A young lady, with a major physical difference of her own, urges American Girl to make a doll with a disability. Do it, AG! Read more about it:
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For as long as she can remember, 10-year-old Melissa Shang has
battled Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a form of muscular dystrophy. The
incurable genetic disease damages nerves — causing debilitating muscle
weakness and numbness — and requires Melissa to use a wheelchair or
walker to get around.
When she was 7, Melissa fell in love with American Girl dolls, the
pricey must-have toy of young girls from coast to coast and beyond. She
cajoles her college-student sister to play dolls with her on trips home.
The dolls and their accessories top every birthday and Christmas wish
list.
But most of all, Melissa loves the dolls’ tales of overcoming
obstacles. In books and movies, modern American Girls face reading
difficulties, bullying and other challenges, while historical dolls
tangle with troubles arising from slavery to war to the Great
Depression.
The dolls haven’t, though, ever had to deal with a life-altering disability like Melissa’s.
Now, Melissa is hoping to change that. The Philadelphia-area fifth-grader, and her sister, YingYing, 17, have started a petition
on Change.org to urge the Wisconsin-based American Girl company to make
its 2015 Girl of the Year doll a character with a disability.
“For once, I don’t want to be invisible or a side character that the
main American Girl has to help: I want other girls to know what it’s
like to be me, through a disabled American Girl’s story,” Melissa wrote
on her petition.
“Disabled girls might be different from normal kids on the outside.
They might sit in a wheelchair like I do, or have some other difficulty
that other kids don’t have. However, we are the same as other girls on
the inside, with the same thoughts and feelings. American Girls are
supposed to represent all the girls that make up American history, past
and present. That includes disabled girls.”
YingYing posted the petition Dec. 28 and it now has more than 60,000 signatures.
American Girl couldn’t be reached for comment because its corporate
offices were closed for the holidays. The company does sell a
wheelchair, crutches and related “get-well” accessories, but they don’t
come with a story and “assume that the doll is injured, that her
disability is not a permanent thing. That’s still not quite enough,”
YingYing said.
The sisters’ crusade came about after a conversation they had about
American Girl’s Girl of the Year doll for 2014, a blond ballerina named
Isabelle, YingYing said.
“My sister was like, ‘Wow, another blond girl who’s a dancer,’”
YingYing said. “So we started talking about who she wanted to see in an
American Girl.”
Melissa wanted to see someone like herself.
“I learned what it was like to be a horseback rider and a gymnast
from reading about [American Girl dolls] Saige and McKenna. But I want
other kids to understand what it’s like to be a disabled girl,” Melissa
said.
On one hand, girls with disabilities are like any other girl, said
Melissa, who has a sweet singing voice and dreams of becoming a music
teacher. But her disabilities create challenges unimaginable for many,
she said.
For example, her teacher kept her from going on a school field trip
to a farm last fall, worried about her safety. And Melissa spends recess
talking with friends on the edges of the playground, while her
classmates jump rope, play hopscotch or swing across the monkey bars.
“Muscular dystrophy prevents activities for me that other people take for granted, like running and ice-skating,” she said.
The girls decided to draft a Change.org petition to crusade for a
doll with a disability because they were inspired by McKenna Pope, the
12-year-old New Jersey girl who petitioned Hasbro to make a
gender-neutral Easy Bake Oven for her little brother. That December 2012
petition garnered more than 45,000 signatures.
YingYing said she’s thrilled by the overwhelming support their petition has gotten so far.
“I think this resounds with people because people with disabilities
are more prevalent than depicted in mainstream media,” said YingYing, a
Harvard University freshman. “People live with disabilities every day,
visible and invisible, and they don’t feel represented. American Girl
has been so accepting and diverse so far. It’s just a shame that they’re
missing this.”
If American Girl listens, Melissa has a few ideas for names: “Angela or Heather. Those are my favorite names,” she said.
What about Melissa?
“That would be cool, too,” she said.
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