tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447392662850613354.post2726798580629879520..comments2024-02-25T10:24:30.868-05:00Comments on Special needs disability parenting BLOOM: Why I don't believe 'disabled' dolls invoke pityBLOOM - Parenting Kids With Disabilitieshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06901482901008135659noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447392662850613354.post-78605875248413933732018-11-13T21:19:26.795-05:002018-11-13T21:19:26.795-05:00I think it is a cruel thing for disabled children ...I think it is a cruel thing for disabled children to play with disabled dolls. Every child loves beautiful and complete dolls. Even for children with disabilities, why should we remind them that they are different from normal children?Ronnie M Belthttps://www.tomtop.com/p-t2399-1.htmlnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447392662850613354.post-87212839820900690922015-05-30T18:17:59.429-04:002015-05-30T18:17:59.429-04:00Hi Meriah -- I totally agree -- the dolls are for ...Hi Meriah -- I totally agree -- the dolls are for ALL kids, to enable them to imagine and play with all kinds of storylines. Thanks for posting your link. How are you???BLOOM - Parenting Kids With Disabilitieshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06901482901008135659noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447392662850613354.post-7451851068169039272015-05-30T09:18:55.840-04:002015-05-30T09:18:55.840-04:00Dolls with disabilities are great. What I don'...Dolls with disabilities are great. What I don't want to see happen though, is for dolls with disabilities to be purchased and given ONLY to kids with disabilities.<br /> <br />I wrote about it in this post - http://www.meriahnichols.com/dolls-with-down-syndrome/ - but in a nutshell, I'm saying that it would have meant a lot more to me to see a doll with scars or hearing aids being played with by a typically-developing child than it would have meant for me to be given a doll that was like me, with scars and hearing aids.<br /><br />I wouldn't buy my daughter a doll with Down syndrome. But I would buy her a doll who is a wheelchair user. I would buy my friend's child who IS a wheelchair user the doll with Down syndrome.meriahhttp://www.meriahnichols.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447392662850613354.post-53480727161696598822015-05-29T07:01:31.249-04:002015-05-29T07:01:31.249-04:00I think Kirsten is confused about why families sha...I think Kirsten is confused about why families share their stories in the media. She spent her childhood learning to avoid her birthmark. She apparently had thick skin even when she was young. Good for her. I'm glad she never felt ostracized. Not everyone has her experience and it's close minded for her to think every child lives with their differences the way she does. The idea of the dolls doesn't bother me. I find it funny that she says toys in her pre-Internet youth were not "beauty standards." Apparently she and her friends never played with Barbie. I found her article to be very elitist is tone. That I would argue, is far more unattractive than her birthmark. I think the dolls were created to give children something to identify with, to further awareness, and to desensitize the gawker types. Today, the goal is to embrace differences, not avoid them. That doesn't have to be Kirsten's goal. She can spend her time worrying about tanning on the Jersey Shore.Joanne De Simonenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447392662850613354.post-3800393563504189512015-05-28T14:27:32.089-04:002015-05-28T14:27:32.089-04:00It's her opinion and she's voicing it. Sh...It's her opinion and she's voicing it. She did NOT want a doll mirroring her issues. I've known kids with cancer and loss of hair wanting a doll with hair even when they've lost their hair and American Girl has come up with dolls without hair for this very situation. So for those girls (and in this particular case, it's been the vast majority, in my experience), we get them the dolls WITH hair. There are some that do pick a doll without hair or their parent picks one.<br /><br />What Kristin is missing is that by not offering certain doll types, they are NOT available to some who would like to have them and could benefit Those who don't want them can simply demur. <br /><br />The disabled dolls do not tend to sell well. I know Target and some other stores took a bath on dolls without hair. I saw them reduced to nearly nothing--I bought a bunch of them just for their outfits and pitched the dolls, and then there were still many left to be ground up and returned as waste to China. So American Girl is not likely to do disabled dolls--it opens flood gates to having every disability and ailment represented, and they do not want to do so. Doesn't pay. They do have the dolls without hair, wheel chairs and other vendors carry equipment that the 18 inch sized dolls can use for various disabilities. It comes down to profit. <br /><br />I hope the Maki doll works out well. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07636670946994161261noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-447392662850613354.post-8330451704640537312015-05-28T12:43:19.475-04:002015-05-28T12:43:19.475-04:00This article is so sad. In addition to having very...This article is so sad. In addition to having very narrow views of both disability and diversity (and you are right Louise, in that this is also a diversity issue), the author has a lot of work to do in terms of self-acceptance. Her argument boils down to "well I never did that, and I'm fine", which is so completely weak and backwards that I don't even know where to begin. She is clearly not a parent to a kid with a disability, so why is she even commenting on these dolls? Don't like them? Fine, don't buy one. I can't stand this type of journalistic approach in which positive things are vapidly broken down all in the name of a few clicks. (especially with someone who has no right speaking on this issue... I mean, she has a birthmark, but has she ever met a kid in a wheelchair?)<br />Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16689346140215170892noreply@blogger.com