Mary Lou Spiess ( – June 18, 1992) was an American disability advocate, teacher, and designer of disabled fashion.

Biography

Mary Lou Spiess was born Mary Lou Crump, around 1931. After graduating from

Analy High School Analy High School (temporarily West County High School) is a public high school in Sebastopol, Sonoma County, California. It was established in 1908 as Analy High School. In 2021 Analy merged with El Molino High School and was known under the wo ...

in 1947, she attended the

College of the Pacific College of the Pacific (less formally Pacific College) is the liberal arts college of the University of the Pacific, a private Methodist-affiliated university with its main campus in Stockton, California. The college offers degrees in the natural ...

, and graduated in 1950. She married Harold Spiess in 1951. They had a son, and lived in

Sebastopol, California Sebastopol ( ) is a city in Sonoma County, California, with a recorded population of 7,521, per the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. Sebastopol was once primarily a plum- and apple-growing region. Wine grapes are the predominant a ...

when she contracted polio in 1955 at the age of 24. This left Spiess, in her own words, a

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of Motor control, motor and/or Sense, sensory function in the Cervical vertebrae, cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weak ...

. Before her sickness, Spiess was an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

teacher, and by 1960 she was able to successfully work from home as an elementary and

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

level tutor for remedial reading, algebra and languages. This was despite having to sleep in an

iron lung An iron lung is a type of negative pressure ventilator, a medical ventilator, mechanical respirator which encloses most of a person's body and varies the air pressure in the enclosed space to stimulate breathing. It assists breathing when Musc ...

and being reliant upon daily use of a pneumobelt. In 1985, Spiess (now living in

Stockton, California Stockton is a city in and the county seat of San Joaquin County, California, San Joaquin County in the Central Valley (California), Central Valley of the U.S. state of California. It is the most populous city in the county, the List of municipal ...

since 1966, and using a motorised wheelchair to get about) spoke to the ''

Lawrence Journal-World The ''Lawrence Journal-World'' is a daily newspaper published in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, by Ogden Newspapers. History Though the ''Journal-World'' title came into existence in 1911, the paper dates itself to 1858, according to the ...

'' who described her as pioneering, and being "the grandmother" of disabled fashion. Spiess explained how as a disabled person, she noticed that clothing no longer fitted her properly, making it "impossible to look nice", but she was able to think about solutions and operate a sewing machine using her toes. In 1977, she contributed towards ''Le Chic'', a book about clothing and fashion for disabled people authored by disabled people, and edited by Melodie Sells. After Spiess published her thoughts on how to dress smartly as a disabled person, others started consulting her and writing in to ask her advice. Practical issues addressed by Spiess included how to avoid skirts getting caught in wheelchair wheels, and the necessity of robust waistbands that would stay put when the wearer needed to be helped up in her chair. Spiess emphasized in 1985 that it was important for disabled people to access nice clothing for their self-esteem and to present a positive image to other disabled people. In 1985, she was given a Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of the Pacific. Spiess died June 18, 1992, at her home in Stockton, aged 63.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spiess, Mary Lou 1931 births 1992 deaths American women fashion designers 20th-century American designers University of the Pacific (United States) alumni People from Sebastopol, California People from Stockton, California Analy High School alumni American activists with disabilities Polio survivors 20th-century American women artists American disability rights activists American wheelchair users American artists with disabilities American fashion designers