Fashion photos published by Interview Magazine on Tuesday depicting reality star Kylie Jenner on a gold wheelchair have outraged supporters of the disabled community and is stirring a debate about discrimation in the fashion industry.

The able-bodied Jenner, who strikes various poses in a provocative bustier, a choker and high-heeled shoes in the photos, has been the on the receiving end of a stream of mockery and bitter criticism on social media following the release of the photos.  

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"This right here is why I don't rate Kylie Jenner,"  said Twitter user Zara in one tweet. "A gold wheelchair?  Disability is so unglamorous."

Others have used the photos as a way to share their own experiences of having to rely on wheelchair for mobility.  "I'm constantly infantilized because of my wheelchair, denied even the idea of sexuality and agency let alone desirability," tweeted Kayla Whaley. "But Kylie?"

There have been a multitude of such messages across social networks, according to the BBC.

Chelsea Jay, who heads Disability for Models of Diversity, a campaign calling for more diversity in the modeling industry, has said her organization is completely against the images.  But she puts primary blameon the magazine and the fashion industry for the hypocrisy she claims the photos demonstrate.

"It's very bad taste to place a celebrity figure in the position of a disabled person in an editorial sense," Jay said.  "However in reality, the fashion industry shuns actual models who in real life, depend on these mobility aids, yet are excluded for this exact reason."

Author and spirit medium Jessica Jewett, who requires a wheelchair for mobility, agrees. 

"Kylie posing in a wheelchair when she doesn't actually need a wheelchair is harmful to the disabled community on two levels," said Jewett.  "It's making light of extremely difficult lives often lived below the poverty level, and also it's taking away jobs in the media from actual disabled models and actors."   

Interview Magazine has, meanwhile, defended the photos and the decision to publish them.  "At Interview, we are proud of our tradition of working with great artists and empowering them to realize their distinct and often bold visions," the magazine told E! News.  "The Kylie Jenner cover by Steven Klein, which references the British artist Allen Jones, is part of this tradition." 

Jenner, the youngest daughter of former Olympic athlete Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner and TV personality Kris Jenner, is yet to issue a formal response to the controversy.

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