Kyle Maynard and Cyler Sanderson

Abercrombie & Fitch Takes on Disability
www.bentvoices.org
REAL LIFE
by Tom Metz

"When I saw the Abercrombie & Fitch ad featuring Kyle Maynard, congenital amputee, with his direct gaze, bold and challenging, it scared me a little. I thought, here's a kid who could whup my ass. Turns out I was right. He's a wrestler.

I know Kyle is meant to be the ad's featured model, because on the facing page he is given top billing and space for a 135-word essay in which to state his philosophy of life. The young man giving Kyle a piggyback ride, Cyler Sanderson, who is not an amputee, is granted only thirty-three words in which to state his philosophy, the last four of which are, "… and Kyle's my inspiration." But Cyler is no potted plant. If anything, he scares me a little more than Kyle."