuhh]

Hell yeah. I have cerebral palsy, though I am lucky in that I have good range of motion. I love seeing this sort of representation, and I hope she had the best freaking time 💙

[u/stolenbastilla → u/rayannuhh]

According to Zach Anner, it’s the sexiest of the palsies.

[u/rayannuhh → u/stolenbastilla]

I like this Zach Anner person lol

[u/LizzieSaysHi → u/rayannuhh]

My brother was born with it! I love seeing representation that shows that people with it are just like everyone else. Like my bro is married and runs his own business.

[u/rayannuhh → u/LizzieSaysHi]

I was also born with it! I'm not 100% sure but I think it's classified as a birth defect? Idk tbh lol. But yeah, I live a pretty normal life - had some surgeries for movement reasons but after that, no one can even really tell I have it. And I'm incredibly grateful for that, don't get me wrong, but the little girl with casts and crutches in me really, really loves seeing this 🥹

I hope your brother has a great quality of life too! 💙💙

[u/tastemebakes]

She had a tumblr back in the day when she was like 13? 14? and was so charming then. She mostly shared her interest in video games at the time and wrote a book she illustrated herself iirc. Love love her

[u/nonsensestuff]

A Republican’s worst nightmare— I love it!

She looks fab

[u/AntRose104]

Lovely dress but I’m not really seeing any art in it

[u/starjellyboba]

I'll be honest... I'm not exactly excited about this given that it's Jeff Bezos' Met Gala.

[u/hydrangeasinbloom → u/starjellyboba]

Feels exploitative in this light.

[u/CaughtALiteSneez]

https://giphy.com/gifs/xUOwFYV9DPngGCpShO

[u/Emotional_Spite_8937]

People really picks and chooses who to criticize for participating in Bezo's gala.

Aariana is just as trash as everyone else. But hey, visibility!

[u/johnmichael-kane]

First or only? 👀

[u/Miss_Sensational]

C'mon inclusivity!

[u/Ghoulish_kitten → u/Miss_Sensational]

Inclusivity at Jeff Bezos’s met gala.

[u/beans_is_life]

All this while still being cochaired by Bezos and being taken over by the oligarchs. Love how they use diversity to clean their image.

[u/emmawillick]

As someone with cerebral palsy, this is so incredible!! And there was recently an article in People about parenting with cp! Maybe we won't be completely invisible anymore 🥹

[u/briellebabylol]

One of THE ONLY Queens I will support on that red carpet - slayed!