Israeli retailer under fire for ‘disabled’ shirt
Israeli clothing retailer Honigman came under fire on Wednesday for selling a children’s shirt with the word “disabled” on it.
The girls’ long-sleeve shirt sold in Honigman Kids stores and online is available in pink velvet fabric with the words “DISABLED” written in black block letters on a white background across the chest.
“Honigman’s decision to sell a shirt with the word ‘Disabled’ is not only in bad taste, it is offensive to the over one million Israelis who have disabilities,” Jay Ruderman, president of the Ruderman Family Foundation, which advocates for the full inclusion of people with disabilities said.
“Honigman should immediately remove the shirt from its stores and issue an apology to Israel’s disability community before the community organizes a protest of the company’s ill-advised and hurtful product,” he said.
Following an inquiry from The Jerusalem Post, Honigman issued a statement saying it had recalled the shirt and removed it from its website.
“Honigman Kids designed the ‘Disabled’ sweatshirt according to the computing concept ‘access disabled.’ The day after the item arrived in stores there was a recall in all the branches, and the items were returned to the company and the item was removed from the website,” the statement read. “As a result of a technical fault, the shirt appeared again on the site and was removed immediately upon discovery of the problem.”
“The company apologizes for the distress and acted to correct the mistake across all channels,” it added.