Nowadays, everybody is talking more and more about inclusion - and that's a good thing! We want to be open to each other's differences. However, despite our progress, there are few toys on the market that children living with an apparent difference can truly relate to.
A British mum named Clare Tawell wanted to turn things around, inspired by her daughter Matilda, who wears a hearing aid. She started the non-profit organization Bright Ears UK and started transforming dolls to make them suitable for children with certain disabilities.
Her biggest inspiration was of course her 4 year old daughter, who is deaf. “I became really disheartened when I couldn’t find a doll or any toy with hearing aids. It felt to me that society didn’t deem her important and therefore she shouldn’t be ‘acknowledged,’” she told Today.
Since starting her project in 2017, Clare has sold over 2,000 dolls. Her wish is that in the future, children with illnesses and disabilities can go to any store and see dolls with cleft lips or hearing aids next to so-called "normal" dolls. Thus, they will not feel different from others!
According to her, we live in a world that emphasizes "normalcy", and anyone who looks different from the norm can feel "abnormal" there. Which, of course, can affect children's self-esteem and lead to other problems.
It's not just parents of "different" children who buy Clare's dolls. Schools and daycares are also clients and use them to address integration issues and to teach children not to judge others by their appearance.
Here are some dolls transformed by Clare. What do you think of her idea?
You can find the dolls on the page Etsy BrightEars.
Would you get one?
