Disability Dolls
Are disability dolls a “blessing or a sick joke“?, the June 25th Times (UK) asks. There are dolls with prosthetic devices, dolls with Down Syndrome, and Chemo Friends for kids with cancer (and back in 1997, Mattel came out with Share a Smile Becky, in a wheelchair). My Autism Dolls makes ragdolls from puzzle piece fabric, and My Sibling Dolls come with stories about the special needs of siblings with developmental differences and are assembled and packaged by special needs teens and adults.
Not sure what an autistic doll would look like—-like any doll, I would say (we’ve always been more of a stuffed animal household).
More about the “niche marketing” of disability dolls at What Sorts of People.
Tags: asd, asperger, autism, autism blog, cancer, disabilities blog, disability, down syndrome, Family, family blog, Parenting, pdd-nos, prosthesis, sibingsl, Toys
30 opinions for Disability Dolls
M
Jun 26, 2008 at 1:09 pm
Actually, David Kirby recently designed an autism doll. It’s a variation on the Betsy Wetsy model: you pretend to feed the doll, and then it emits “rivers of diarrhea”.
Stores are reporting low sales of the item.
Synesthesia
Jun 26, 2008 at 1:41 pm
Several things about that article.
A. Why is it that being WHITE is considered so normal and common when people of colour are the world majority?
Talking about this line - “In early research into race stereotypes, in which black children were asked to choose from three dolls - one black, one brown and one white - and say which doll they would be most like, almost all chose the white doll,” Smith says. “This research is old and things may be different now, but it suggests that children want to identify with themselves as a positive, generally accepted image, ie, non-disabled, except in a short-term disability.”
Am I alone in finding that just a bit disturbing? If you’re black, Asian, Native American or whatever, you’re going to pretty much stay that way unless folks decide to change the names around. “Black” never really makes a lot of sense to me because even the darkest people are not that dark, but I’m digressing.
It’s just, what’s so negative about being black? or having Down’s Syndrome? Not every person will fit into that able-bodied, white blond stereotype, and even those who do are not always totally happy. It’s all an illusion. It’s depressing for people to feel so… marginalized and depressed because what they are isn’t being represented. When those experiments were done, blacks were marginalized, forced to go to separate schools and have inferior books and products and they had drummed into their heads that they were inferior, perhaps my mother and grandmother went through that. Is it any wonder they picked the white doll considering? The Bluest Eye comes to mind.
B. I think the idea of dolls with disabilities isn’t a bad one depending on one’s point of view, but it depresses me for a person to be ashamed of themselves and who they are. I probably, if I had been more into dolls, had liked a chemo doll as I went through chemo as a kid. As a result I am marked with an interesting scar on my left hand and a dark mark with it.
The fact is, everyone is different. Dolls like that can be used as tools to teach the next generation not to discriminate and look down on people who are different. Look at how long it took to get black dolls. Now there’s dolls of all races. But, when I was a kid I liked stuffed animals and action figures.
If it’s done well enough it doesn’t have to be a mockery. Some kids would want a doll that is more like them, then say, barbies or bratz.
Leila
Jun 26, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I liked the My Sibling Dolls… But the autism ragdolls are awful!
Thomas
Jun 26, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I know what autism dolls REALLY look like. They look like Groovy Girls, Webkinz, Disney Princesses, and even dolls from the Dollar Store. These are the dolls my daughter has in her room. These are the ones she plays with and uses to express the imagination that we were told she didn’t have. Those, to me, are the real autism dolls - the ones that help her grow and develop.
Kassiane
Jun 26, 2008 at 2:55 pm
The autism dolls are terrible! The My Sibling ones are kind of cool, and I do actually like the Down Syndrome dolls. But just about anything is better than the dolls I grew up with (blonde/blue/”perfect”, gag…)
Emily
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:10 pm
I don’t like dolls. More to the point, my kids don’t like dolls. They like dinosaurs and Pokemon. Are there any autism dinosaurs or Pokemon characters? (Autistichu? Aspergemon?)
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:14 pm
@Synesthesia, I found that quote disturbing too—-I never liked dolls as much as I did stuffed animals as a child; was always looking for an Asian doll or at least one with dark (not blond) hair.
We’ve never really had any dolls here, except for a Po Teletubby, Barney who says 100 things…..
Synesthesia
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:25 pm
*snickers over Emily’s statement*
I’d always diaper stuffed animals or shove mini-teapots into cars. Or walk around with an Incredible Hulk toy or Poppy, a stuffed raccoon looking thinng that was really ragedy.
At least these days they have Asian, African American, Hispanic, Native American dolls. I reckon folks finally figured out that people come in different colours AND they also have money to spend and that there’s a high demand for diversity.
I never quite was into barbies when I was a kid.
I know what autism dolls REALLY look like. They look like Groovy Girls, Webkinz, Disney Princesses, and even dolls from the Dollar Store. These are the dolls my daughter has in her room. These are the ones she plays with and uses to express the imagination that we were told she didn’t have. Those, to me, are the real autism dolls - the ones that help her grow and develop.
That is so sweet : o)
Daisy
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:36 pm
I keep wondering what a hearing impaired doll would look like. Would she look like me? Wear hearing aids? Have posable hands and arms so she could sign (even though I don’t sign, many others do)?
Marla
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Oh my! I had no idea that these dolls existed. I must say I will not be rishing out to purchase any of them. The siblings one at least looked cute. Having a sister with a severe disability as a child….I must say I would not have been imporessed if I was given such dolls. I probably would have thought my parents cracked up.
I am going to have to research these dolls more before I give my total opinion which I am guessing will be anti disability doll.
M
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:50 pm
One other idea: introvert dolls. They never leave the box.
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:55 pm
And have their faces turned away…….
ASL doll: hmmmmm……
Regan
Jun 26, 2008 at 3:59 pm
I guess the acid test for me would be which one the child picks. If s/he wants one that looks like him/herself, cool. If not, that also works. Eleanor’s specialized preschool class was packed with specialized dolls, but the one everyone wanted was the stuffed-toy Barney.
The closest thing to this kind of toy that Eleanor independently wanted was a stuffed gingerbread man; more of a baseball and frisbee kind of girl. I couldn’t say, but my impression is that she sees these toys very concretely.
That puzzle fabric ragdoll is kind of scary.
Synesthesia
Jun 26, 2008 at 4:00 pm
M- Souns like me… until someone brings up Dir en grey.
I like the My Sibling dolls. The puzzle ones strike me as a bit odd…. since I don’t consider autism as missing a puzzle piece, but they are cute in their own puzzly way.
M
Jun 26, 2008 at 4:08 pm
“Dir en grey.”
I thought this was an anagram at first. I worked through several weird variations until i finally decided to google it. So…if you like them, I’ll have to check them out.
Synesthesia
Jun 26, 2008 at 4:11 pm
OK. A bit of warning though. Some of their videos are disturbing.
I love them, but there are some of their videos I just can’t watch.
But the music, OH, IT’S JUST SO GOOD! I love that band, they are the best EVER…
Especially the Pledge
and dozing green isn’t bad, i love the video to that one..
but… this isn’t a DIRU board. if it were, most of the folks would annoy me complaining about their new style…
Emily
Jun 26, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Our youngest is currently fascinated with a stuffed Pikachu, a stuffed cow, a stuffed dachshund, and a stuffed bear. No dolls.
hammie
Jun 26, 2008 at 5:15 pm
I am white, with freckles and reddish brown hair and I grew up in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, Australia.
My first Barbie that I chose (not a hand-me-down) was Hawaiian Barbie.
I am sitting typing this in the middle of my daughter’s bed (she is 8 with severe ASD) and I am surrounded by Teletubbies and muppets, The Bear and his friends from the Big Blue House, The Hoobs, and yes, even Ernie and Grover. (yay) They all have fragments of cookies in their mouths, most are stained with Toothpaste and at one stage Groove and Grover were coming downstairs to have their heads painted blue (?, we don’t know)
She identifies with these guys and their limited but very readable expressions, she watches their shows, plays on their websites, and Yes, she too role plays with them imaginatively all the time. So stick that in your “triad of impairments”.
Those “autism puzzle” dolls are the scariest thing I have ever seen. If I couldn@t smell the the subtext of patronising “are’nt we great for designing the cute puzzle dolls and giving a lousy 10% to charity” I would think they were voodoo or mutu.
If they bothered their ar**s to check out what a kid with ASD is attracted to in the early stages they would have gone for a Spectrum of color fabric, like the paint cards in hardware stores. But I am not sure I would be buying a “stim doll”!
I will leave the last word to Donna Williams (Nobody Nowhere) who I read very early in Bratty’s diagnosis (my little girl) At age 2 we were being given a lot of dolls and even barbies for her to play with; which she ignored.
Donna Williams said something like: ” People were expecting me to play with dolls; I wasnt interested in real people, why would I be interested in little representations of people”
I love that my little girl loves Ernie and Bear. xx
hammie
Jun 26, 2008 at 5:29 pm
And Emily; I love the idea of A Autistichu or Aspergemon. I like that they would have special powers “power of Hyperlexia!”
I might even use the Dinosaur example to teach my Boo about his own autism.
Hmmm
xx
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 26, 2008 at 9:12 pm
My sister had Hawaiian Barbie—-very exciting for us.
On a slightly different note: Charlie is one of 3 Asian / half-Asian boys of the 5 students in his classroom and I think not being “the only one”—-seeing faces who look like him—-has had something to do with his contentment with his class.
Rebecca
Jun 27, 2008 at 10:36 am
we had to look long and hard for boy dolls when we wanted to get one for L and K. They are getting a little sister soon and wanted to start role playing a little, like don’t sit in the car seat, that’s for the baby, etc. Finally ended up at the cabbage patch kid web site, where you can pick out a doll with certain features, skin, hair eyes, freckles; we actually needed white blonde hair with blue or grey eyes, which is hard to come by in boydolls. When I looked at christmas, I only saw two boy dolls total and they were both dark hair and eyes, one was hispanic, supposedly. My son L calls it baby, and he swings it around like he asks his dad to do to him.
Leanne
Jun 27, 2008 at 12:11 pm
Somehow I just can’t see myself walking up to my 6 year old autistic son and saying “here, have an autism doll”. I have a problem with the sibling doll too, although I can’t put my finger on it. It would feel like saying to older brother “by the way, you have to deal with some difficult stuff in your life, but here’s a doll to remind you that your brother has autism” I dunno, and some half formed thought in my brain about not seeing the individuality that is my NT son aside from being his brother’s brother.
Norah
Jun 27, 2008 at 1:57 pm
When I was young I hated (semi)lifelike dolls. I would still ask for them for birthdays and such, because I tried being what I thought girls ‘ought to be.’ But they always ended up face-down (sometimes with heads ripped off) at the bottom of some box shoved as far back in my closet as possible. They scared me.
I didn’t much like lifelike stuffed animals either.
I was ok with things that looked more iconic or cartoon-like. My favourite cuddle-thing was a bib.
Sarah
Jun 27, 2008 at 3:43 pm
The “autism dolls” were pretty bad and I’m not sure about the sibling dolls, but I support other kinds of “disabled dolls.” The toy industry is slowly expanding their merchandise beyond the blonde, white, thin, and able-bodied doll and that’s a good thing. All girls should be know that there’s more than one way to be beautiful.
Rebecca
Jun 27, 2008 at 4:18 pm
“All girls should be know that there’s more than one way to be beautiful.”
And boys, too!!!
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 27, 2008 at 4:24 pm
The doll-like toy that Charlie was most attached to was a fleecy Barney who said 100 things. Unfortunately Barney had to go when playing with him was directly linked to Charlie head-banging—-he’d watch a minute of a Barney or take our the Barney animal to re-enact some scenario, and (it seemed out of the blue) “loud unhappiness” would follow.
He is especially fond now of various fleece items, especially his blanket and coat.
hammie
Jun 27, 2008 at 6:00 pm
My ten year old Boo Boy with ASD has a girl “Baby Annabelle” doll that someone bought for his sister. He adopted it and asked for crib and bottles etc. She lives in a pink carrycot with pink pashmina tucked around her, and her name is “Eric Bana”.
xx
Kristina Chew, PhD
Jun 28, 2008 at 1:37 am
That says too much! “Eric Bana”…..
Patience
Jun 28, 2008 at 11:07 am
I was very much a doll kid. I saved up allowance and birthday money and bought a high-end doll (Goetz) when I was nine. She had red hair (which I always wanted–and, thanks to the magic of science, have as an adult) and was called Hannah. I was obsessed with little things scaled to fit her, which were (naturally) dubbed “Hannah sized.” This is still a short-hand phrased for miniature in my mom’s house.
Loretta
Aug 11, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Thank you for your positive comments on the My Sibling Dolls which I created. I write the stories that come with the dolls, based on real life situations that have happened with my own children and others that I know who have siblings with disabilities. I started out with dolls who were realistic looking - not skinny, and ethnically diverse with different skin tones, hair and eye colors to choose from. I would love to produce more dolls with more variety, but I have to sell more first before I can afford to do that. Please visit my website and read more about my project. I provide work opportunities to teens and adults with disabilities. Thank you.
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