Representation in toys matters. And meet Bruce!
As I hope you all know by now, the goal of bebePT is to be a safe, brave, and inclusive space where all babies and families are represented and supported. This starts with the content I share as well as who is highlighted on my page. I want to showcase development, race, disability, medical needs, etc., in a diverse way. For this reason, as I started my blog, using a standard/average baby doll as my model was never going to cut it, so I started out on a search for a more inclusive doll for bebePT!
In my search for diverse baby dolls, I was incredibly disappointed. In local stores in Seattle, the options were very homogenous, so I turned to the world wide web to continue my search. I found a few sites depicting dolls and accessories with special medical needs, but they were designed for teaching, and were not available for purchase. I found a few neurodiverse dolls that were incredibly expensive and not very high quality—not gonna cut it.
A quick snapshot of my Google searches…don’t they all look the same?!
What I DID find…
Though my search wasn’t as fruitful as I would have liked, I was able to find a few options, and have listed them below for you to peruse! Many are cost-prohibitive, don’t ship to the US, or are complicated to order, further limiting accessibility—but this is a start!
Click on the image to open each site in a new tab.
Meet Bruce: the face of bebePT
First of all, I want to share how Bruce got her name! When I first got her, I was playing around with different names. I liked Althea (as she appears to be a wise soul), but my husband wanted her name to be gender inclusive, so he threw out some different names. Bruce was originally a joke, but ended up sticking, and I just couldn't rename her! I love it so much! When I asked y'all to vote on an Instagram poll, you agreed, too!
The people have spoken!
I found Bruce on Etsy, from a site called Bright Ears (listed above) that creates custom dolls with all types of hearing devices and a variety of doll options. I will add that, though the products are amazing and high quality, they are not very accessible—the dolls are quite expensive—and it look several months to receive the doll after ordering. I am lucky to have had access to Bruce for bebePT.
I chose Bruce because I was born with hearing loss and used hearing aids just like Bruce's as a child. I even got to choose the color of her hearing aid (sparkly purple, just like my first pair)!
Representation matters!
Growing up, I NEVER saw dolls that looked like me, and after several years of diving into disability studies and advocacy work, I recognize the role of representation in acceptance and inclusion. Kids learn an amazing amount through play and their toys!
How might it have changed the way I viewed my disability if I had a doll who looked like me growing up? Might I have accepted it, rather than felt ashamed by it? Might I have found some joy and strength in my hearing loss rather wishing I could change it? Would my peers have been kinder to me if they also saw hearing aids depicted in mainstream toys? I truly believe so.
We have work to do!
I would have loved a doll like Bruce as a child, and while I was overjoyed to be able to find Bruce for bebePT, I continue to be frustrated and saddened by the lack of diversity in dolls available today. If I can’t even find representative dolls in a days-long, all-search-engines-covered hunt, will a child with medical needs or Down syndrome perusing the toy store aisles see themselves included in the doll selection? Not likely, and not acceptable.
I hope that as we grow and learn as a society, dolls like Bruce will become mainstream and accessible. They will be affordable and easy to purchase. Someday, I want dolls with feeding tubes, with limb differences, with craniofacial differences, with a tracheostomy. I want to see dolls of all races on shelves everywhere. I want to see dolls with Down syndrome, dolls wearing orthotics and prosthetics, dolls who use oxygen, as frequently as I see Barbies.
This is my dream for our bebes’ futures, because we all deserve to see ourselves represented in our favorite toys. After all, representation matters!
TL;DR
Representation in toys matters. Most dolls available are all the same: neurotypical and white.
I searched all over for better representation in our bebePT model, and I had a hard time finding options. What I did find is listed and linked for you above.
Meet Bruce, the face of bebePT! This doll has hearing aids, just like I do! I found her on Etsy, at a site called Bright Ears.
We must do more to make sure ALL babies and children are represented in toy stores!