Glimmer Boxes for Healthcare Providers

Glimmer Boxes for Healthcare Providers

Care packages for young women with disabilities and chronic illnesses

Care packages for young women with disabilities and chronic illnesses

When you're treating a young woman with a disability or chronic illness, you're focused on her medical management. But her day-to-day reality also includes things like: She can't find a shirt that works with her feeding tube that doesn't look like it came from a medical supply catalog. She's scrolling through Instagram seeing girls in outfits she could never physically wear. She's never seen someone who looks like her in a makeup tutorial or fashion magazine.

These experiences matter. They affect how she sees herself, how connected she feels to her peers, and what she believes is possible for her life.

Glimmer Boxes provide clothing that lets her express herself like anyone else her age, content showing representation of young women with disabilities and chronic illness, and an introduction to nervous system regulation techniques.

Medicine treats the diagnosis. We address what comes alongside it.

What's in a Glimmer Box?

Each Glimmer Box is designed for young women ages 14-26 with disabilities and chronic illnesses. We focus on this age group because they're at a critical point. They are forming their identity, building independence, figuring out who they are beyond their medical condition. Here's what's inside

We worked with Tracy Vollbrecht (a nationally recognized adaptive fashion consultant), occupational therapists, and young women with disabilities to design clothing that's both functional and fashionable. The features use universal design principles, making them work for a wide range of needs:

  • Limited hand mobility or dexterity

  • Wheelchair use

  • Medical equipment (feeding tubes, central lines, insulin pumps, ostomy bags)

  • Hemiplegia or limb differences

  • Sensory processing differences

  • Vision impairments

The adaptive features include:

  • Magnetic closures (easier than traditional buttons)

  • Discreet medical access openings

  • Measurements designed for all-day seated wear

  • Sensory-friendly fabrics

  • QR code tags that work with screen readers to describe color, size, and styling for people with vision impairments

The clothing is designed to look like what any young woman her age would wear, not medical apparel. Research shows that independence in dressing is connected to better mental health outcomes. When she can dress herself in something she feels good wearing, that supports both her functional goals and her sense of self.

Two Pieces of Adaptive Clothing

Signed & Sealed Magazine

A magazine featuring beauty, fashion, and lifestyle content created by young women with disabilities and chronic illnesses, for young women with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

Representation: Shows young women with disabilities in beauty and fashion content, which is rarely seen in mainstream media

Age-appropriate content: Acknowledges that self-expression through fashion and beauty is a normal part of adolescent and young adult development

Screen-free option: Provides physical media as an alternative to social media during hospital stays or downtime

Connection: Features stories from peers with similar experiences

Crystal “Glimmer” Catcher + Letter

A hanging crystal that catches light and creates reflections throughout the day. It comes with a letter explaining the concept of glimmers and how to notice them.

What are glimmers?

The term comes from Deb Dana, a clinician who works with polyvagal theory. Glimmers are small moments that signal safety to the nervous system. They're the opposite of triggers. A warm drink. Sunlight through a window. Light catching a crystal and making patterns on the wall.

For someone managing chronic illness or disability, there can be ongoing medical stress, pain, and unpredictability. Noticing glimmers is one way to help regulate the autonomic nervous system by actively attending to moments of safety and connection.

The crystal creates glimmers (light reflections) and serves as a visual reminder to notice these moments throughout the day. The letter explains the concept and how to practice it as a self-regulation technique.

Research context: NIH research shows that people with chronic diseases who develop stronger psychological coping use healthcare services 2 to 6 times less frequently. Supporting regulation skills alongside medical treatment can improve both psychological and physical health outcomes.

A young woman with braided hair, smiling, wearing a dark blue textured top with puffy sleeves and light blue jeans, standing against a pink background.
Cover of a magazine with a person wearing a cream-colored jacket and blue jeans, surrounded by pink flowers. The cover features various headlines about fashion, beauty, and empowerment, with a barcode at the bottom left corner and a date of November
A gold chain necklace with a large, transparent heart-shaped pendant on a pink background.
Page from a magazine or catalog featuring fashion products with the title "Accidentally Adaptive" by Tracy Vollbrecht. It shows a woman wearing a beige rib-knit polo shirt and a plaid skirt, with images of a pair of tan ankle boots labeled "Alegria's
A young woman with curly red hair sitting on a dark green chair in front of a pink backdrop, looking down and smiling while unzipping her light blue top to reveal a medical device on her chest.

How Healthcare Providers Use Glimmer Boxes

    • Provide the magazine during extended stays as screen-free content that includes disability representation

    • Incorporate adaptive clothing during the stay and include it in discharge planning as a home resource

    • Introduce the glimmers concept as one regulation technique patients can learn and continue using after discharge

  • Use the adaptive clothing during ADL training for dressing assessments and skill-building

    Assess patient ability to manage magnetic closures and medical access features

    Teach compensatory techniques using the clothing, which patients can then take home

    Use the clothing as an example when recommending adaptive features for patients' personal wardrobes

  • Child Life Specialists: Incorporate boxes during psychosocial assessments or when working with patients on identity and adjustment. The magazine and letter provide developmentally appropriate tools for these conversations

    Social Workers: Include boxes in discharge planning to address both practical needs (adaptive clothing) and psychosocial needs (representation, regulation tools) during care transitions

  • Provide boxes to young women transitioning from pediatric to adult healthcare systems. The age-appropriate content helps bridge this transition period when developmentally appropriate resources may be limited.

We partner with hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and healthcare organizations to provide Glimmer Boxes for young women ages 14-26 with disabilities and chronic illnesses.

Ordering:

Volume pricing for orders of 10+ boxes

Compatible with grant funding, departmental budgets, or patient support programs

Fill out our contact form for pricing and implementation details

Getting Started