Jack Eyers had his leg removed when he was 16 years old, but it didn’t stop him from strutting his stuff down the catwalk during New York Fashion Week.
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The 25-year-old male amputee model, from the United Kingdom, walked in the FTL Moda show on Sunday with other disabled models from around the world, showcasing designs by Antonio Urzi.
“It all feels so surreal — I can’t believe this is actually happening,” Eyers told Caters News in a release. “To be the first male amputee model on a New York Fashion Week runway feels amazing – it feels like such a big deal. I just want to show that having a disability doesn’t need to hold you back. I want people to see me and to realize that there needs to be more disabled models walking the runway.”
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
Eyers was born with proximal femoral focal deficiency, a condition that affects leg growth. In primary school, he would get bullied and when he was about 7 years old, he remembers saying he wanted to have his leg amputated, but he had to wait until it stopped growing.
“It felt like this devil attached to me,” Eyers said. “When I finally got it removed, it felt like I’d been reborn.”
After learning about the company Models for Diversity, he decided to get into modeling and has now been nominated for Men’s Health magazine’s Man of the Year award.
Kevin Mazur/WireImage
“I just want to show that having a disability doesn’t need to hold you back,” he said. “I want people to see me, and to realize that there needs to be more disabled models walking the runway.”
What do you think of Eyers’s modeling debut? Share your thoughts below.
–Alexandra Zaslow
