Just months on from the “diverse” Barbie range, more toy manufacturers and designers are creating products that truly represent the diverse world we live in.
As reported by NPR, more and more toy makers are jumping on to this trend, including designing dolls with disabilities.
Brands like American Girl sell dolls with accessories reflecting an assortment of disabilities (leg braces, crutches and wheelchairs) and even equipped one doll with a diabetes kit.
On top of that, they also provide a service that allows parents and children to have their doll fastened with a hearing aid – a feature that 10-year-old Dominika Tamley heralded with pride.
“She’s like a mini-me,” Dominika says.
“Because she has a hearing aid and I have a hearing aid.”
Numerous brands are following suit, with Toys ”R” Us and Lego selling disabled dolls and accessories of their own.
Toys “R” Us now stock a Journey Girls Wheelchair and Crutch Set.
Not only do disabled dolls help those children living with a disability, but it also helps to normalise disabilities in those children who don’t live with one.
Sian Jones, social psychologist of Goldsmith University of London is just one of many psychologists who stress that kids who play with toys that represent disability can, in fact, help heighten their levels of empathy.
