+
Sign up for
The Upworthiest
Our top stories of the day delivered straight to your inbox.
upworthy

inclusion

Joy

Mom wanted her son to see toys that looked like him. Fisher-Price delivered.

"If you ever decided to design a Little Person with brown skin and red hair, please let us know."

Courtesy of Niki Coffman

Fisher-Price creates new toy to look like a young customer.

When kids look around at television shows or toys on the shelves, they instinctively look to see if there's someone that looks like them. It's a natural desire to want to see yourself represented in different areas of life, and for kids, play is life. Mom Niki Coffman knew that, so she decided to go out on a limb and write to Fisher-Price to gently hint at a favor.

Coffman has a 5-year-old son named Archer, whom she adopted as an infant. The mom explained to Today.com that her family is white and her son goes to a predominantly white school, so there was very little representation of Black people, let alone Black people with red hair, like Archer.

"The thing is, if you feel like, 'you should just be grateful to have a toy,' it's probably because your toys did look like you. It's probably because my princesses did look like me, and once you know someone it matters to who doesn't have that, how could it not matter to you?" Coffman told Upworthy. "Archer identifies with all the toys with brown skin, but to have something that looks like him so that he sees himself in the world, it's not just about a toy. It's really about the rest of the world seeing you, too."

So Coffman went on a mission to make sure her son felt represented in the world around him, even going as far as asking for donations of diverse books and dolls to be sent to the school.

Keep ReadingShow less
representation
Identity

Crowd hushes for a blind basketball player to hear the basket—then goes wild when she makes it

MLive/YouTube

Jules Hoogland heard the basket, then made her free throw shot to cheers from the crowd.

It's a common belief that disabilities make it impossible to do certain things. Sometimes that's true—but not nearly as often as people might assume. With the right support and accommodations, people with all manner of disabilities can participate in far more activities than society expects.

Take, for instance, a team sport like basketball. Can a person who can't see play that sport? How would they know where they are on the court? How would they know where to throw the ball or locate where the basket is? How could they keep track of where their teammates are and what they're doing?

Without a little imagination in answering them, those questions seem like they'd exclude blind people from being able to play basketball. However, when inclusion is the goal, human beings can figure out all kinds of ways to make the seemingly impossible happen.

Keep ReadingShow less
inclusion
Inclusivity

Mom makes dolls for her deaf daughter and other kids with unique physical features

BrightEars/Facebook

Clare Tawell makes dolls with cleft lips, hearing aids, feeding tubes and more.

Dolls are one of the most common toys kids play with around the world, but there are some kids who have never seen a doll that looks like them. Kids who have physical disabilities, birth defects or other unique features can't go to the store and see what makes them special in a doll on the shelf.

Thanks to a mom in the United Kingdom, they can now have one made, though.

Clare Tawell first made a doll for her youngest daughter Matilda (Tilly) in 2017. Tilly was born deaf and has been wearing hearing aids since she was 6 weeks old. Tawell wanted to find her a doll that had hearing aids like her, but had no luck.

"There was nothing out there that represented my little girl," Tawell writes on her website. "It was like she didn't matter, she didn't conform to what society considers 'normal' so why bother acknowledging her."

She channeled her frustration into creativity and made a doll with hearing aids that looked just like Tilly's. She was thrilled. Soon other families wanted similar dolls, and BrightEars was born.

Keep ReadingShow less
inclusion
GoFundMe Heroes

This doll maker gives every child a custom, handmade doll that looks exactly like them

Photos courtesy of Amy Jandrisevits
True

Growing up, the kinds of toys you play with can make all the difference. When I was a child, I always felt like the way I looked was wrong because there were no dolls, cartoon characters, or actresses that looked like me. Thankfully, things are changing. Bigger companies like Mattel are now producing dolls in different shapes, genders, and skin tones.

But gaps in the market still exist, especially for kids with special needs, physical disabilities, and skin disorders. That's where Amy Jandrisevits comes in. With her A Doll Like Me line, Amy makes it her personal mission to make custom dolls for kids who typically don't see themselves on store shelves. For some of these children, seeing themselves in human likeness is life-changing.

Photo courtesy of Amy Jandrisevits

As a former pediatric oncology social worker, Amy used play therapy in order to help children adjust to situations that felt out of their control. This was difficult to do when none of the dolls she had access to looked like the children she worked with.

"Play therapy is how kids work through all of that, and dolls are an integral part of the process," Amy says. "For someone who doesn't have the privilege of seeing him or herself in the places that matter, a doll that looks like them can be so validating."

Amy's childhood love of dolls combined with her passion for social work have allowed her to turn her A Doll Like Me campaign into a nonprofit, something she never could have imagined. She's sure that her 8-year-old self would be thrilled at the thought of using dolls to change a narrative for so many children.

Photo courtesy of Amy Jandrisevits

"I am a doll-maker who feels that every child, regardless of gender, ethnicity, age, medical issue, or body type, should look into the sweet face of a doll and see their own," she writes on the GoFundMe page for her project. "I talk a lot about changing the narrative, changing who we see and how we see them. Imagine what representation and inclusion look like from a child's perspective. When they see themselves in the places that matter, that becomes an inclusive message, and that is what shapes a child's self-concept. Diversity and representation in dolls can be a game changer for children."

Amy is doing her part to make sure every child – ones with limb differences, albinism, cancer, birthmarks, scars, burns – feels valued. Her goal is to normalize, represent, and validate, and at a very basic level, to offer something that is soft and cuddly and provides comfort when a child needs it most.

Photo courtesy of Amy Jandrisevits

To date, Amy has made over 450 dolls and every single story is as heartwarming as the next. Dolls are typically requested by parents or caregivers, but in recent years, Amy has received requests from doctors and teachers, because they realize the therapeutic value in play. And thanks to its nonprofit status and donations from GoFundMe, not one family has had to pay for their own doll.

"Sometimes I know that the child who is about to receive the doll is living on borrowed time and when he or she dies, this is going to be even more important for their family."

Amy says that she never takes this doll-making opportunity for granted and she often uses her platform to talk about what inclusion and representation look like for a child. She believes that it is her personal obligation to advocate for the children that she is privileged to know.

"We all bring a skillset to the table and we need to understand that sometimes small gestures impact other people in ways we cannot begin to fathom. We have a multitude of reasons to NOT do something – 'I'm too busy, broke, old, young, sick, afraid' – but there are even more reasons why we CAN, and should, do something."

Photo courtesy of Amy Jandrisevits

Donate to Amy's GoFundMe and help a child see themselves as they are through a hand-crafted doll.

Helping someone in need is as easy as a click away. Check out our fundraising toolkit and start a GoFundMe that gives back to your community.

inclusion
Trending Stories