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TORONTO – A collection of dolls with the facial characteristics of Down Syndrome has sparked debate online.
Connie Feda, the mother of a child with Down Syndrome, hopes to launch Dolls for Downs next month.
“We’ve got a lot of pre-orders from Canada,” she told Global News on Wednesday.
Feda claims she has received nearly 500 pre-orders from several countries.
“Considering we don’t have the vinyl version yet, and people are
ordering largely by description, we expect that number to double with
actual photographs,” she said.
Feda plans to launch a Kickstarter campaign on Friday to raise funds
needed to manufacture and market the 12 female and six male dolls. Each
sells for $75 plus shipping.
Feda, who lives in Pittsburgh, said her daughter Hannah was frustrated that none of the dolls she saw looked like her.
Feda collaborated with Karen Scott, a doll sculptor in Michigan, to come up with a prototype.
The dolls stand about 18 inches and are available with a variety of
skin tones and hair colours and can be customized with a “heart scar,”
which many children with Down Syndrome have.
Clothing for the dolls is designed to address sensory issues through the use of Velcro, snaps and large buttons.
The collection includes optional accessories like leg braces and feeding tubes.
Not everyone believes the dolls are a good idea. Calgary’s Krista
Flint, former executive director of the Canadian Down Syndrome Society
(CDSS), fears the dolls perpetuate the notion that people with Down
Syndrome all look alike.
“Not every person with Down syndrome has almond shaped eyes, or a
single palm crease, or an exaggerated space between thier (sic) toes, or
a flattened nose bridge,” she wrote on her blog, InclusiveHumanity.com.
Feda said she has the “full support” of the U.S. National Down Syndrome Society.
In a statement, the organization said: “Any doll or toy that builds
confidence and is fun for a child with Down Syndrome is great.”
Feda said she would welcome an opportunity to speak with the CDSS and
other Canadians advocating for children with Down Syndrome.
“My doll is more than a toy,” she said. “It’s a well thought-out therapy aid.”
Beth Haller, Ph.D., is Co-Director of the Global Alliance for Disability in Media and Entertainment (www.gadim.org). A former print journalist, she is a member of the Advisory Board for the National Center on Disability and Journalism (https://ncdj.org/). Haller is Professor Emerita in the Department of Mass Communication at Towson University in Maryland, USA. Haller is co-editor of the 2020 "Routledge Companion to Disability and Media" (with Gerard Goggin of University of Sydney & Katie Ellis of Curtin University, Australia). She is author of "Representing Disability in an Ableist World: Essays on Mass Media" (Advocado Press, 2010) and the author/editor of Byline of Hope: Collected Newspaper and Magazine Writing of Helen Keller (Advocado Press, 2015). She has been researching disability representation in mass media for 30+ years. She is adjunct faculty in the Disability Studies programs at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the University of Texas-Arlington.
