It is hard to believe that there is only just over a week left of October and before you know it everyone will be celebrating the holiday season. 2020 has seen both time stand still and move at a rapid pace at the same time and somehow we have made it through. As the holidays are approaching, children are starting to put together their wish lists of things they would like for Christmas. A lot of children may be looking for a doll and ideally, they are going to want a doll that looks like them.
We have seen doll companies start being more diverse with their product, and you can get a doll from practically any race and culture. However, what about children with disabilities? One mom wants to make sure that every child out there has a little magical elf that looks like them.
According to Today, Clare Tawell is a mother from the UK and while she does have a full-time job, she also has a special hobby. She modifies dolls to represent children with an array of disabilities, specifically little red elves that kind of look familiar. Her elves come with insulin pumps, limb differences, hearing aids, cleft palates, and more.
She runs the company, which she has called Bright Ears UK, by herself out of her home and she sells her dolls on Etsy. She has sold over 2,000 of the little elves since she started selling them in 2017. Clare told Today that the world we live in is still very much concerned with looking “normal” and it can have an impact on children who look different. She was concerned about children going into a store and not seeing a doll that looked like her and feeling even more of an outsider and like they don’t belong.
She also says that it is not just children who want her dolls, she has sold dolls to schools and nurseries because they want to use them to teach their students about diversity and inclusivity. Her motivation behind creating these dolls comes from a personal place. Her 4-year-old daughter, Matilda, is hard of hearing and wears hearing aids.
She was extremely bothered when she could not find a doll for her daughter that had a hearing aid. She made her daughter her own doll, and as soon as she handed it over she knew that she had something as her daughter examined the doll and noted how similar it was to her.
Source: Today