There are some who patiently and excitedly wait all year for that magical and macabre time of year, Halloween, to don costumes and go collect candy from their neighborhood. Some portion of this group are undoubtedly people with disabilities. 

We’ve gathered some of the most clever and creative costumes put together by people with disabilities. These folks have ingeniously put together outfits to suit their interests and needs, so get comfortable as you scroll through and be sure to upvote your favorite posts. Comment your thoughts and ideas below.  

#1 Happy Halloween

Image credits: riseupforrhys

#2 My Halloween Costume This Year. Have To Be Creative With My Walker. Rubber Ducky In The Bath

Image credits: taytay1144

#3 Jeremy’s Back To The Future DeLorean Wheelchair Costume - Halloween 2020

Image credits: RyanSMiller

If you believe that trying to trick or treat while disabled is a niche issue, think again. According to the World Health Organization, there are around 1.3 billion people out there with some form of disability. That's about 16% of the world’s population. You may not notice that many of them simply because mobility issues can and do limit the time disabled people might spend in public.

Regardless, people with disabilities like trick or treating and creating costumes as much as the next person. So there are a few things you can do to make your home more accessible if you are the type of person who hands out candy. 

#4 Limited Edition Barbie Costume

Image credits: idayumokhtar

#5 This Elderly Woman Dressed As Olenna Tyrell. Her Wheelchair Was Turned Into The Iron Throne And She Even Had An Assistant In Costume. As The Queen Of Thorns, She Looked Perfect

Image credits: fandom.com

#6 Diver In The Shark Cage Costume

My grandson is in the shark cage. He is a special needs child who can't walk or talk. His father has been making these costumes since he was little. His father makes him a part of everyday life events and Halloween is his best. Materials used are cardboard cut for the theme he wants, glued, painted, and tied to hold onto the wheelchair. The idea came from his mother and brother because they like anything to do with the ocean.

Image credits: costume-works.com

While this doesn’t just apply to people with disabilities, it can be worth it to consider a few non-candy alternatives for people with various dietary restrictions. On top of that, as is pretty visible with some of the costumes here, trick-or-treaters might not be able to properly see or access your goodies, so also think about ways to make your stash easier to reach and see. It never hurts to be able to explain what exactly you have on offer. 

#7 My Sister's Boyfriend Was Born With An Underdeveloped Hand. This Was Their Halloween Costume

Image credits: taylorguitar13

#8 Happy Halloween. This Was Made With Sweat, Tears And One Giant Meltdown

Image credits: cheethamswithdreams

#9 Am I Worthy To Wield This Costume? This Halloween I’m Dressing As Jonathan, Ahem, Mjölnir

Image credits: Josh Sundquist

While it might seem obvious in retrospect, also consider just how accessible or inaccessible your front door is. Is the driveway steep, are there multiple stairs before the door, questions that are all worth looking at if you want to be more helpful come Halloween. There is nothing wrong with placing your bowl, bag, or other container closer to street level. 

#10 "It's A-Me, Mario, Luigi And Princess Peach." Happy Halloween

Image credits: justcallmemamma

#11 E.T. Phone Home

Image credits: hannahcagle2013

#12 Incorporating A Wheelchair Into A Costume Properly. She Always Pays Her Debts

Image credits: FRANKMIR

However, not everyone in a costume is trick or treating, Halloween parties are a pretty common excuse for people to break out their creative skills and make something. While these days, fan-favorite characters and pop culture icons dominate, historically, the Halloween costume was intended to scare. 

#13 Astronaut Emmy

Image credits: jodi_blair

#14 My First Amputee-Themed Costume - Baby Shark Attack

Image credits: tarasv3

#15 Payton Sure Looks Handsome Sitting In His Adaptive Halloween Costume. Cutest, Most Stylish Maverick

Image credits: steph_stanley12

The modern version of Halloween costumes and trick-or-treating isn’t actually that modern. It was first recorded in 1911, in Kingston, Ontario. At the time, it was still an activity mostly related to children and in general, people at the time saw it as more of a children's holiday. As Victorian norms dissipated, adults began to feel more comfortable celebrating as well. 

#16 I Am More Of A My Body Is Half There Instead Of Half Gone Type Of Girl

Image credits: huelya_dennis

#17 I’m An Amputee. Here’s My Halloween Costume This Year

Image credits: DeadZeppelin011

#18 Amputee Halloween Is The Best Halloween! And You Cannot Change My Mind

Image credits: aannggeellll

As always, as soon as businessmen saw a market, mass production, and marketing followed. By the 1930s, multiple companies across North America were making standardized costumes for children, mostly focused on the most common monsters, from werewolves to skeletons, vampires, and ghosts. 

#19 Sushi Roll

Image credits: jordyn_gualdani

#20 Yesteryear, When Things Were "Normal". I Miss Those Times

Image credits: jfetchko12

#21 Chef Mo Doing Her Best Gordon Ramsay This Halloween

Image credits: mightymonasmama

In the 21st century, superheroes have supplanted monsters, for better or worse and adults tend to enjoy dressing up as their favorite characters from movies and television. Now, even celebrities and politicians are fair game, particularly if they have some recognizable physical feature or mannerism that can be reproduced easily. 

#22 Without The Ruby Red Slippers, I Doubt I’ll Be Headed Back Home To Alberta Anytime Soon. Nonetheless, Happy Halloween Everyone

Image credits: ifican.chriskoch

#23 Blackjack Dealer At The Max Grand

Image credits: rachill_out

#24 For Years I’ve Been Talking About Fully Incorporating My Scooter Into A Halloween Costume And This Year I Finally Did It

Image credits: overcomeyours

Unsurprisingly, the Halloween costume market, alongside the Halloween decoration market is quite large, sitting at about $3.2 billion in 2019. By 2022, this number had almost tripled, to $10.6 billion, showing that, perhaps, the macabre, spookier nature of Halloween was on people’s minds more than ever. 

#25 Each Year My Wife Builds A Costume For My Son's Wheelchair. This Year He's The Zombie Monster Truck

Image credits: G3g3nsch3in

#26 Volunteers Gathered At The Offices Of RS&H In Deerwood Park To Reveal And Deliver The Adaptive Halloween Costumes Requested By Wheelchair-Bound Children

Image credits: jaxdotcom

#27 Grateful For A Sprinkling Of Magic That Turns Wheelchairs Into Spaceships. For Babies In Fuzzy Costumes And Big Kids In Spookier Ones

Image credits: kayla_craig

Statistically, at least half of US consumers report that they would probably buy a costume and decorations. Predictably, adult costumes were considerably more expensive than children's costumes, as they are generally larger and adults who are really into Halloween are happy to spend more on a premium-tier costume. 

#28 It Was So Fun To Dress Up And See All The Little Kids In Their Costumes

Image credits: camille_vanzant1989

#29 Terminator-In

Image credits: gina.ruhl

#30 My New Arms Complete The Costume! Happy Halloween

Image credits: the_chaseman

While the costumes in this list are truly incredible, disabled people have been going above and beyond every year to make something cool for Halloween. So if you want to see more creative costumes, look no further, Bored Panda has gathered the best examples from 2021 and 2022. 

#31 My 5-Year-Old Going As A “Pile Of Crayons” For Halloween. They’re Made From Pool Noodles, Hockey Tape And Construction Paper And Tied Together So They Can Be Hung On Her Walker

Image credits: muthernurture

#32 Halloween 2020 Was A Little Less Spooky And A Whole Lot Weirder. Fitting For The Year

Image credits: kirstie_ennis

#33 I'm An Amputee And I Usually Make Cosplays Around My Bionic Arm, But Trading It Out For The Chainsaw This Time Was Worth It

Image credits: fullmetalharmony

#34 My Prince Charming Surprised Me With This Cinderella Carriage Wheelchair Costume

Image credits: the_disabled_diva

#35 I Promised These Girls The Most Epic, Coolest, Fastest Car They Could Drive On Halloween

Image credits: tabithasewer

#36 My Grandma Found A Clever Way To Incorporate Her Walker Into Her Halloween Costume

Image credits: WetLikeImBook

#37 This Buzz Lightyear Costume Came As A Set With The Wheelchair Spaceship Attachments

Image credits: brando_wando_

#38 This Cute Firefighter

Image credits: theunstoppablemiss_t_andcp

#39 Halloween Present And Past - What Should Next Year Be?

Image credits: akcollins

#40 Halloween, We Are So Ready For You

Image credits: briellaandme

#41 Ghostbusters' Costumes For Halloween

Image credits: sarahandsamweyrich

#42 Winners Of The Ranken Jordan Pediatric Bridge Hospital Fall Festival Contest

Image credits: oconnor_strong

#43 Amputee Zombie Costume

Image credits: the__hopper

#44 Trick-Or-Treat

Image credits: campnolimits

#45 Dad Builds His Son An Oilers' Zamboni Over His Wheelchair For Halloween

Image credits: DJ Oetting

#46 Halloween Costume Of 2022! Sam Made It Easy For Mom This Year

Image credits: samvsvwm

#47 I Don’t Know What’s Better… The Costume In General, Or Watching Matt’s Ref Calls And Skating

Image credits: silas_saga

#48 Had A Great Time At A Halloween Costume Party. Won 2nd Place For Best Costume

Image credits: rycandoit

#49 My Right Leg Had To Be Amputated About A Month Ago, So This Year’s Halloween Costume Was A Cinch

Image credits: MeetIRV

#50 Ernie Taking A Bubble Bath With His Rubber Duckie, 2018

My son’s wheelchair was wrapped with some really thin styrofoam and I made gelatin bubbles along with balloons and batting and claw feet out of mug root beer bottles. School contest winner for originality... It was hard to beat the previous costumes!

Image credits: An_so_wat

#51 Ghostbusters' Car Wheelchair Costume

Image credits: josh_graff

#52 Advanced Wars' Yellow Comet Army Wheelchair Tank

Image credits: Cactrotx

#53 Happy Halloween! What Do You Dress Like When You’re Standing On One Leg?⁣ A Flamingo & A Peeping Tom Birdwatcher

Image credits: amypurdygurl

#54 Adaptive Model Lexie Bader Rocks The Latest Buccaneer Duds

Image credits: Lexie Bader

#55 Absolutely The Most Awesome Costume

Image credits: 1MotorsportTeam

#56 A Look Back At Some Of The Magnificent Costumes Henry Has Worn

Image credits: erinrhinson

#57 Leo And Rocket From The Little Einsteins, 2018

Fabricated rocket with cardboard that fit over my son’s wheelchair. His hair was sculpted from expanding foam. Won most creative in school contest. I was planning to make the Coronavirus-19 as his next costume but it became pandemic so unfortunately, this was my last build. I’m hoping this year I can build another costume. 

Image credits: An_so_wat

#58 Father Of The Year. Son With A Disability And His Halloween Costume

Image credits: photonnymous

#59 Me And My Wheelchair Are A Denver Car For Halloween

Image credits: wgnpiict

#60 This Wheelchair Costume

Image credits: Christi14549614

#61 Happy Halloween From A Me, Mario

Image credits: myinvisiblebff

#62 So Here's Wonder Soldier. Wonder Woman And Winter Soldier Cross. When You Want The Best Of Both Worlds

Image credits: aannggeellll

#63 Happy Halloween

Image credits: charlenelgc

#64 If You’re Gonna Be Punk You May As Well Be Steam Punk

Image credits: nojuicejoe

#65 We Had A Great Evening At Avon Valley Park For Their Last Halloween Event. We Even Dressed Up The Wheelchair, Harmonie Had Great Fun Zooming Around

Image credits: hope4harmonie

#66 Reed’s Ready To Take On The Streets In His John Deere Skid Steer On Trick Or Treat Night, He Says Throw The Candy In The Bucket

Image credits: teamreedcrosby

#67 We Converted My Son's Wheelchair To An Oilers' Zamboni For Halloween

Image credits: therichhotdog

#68 He’s Awake! Back In His Halloween Costume He Goes

Image credits: millionsandwilliams

#69 We Know Costumes Can Be Difficult For Those With CP, But That Doesn't Mean You Can't Get Creative

Image credits: cp_research_network

#70 We Saw So Many Incredible Adaptive Costumes And Super Creative Wheelchair Costumes, Built By The Families In The Community

Image credits: capesforacos

#71 Halloween With A Gait Corrective Walker

Image credits: scooterweATX

#72 Halloween Is Not Only About Putting On A Costume, But It's About Finding The Imagination And Costume Within Ourselves

Image credits: micaos.micausa

#73 Happy Halloween

Image credits: c.a.r.e.centre