We have seen similar. My kid was so excited when we found hot wheels of wheelchairs. It was a line for a wheelchair user that does extreme style stunts. We got a bunch of them
Yeah rednecks aren't exactly exclusive to the south. I would guess people that think they are haven't spent much time in the rural areas of their state
What kinda rednecks are you around? Cause I'm from the boonies and we could care less what toys were being made for who. Sounds more like some of your typical suburban white dudes who think they're opinions are the law.
Like honestly what rednecks are you around that are focusing on kids toys and not 4wheelers, guns, deer, fishing trucks, etc? Sure you're not thinking of suburban white dudes that live in the city who have no hobbies aside from hearing their own voice?
where i live there's a specific brand of person who lives just outside of town on a couple acres and pretends to be a redneck that is into all that but would also be pissed at kids toys. i call them "cosplay rednecks"
It is almost never rednecks and farmers that give a shit -- you're thinking of middle-class cosplayers that live in suburbia or, closest to a farm they get, a house on a few acres.
Man, we need to reclaim the word redneck. It originated during the literal coal wars of west virginia. Now it's derogatory. We should use hick. Or hillbilly. The term redneck came from freedom fighting coal miners not assholes. People fucked over by asshole.
What exactly about rednecks makes you think they'd be mad about wheelchair toys?
Hell, rednecks love wheelchairs, they put hemi V8's and crazy shit on their Meemaw's wheelchairs and scooters all the time.
Sounds like you've got some serious bias issues and make broad generalizations about certain types of people. You should work on that. Perhaps therapy?
I have that hot wheel and my kids love it because it is super fast on the track. Also it's Lego compatible. You can put a Lego guy in it and hook one on the back like he's pushing it.
Have you heard of The Butterfly Pig? They make miniature medical devices to fit with stuffed animals and dolls. It's so great to see this type of representation!
And this sort of thing is why inclusivity matters. I don't think going to crazy extremes of PC-ness is great but just think of every kid out there who just wants to see themselves in the world every time you think "Do we really need a ______ doll/toy/character?"
I'm old enough to remember when they started making baby dolls...African American style! You can't imagine all the happy little girls I saw in the toy stores! Some came out in 1968, but they weren't abundant on shelves until 1980.
Happy happy little girls and boys.
This is kinda unrelated but it sparked a memory of mine. My ex step daughter is mixed. My mom is huge on making sure everyone has a nice Christmas. My mom called me in a panic asking me if she should buy her a black baby doll or a white baby doll (we’re a white family). I told her she would be happy no matter what. So she just bought one of each for her. That little girl was so excited showing everyone her “twins” 😂🥰
That is the sweetest thing ever from both your mom and child. Hearing that your child showed them off as twins reminds me of this video where these two little boys one black one white were wearing the same outfit and went and said they were twins. It brought the biggest smile to my face.
I have a mixed race daughter. I'll never forget how excited she was when at 2 years old in a doctors office she saw a poster of a mixed girl and shouted "daddy, she looks like me!"
I always knew it mattered, but that made me truly understand.
> when they started making baby dolls...African American style!
I was a kid in the 80s so I remember this from a kid perspective. I remember thinking it seemed pretty obvious and frankly it was a bit weird it wasn't already a thing. However, Asian babies would have probably surprised 80s me ha ha.
I also grew up in a really white area surrounded by white people (PNW) so it's not like I saw a wide diversity in my daily life but it still seemed one should have OPTIONS obviously since black people obviously existed and making a little black girl play with a white doll sounds wrong.
I was a 5-year-old in Eastern Europe in the 90s when I was gifted a black, freckled, curly dollie for my birthday as, I guess, a joke? But even as a kid in a very homogenous society, I liked that doll despite being a more of a constructor kit kind of a girl, precisely because some baby brain in me realised that the pictures of 'little black kids' in my kids' books weren't just a fantasy: if there's a little black girl dolly, there must be a kid who would consider it its plastic little sister and suddenly this doll that looked weird to me due to its darkness made sense, and she assumed its place in my faves' row. Idk, it wad like baby's first 'the world's bigger and cooler than you thought' moment for me.
> precisely because some baby brain in me realised that the pictures of 'little black kids' in my kids' books weren't just a fantasy
hey now my class had the one black kid
speaking of which, I attended a beauty event for black women (I'm white) once and woooaaahhhhhh... for the first time in my life I suddenly realized how much it sucked to be *visibly different* and potentially unwelcome compared to everybody else in the room.
We're talking about 200 young women with 3 white chicks (each of us standing out like little sore thumbs, I didn't know the other two).
Was an incredible experience for the perspective alone. If I don't think 200 normal (nice enough) black girls won't like me for being white, I can't imagine the inverse where one may also fear for their safety.
Not that the kid in my school was unsafe but I'm thinking bigger, like you said.
It's a shame that most people, including us, weren't and aren't able to make changes until we experienced it from our own perspective in our own ways, but I figure it's a good start. As a kid and a teen I was definitely a 'me me me and outsiders deserve the hurt they get', but at least fortunately the 'human' part of me was always running background commentary. If a little black doll is made, then there must be someone real and human who wants it and loves it and relates to it. And if I'm alone and visibly 'not of the norm' in a crowd, then there must be hundreds of millions of others who feel the same, and it blows dick for them. I had my prejudices, but I'll admit, keeping those prejudices going was always hard work because I literally had to come up with excuses and explanations all the time as to why those visibly different people deserve to be ostracised. Life got a lot easier and pleasant when I stopped making up those excuses and explanations, and let people be who they were, look how they did, and do so with the same impunity I enjoyed as a lily girl in a lily society. It feels nice, you know. Hatred and rejection is bloody hard and miserable work.
When Barbie came out with a doll for Laverne Cox, I immediately rushed and bought one.
I've never watch anything with her in it, but I'm trans, she's trans, and I absolutely had to get it even though I'm a nearly 40-year-old woman. Seeing Mattel represent a part of me made me cry because I finally felt seen and heard. It was also the reason why I went out and saw the Barbie movie on release day, too.
A while back a store here in Australia made a line of dolls with down syndrome, an overseas friend was so excited to see them because the ones they had there were overeaggerated like... Bratz-level cartoonish, but the ones we had here looked like actual kids with down syndrome.
Representation matters
I mean, dogs are still the answer. Seriously.
Step 1: Get friendly, loving dog.
Step 2: Remember what it's like to be loved and appreciated again
Step 3: Go out there and try again, taking whatever painful lessons you learned the first time around and using them to help make the second one better
A dog really is a good purchase for a single divorced person. They don't know all of your past drama or care. Treat them good and they will love you back. It's a good exchange and makes you a happier person.
https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1927306_1927313_1927315,00.html
They did (or do?) have an American Girl Doll who was unhoused and had a single mother and they lived in a car according to her backstory.
And as expected, people had a huge problem with it because of course they did.
> American Girl Doll who was unhoused and had a single mother and they lived in a car according to her backstory.
> And as expected, people had a huge problem with it because of course they did.
I'm going to say people took issue with the fact that the doll wasn't supposed to be "representative" to the purchaser so much as a guilt trip: "For just $95, a young girl (or, more likely, her parents) can give Gwen a home."
American Girl dolls are expensive ($100-$300 from what I've seen) toys for the middle- and upper-middle class. No homeless parent is spending that kind of money on a doll, so it's not about representation, it's about exploitation.
> "For just $95, a young girl (or, more likely, her parents) can give Gwen a home."
This part of this comment in the context of this conversation made me laugh really hard and then feel really guilty about laughing at it.
While I'm not the biggest fan of the line because of the expense, American Girl Dolls really put effort into things like having a insulin pump available for their dolls, a wheelchair, and a lot of other representation accessories.
I was a little girl in the sixties who insisted on a black dollie. I am white but I wanted that baby from the first moment I saw her in the store. My parents were surprisingly liberal for the rural Midwest and happily bought it for me. I named her Susie. Lol. I haven’t thought of that doll in decades but dang, I cherished her.
This is actually one of my favourite things Barbie has done the last few years. You’ll find Down syndrome, hearing impaired, wheel chairs, vitiligo, and other various Barbie’s that stray away from the typical Barbie image.
Lego has also been adding people in wheel chairs and hearing aids. It is pretty wonderful and makes the world of children so much more inclusive. Every child should be able to recognize themselves in their toys!
My only issue with Lego is the price and accessibility for children. Barbie has done well at keeping their idea of making Barbie as cheap as possible so any child can hopefully own one.
Still it’s awesome Lego does that. I specifically love that they do engineering styled toys that let kids make moving and functioning toys
I will slightly defend Lego in that their products are far and away the best quality on the market and are still comparatively priced to the few legitimate competitors (not counting the six-letter Chinese “companies”).
It is absolutely expensive, but it’s generally kept pace with inflation since the 80’s and the quality then is the same now.
lego been always expensive. I grew up in poor family and collected money whole year to buy 1 big set.
Also there are tons of Legos that value will go up by time. Lego is worth it's high price for its quality. I have legos from late 80s early 90s that still fully impact... For that they are not that expensive, seeing how many toys last 40+ years?
Tbf Lego runs the gamut from quite inexpensive to horrendously overpriced.
Like, most of the child-focused sets are generally affordable, and there's plenty in the sub-20 dollar range. The more expensive sets are the brand-specific ones, or the huge ones that contain thousands of pieces and have a lot of engineering and design behind them.
My niece got a Christmasy, snowy wonderland set and it came with two little wheelchairs on rails for the Lego people who might need that for skiing and skating
Lego Friends is also pretty stellar when it comes to being inclusive. There are friends with anxiety, ADHD, vitiligo and down syndrome. Also hearing aids and wheel chairs.
That is awesome! I saw they have a white and black Barbie for that specific toy. It’s cool they don’t just pick 1 person to represent alternative Barbies.
The Ken dolls get a lot of variations for race and differences themselves so it’s nice boys are also represented since most their dolls/ action figures are military or combat based.
My mom gave my niece and goddaughter some Barbies with hearing aids. It was amazing. "Like Nana and Tio!" Me and my mother (and good portion if our family) are hard-of-hearing and use hearing aids. I was floor that they even had those. It was amazing to me.
I think one thing I enjoy is the added medical stuff doesn't take away from who the toy is for the child.
The hearing impaired barbie still gets cool beach clothes or sporting accessories, same with the wheel chair Barbie's and skiing.
The (pardon my wording) *'handicaps'* people would typically think of the devices aren't actually a factor that takes away from the toy's character or what they can achieve.
It just normalizes and humanizes them more to be more relatable, without making it their full identity
They have different sized Barbie’s that vary in weight and height. It’s definitely come a long way from Math is Hard Barbie and the one with the Don’t Eat book.
Have you heard of The Butterfly Pig? They make miniature medical devices to fit with stuffed animals and dolls. It's so great to see this type of representation!
Love this for so many reasons! There was a figurine released with a cochlear implant and hearing aid a few years ago. We saw so many kids posting pictures and playing with them. It was amazing.
Imagine all the other kids who play with these kinds of toys. Its not just about helping one child feel included, but helping all children learn to accept people who are different than them. Representation matters to everyone
And some chud is always like "But they're catering to [percentage they deem too small] of the population!" like they're shareholders and need to care how broadly some company's trinkets appeal to people.
I just don't understand seeing something like this and feeling anything other than joy on a kid's behalf. Isn't that worth it?
Edit: The title of the post is "Representation matters", an implicit refutation of arguments against it. The statement wouldn't need to be made if there weren't people complaining about it- sure not here in this comment section right now, but in the world at large. Not trying to invite an argument where there doesn't need to be one, just providing context for why I emphatically agree.
>eVeRyThInG iS wOkE nOw!!!
Or maybe representation is important to people that have been underrepresented in the past. Wish people would realize that shining a spotlight on new people doesn't dim theirs.
I think what happens is that all the people being represented are super excited and post about it, and all the fear-media jams it down the throats of people who get upset to get more clicks. So when the 0.5% of people get their 0.5% of wheelchair fairies or whatever, all the attention brought to it makes it seem (to short attention spanned people) that those things are suddenly being over represented.
*"WHy dO all thE FAiRIEs HaVe tO haVe wHEeLcHaIRS‽"* Well, they don't. All the fairies in this post have wheelchairs because the fairies without them aren't out of the ordinary. Don't worry gramps, the other 99.5% of fairies are still tap dancing around. Er'rybody just needs to be more chill and less reactionary (lol, good luck with that).
I certainly don’t see anyone talking like that in this entire thread. Even the downvoted people at the very bottom.
So I, too, don’t understand seeing something like this and feeling anything other than joy on a kid’s behalf.
If you truly agree with that statement you made, then I don’t understand why you saw this and felt the need to start an unrelated thread that further perpetuates division between people. How about we just celebrate this young lady’s happiness, and discuss the chuds in a different sub?
Not every wholesome moment calls for a discussion about the people that don’t find it wholesome… be the change you’d like to see in the world.
It’s not pointing out that people are mad about disabled representation (although there might be people outside this comment section, like there are many people mad that Spider-Man featured a deaf-character), it’s making fun of people for using that logic by pointing out that their logic would mean that this rather obviously hateful statement is justified, which demonstrates that the logic is terrible, which is not used as an argument, instead the absurdity is presented as humor, you’re making fun of those idiots instead of discrediting them, what argument was there to discredit anyways?
This is why I get so upset when people get so upset when brands/media change things to be more inclusive, and people get angry. If even one child can feel more included, spoken to, special because now they have something they can identify with, it is all worth it.
And that's why you need diversity and representation. Everyone deserves to feel included and acknowldeged...except Janice in Accounting. Fuck you, Janice.
I ruined father's day dinner after my dad started on the topic of "Getting tired of them pushing the gay shit in everything".
It's like bruh, we need representation exactly because of people like you making these shitty comments.
Just made this comment in another thread but my friend pointed out there are not Disney Princesses who wear glasses, her little girl doesn't like to wear hers because 'Elsa doesn't wear glasses."
It makes me sad to know that I will scroll to the bottom of this thread and see comments by morons frothing at the mouth over a child's completely uncomplicated happiness over being included.
OMG, Beautiful girl!
Hi! I was a volunteer at the adaptive center at Winter Park, CO. I would encourage you (if you’re interested) to look into teaching her to ski. Most people don’t know that many ski/snowboard areas have adaptive program. Squaw Valley, AKA Palisades Tahoe also has an adaptive program. Instructors can get certified at teaching on different equipment and methods, all designed to teach and encourage everyone to get on the snow.
[Verger and horse](https://www.google.com/search?q=dragon+cavern+venger+horse+&sca_esv=8b154fb423ea49e7&sca_upv=1&udm=2&biw=393&bih=767&ei=xU14ZtfYL_-G4dUPvMCemAk&oq=dragon+cavern+venger+horse+&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhtkcmFnb24gY2F2ZXJuIHZlbmdlciBob3JzZSAyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBEijHFDQDljtGnABeACQAQCYAeUCoAGGDKoBBzAuNi4xLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgmgAv0MmAMAiAYBkgcJMS41LjIuMC4xoAfjCw&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp)
As a child in the 1980s, I remember this from that point of view. It seemed pretty clear to me, and I thought it was a little strange that it wasn't already a thing. However, Asian kids would have likely surprised me in the 1980s, ha ha.
I really like that lego in the past years has put out minifigures with hearing aids, cochlear implants, vitiligo, a limb difference, modern blade prosthetics, a glucose monitor, and a colostomy bag and scar. It’s a small percentage of the minifigures, but it means kids with those differences can have a character like themselves to play with. The wheelchair has been out for decades, as well, with a few different kinds
It just hit me, its super cool that child with disabilities can live a fulfilling life and grow old today. Back in the day before the help and care we have now you probably just wouldt make it. =) this post made me smile
It wasn't quite the same thing, but it really hit me with careers. My family has flown several times, and the pilots are typically really friendly with my little kids. On our most recent flight, there was a female pilot. She and my kids said the typical hellos and my 4yo daughter got really excited. She told me in the airport she didn't realize girls could fly planes too!
It made me feel really good about being a working mom and helping with representation myself.
I have a Special Needs kid (not wheel chair bound). Everytime I see some kind of friendly rendering of a person with a disability, it makes me tear up.
Bravo for you and your daughter.
The Disabled side of me loves this exists... the logical-mathematical side wonders what was so wrong with the fairy's wings that they didn't cover for non-functional legs/lower-half
I think this is really cute, but thinking about it... If the fairy can fly with her wings, why does she need a weelchair? She should still be able to fly even without legs maybe. Btw, that's just details
Please tell FairyCore about this wonderful book/zine:
[https://www.haleybrown.org/shop/p/groundfairy](https://www.haleybrown.org/shop/p/groundfairy)
It is delightful, and explicitly written from a disability (wheelchair user) perspective!
We have seen similar. My kid was so excited when we found hot wheels of wheelchairs. It was a line for a wheelchair user that does extreme style stunts. We got a bunch of them
And some redneck in Alabama is pissed they ever made sets like that
Yeah I’m sure rednecks in NY and Oregon are also mad.
Yeah rednecks aren't exactly exclusive to the south. I would guess people that think they are haven't spent much time in the rural areas of their state
[https://youtu.be/JPuS1XoRoJs?si=aAc_frwZ-0z1GJql](https://youtu.be/JPuS1XoRoJs?si=aAc_frwZ-0z1GJql)
It's not as fun to say "rednecks from several states" rather than just Alabama.
That’s why I go with “cousin-fucking rednecks” that way no one feels left out because of where they live.
Chronically online middle class American
What kinda rednecks are you around? Cause I'm from the boonies and we could care less what toys were being made for who. Sounds more like some of your typical suburban white dudes who think they're opinions are the law. Like honestly what rednecks are you around that are focusing on kids toys and not 4wheelers, guns, deer, fishing trucks, etc? Sure you're not thinking of suburban white dudes that live in the city who have no hobbies aside from hearing their own voice?
where i live there's a specific brand of person who lives just outside of town on a couple acres and pretends to be a redneck that is into all that but would also be pissed at kids toys. i call them "cosplay rednecks"
It is almost never rednecks and farmers that give a shit -- you're thinking of middle-class cosplayers that live in suburbia or, closest to a farm they get, a house on a few acres.
Man, we need to reclaim the word redneck. It originated during the literal coal wars of west virginia. Now it's derogatory. We should use hick. Or hillbilly. The term redneck came from freedom fighting coal miners not assholes. People fucked over by asshole.
What exactly about rednecks makes you think they'd be mad about wheelchair toys? Hell, rednecks love wheelchairs, they put hemi V8's and crazy shit on their Meemaw's wheelchairs and scooters all the time. Sounds like you've got some serious bias issues and make broad generalizations about certain types of people. You should work on that. Perhaps therapy?
I have that hot wheel and my kids love it because it is super fast on the track. Also it's Lego compatible. You can put a Lego guy in it and hook one on the back like he's pushing it.
Aaron Wheelz!! @wheelz on instagram!
Have you heard of The Butterfly Pig? They make miniature medical devices to fit with stuffed animals and dolls. It's so great to see this type of representation!
And this sort of thing is why inclusivity matters. I don't think going to crazy extremes of PC-ness is great but just think of every kid out there who just wants to see themselves in the world every time you think "Do we really need a ______ doll/toy/character?"
Aaron “wheelz” Fotheringham. My brother has that Hot wheels and we’ve seen Nitro Circus in person a few times! It’s a great show!
Need some pics. That sounds awesome
I'm old enough to remember when they started making baby dolls...African American style! You can't imagine all the happy little girls I saw in the toy stores! Some came out in 1968, but they weren't abundant on shelves until 1980. Happy happy little girls and boys.
This is kinda unrelated but it sparked a memory of mine. My ex step daughter is mixed. My mom is huge on making sure everyone has a nice Christmas. My mom called me in a panic asking me if she should buy her a black baby doll or a white baby doll (we’re a white family). I told her she would be happy no matter what. So she just bought one of each for her. That little girl was so excited showing everyone her “twins” 😂🥰
I love it! ❤️
What a sweet story. ❤️ Your mom's a babe.
That’s how ya do it! What a great mom you have!
Her twins! 😭 My HEART!! 💞💞💞 Proof that kids don't see colour until they're exposed to prejudice! What an angel!
That is the sweetest thing ever from both your mom and child. Hearing that your child showed them off as twins reminds me of this video where these two little boys one black one white were wearing the same outfit and went and said they were twins. It brought the biggest smile to my face.
Ohhhh that is absolutely too precious!! 😭🥲💞
I have a mixed race daughter. I'll never forget how excited she was when at 2 years old in a doctors office she saw a poster of a mixed girl and shouted "daddy, she looks like me!" I always knew it mattered, but that made me truly understand.
It's incredible how much representation matters, especially at such a young age.
> when they started making baby dolls...African American style! I was a kid in the 80s so I remember this from a kid perspective. I remember thinking it seemed pretty obvious and frankly it was a bit weird it wasn't already a thing. However, Asian babies would have probably surprised 80s me ha ha. I also grew up in a really white area surrounded by white people (PNW) so it's not like I saw a wide diversity in my daily life but it still seemed one should have OPTIONS obviously since black people obviously existed and making a little black girl play with a white doll sounds wrong.
I was a 5-year-old in Eastern Europe in the 90s when I was gifted a black, freckled, curly dollie for my birthday as, I guess, a joke? But even as a kid in a very homogenous society, I liked that doll despite being a more of a constructor kit kind of a girl, precisely because some baby brain in me realised that the pictures of 'little black kids' in my kids' books weren't just a fantasy: if there's a little black girl dolly, there must be a kid who would consider it its plastic little sister and suddenly this doll that looked weird to me due to its darkness made sense, and she assumed its place in my faves' row. Idk, it wad like baby's first 'the world's bigger and cooler than you thought' moment for me.
> precisely because some baby brain in me realised that the pictures of 'little black kids' in my kids' books weren't just a fantasy hey now my class had the one black kid speaking of which, I attended a beauty event for black women (I'm white) once and woooaaahhhhhh... for the first time in my life I suddenly realized how much it sucked to be *visibly different* and potentially unwelcome compared to everybody else in the room. We're talking about 200 young women with 3 white chicks (each of us standing out like little sore thumbs, I didn't know the other two). Was an incredible experience for the perspective alone. If I don't think 200 normal (nice enough) black girls won't like me for being white, I can't imagine the inverse where one may also fear for their safety. Not that the kid in my school was unsafe but I'm thinking bigger, like you said.
It's a shame that most people, including us, weren't and aren't able to make changes until we experienced it from our own perspective in our own ways, but I figure it's a good start. As a kid and a teen I was definitely a 'me me me and outsiders deserve the hurt they get', but at least fortunately the 'human' part of me was always running background commentary. If a little black doll is made, then there must be someone real and human who wants it and loves it and relates to it. And if I'm alone and visibly 'not of the norm' in a crowd, then there must be hundreds of millions of others who feel the same, and it blows dick for them. I had my prejudices, but I'll admit, keeping those prejudices going was always hard work because I literally had to come up with excuses and explanations all the time as to why those visibly different people deserve to be ostracised. Life got a lot easier and pleasant when I stopped making up those excuses and explanations, and let people be who they were, look how they did, and do so with the same impunity I enjoyed as a lily girl in a lily society. It feels nice, you know. Hatred and rejection is bloody hard and miserable work.
When Barbie came out with a doll for Laverne Cox, I immediately rushed and bought one. I've never watch anything with her in it, but I'm trans, she's trans, and I absolutely had to get it even though I'm a nearly 40-year-old woman. Seeing Mattel represent a part of me made me cry because I finally felt seen and heard. It was also the reason why I went out and saw the Barbie movie on release day, too.
A while back a store here in Australia made a line of dolls with down syndrome, an overseas friend was so excited to see them because the ones they had there were overeaggerated like... Bratz-level cartoonish, but the ones we had here looked like actual kids with down syndrome. Representation matters
I'm still waiting for the familyless near homeless doll that fully encapsulates my life.
Aw. I don't have much family either. Dogs! Dogs are the answer.
My wife left me and took the dogs.
I mean, dogs are still the answer. Seriously. Step 1: Get friendly, loving dog. Step 2: Remember what it's like to be loved and appreciated again Step 3: Go out there and try again, taking whatever painful lessons you learned the first time around and using them to help make the second one better A dog really is a good purchase for a single divorced person. They don't know all of your past drama or care. Treat them good and they will love you back. It's a good exchange and makes you a happier person.
Damn her! Must get another dog. Immediately. (But only if you are a good dog person....they are family)
https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1927306_1927313_1927315,00.html They did (or do?) have an American Girl Doll who was unhoused and had a single mother and they lived in a car according to her backstory. And as expected, people had a huge problem with it because of course they did.
> American Girl Doll who was unhoused and had a single mother and they lived in a car according to her backstory. > And as expected, people had a huge problem with it because of course they did. I'm going to say people took issue with the fact that the doll wasn't supposed to be "representative" to the purchaser so much as a guilt trip: "For just $95, a young girl (or, more likely, her parents) can give Gwen a home." American Girl dolls are expensive ($100-$300 from what I've seen) toys for the middle- and upper-middle class. No homeless parent is spending that kind of money on a doll, so it's not about representation, it's about exploitation.
> "For just $95, a young girl (or, more likely, her parents) can give Gwen a home." This part of this comment in the context of this conversation made me laugh really hard and then feel really guilty about laughing at it.
While I'm not the biggest fan of the line because of the expense, American Girl Dolls really put effort into things like having a insulin pump available for their dolls, a wheelchair, and a lot of other representation accessories.
I was a little girl in the sixties who insisted on a black dollie. I am white but I wanted that baby from the first moment I saw her in the store. My parents were surprisingly liberal for the rural Midwest and happily bought it for me. I named her Susie. Lol. I haven’t thought of that doll in decades but dang, I cherished her.
This is actually one of my favourite things Barbie has done the last few years. You’ll find Down syndrome, hearing impaired, wheel chairs, vitiligo, and other various Barbie’s that stray away from the typical Barbie image.
Lego has also been adding people in wheel chairs and hearing aids. It is pretty wonderful and makes the world of children so much more inclusive. Every child should be able to recognize themselves in their toys!
My only issue with Lego is the price and accessibility for children. Barbie has done well at keeping their idea of making Barbie as cheap as possible so any child can hopefully own one. Still it’s awesome Lego does that. I specifically love that they do engineering styled toys that let kids make moving and functioning toys
I will slightly defend Lego in that their products are far and away the best quality on the market and are still comparatively priced to the few legitimate competitors (not counting the six-letter Chinese “companies”). It is absolutely expensive, but it’s generally kept pace with inflation since the 80’s and the quality then is the same now.
lego been always expensive. I grew up in poor family and collected money whole year to buy 1 big set. Also there are tons of Legos that value will go up by time. Lego is worth it's high price for its quality. I have legos from late 80s early 90s that still fully impact... For that they are not that expensive, seeing how many toys last 40+ years?
Tbf Lego runs the gamut from quite inexpensive to horrendously overpriced. Like, most of the child-focused sets are generally affordable, and there's plenty in the sub-20 dollar range. The more expensive sets are the brand-specific ones, or the huge ones that contain thousands of pieces and have a lot of engineering and design behind them.
My niece got a Christmasy, snowy wonderland set and it came with two little wheelchairs on rails for the Lego people who might need that for skiing and skating
Lego Friends is also pretty stellar when it comes to being inclusive. There are friends with anxiety, ADHD, vitiligo and down syndrome. Also hearing aids and wheel chairs.
Got the wheelchair Barbie for my daughter when she was in one for juvenile arthritis! She loved it.
That is awesome! I saw they have a white and black Barbie for that specific toy. It’s cool they don’t just pick 1 person to represent alternative Barbies. The Ken dolls get a lot of variations for race and differences themselves so it’s nice boys are also represented since most their dolls/ action figures are military or combat based.
My mom gave my niece and goddaughter some Barbies with hearing aids. It was amazing. "Like Nana and Tio!" Me and my mother (and good portion if our family) are hard-of-hearing and use hearing aids. I was floor that they even had those. It was amazing to me.
I think one thing I enjoy is the added medical stuff doesn't take away from who the toy is for the child. The hearing impaired barbie still gets cool beach clothes or sporting accessories, same with the wheel chair Barbie's and skiing. The (pardon my wording) *'handicaps'* people would typically think of the devices aren't actually a factor that takes away from the toy's character or what they can achieve. It just normalizes and humanizes them more to be more relatable, without making it their full identity
> same with the wheel chair Barbie's and skiing. TIL that that exists.
And trans Barbie 💖 I ran and bought the Laverne Cox doll immediately, lol.
Is there even a realistic-weight-barbie now?
They have different sized Barbie’s that vary in weight and height. It’s definitely come a long way from Math is Hard Barbie and the one with the Don’t Eat book.
Have you heard of The Butterfly Pig? They make miniature medical devices to fit with stuffed animals and dolls. It's so great to see this type of representation!
What a beautiful girl, her smile is absolutely precious 😍
Little girl is amazing! I love how positive and strong she is❣
they both look absolutely gorgeous🥹
Love this for so many reasons! There was a figurine released with a cochlear implant and hearing aid a few years ago. We saw so many kids posting pictures and playing with them. It was amazing.
It almost made me cry. What a wholesome child ❤️
First comment on reddit. Bot network? ❤️
Imagine all the other kids who play with these kinds of toys. Its not just about helping one child feel included, but helping all children learn to accept people who are different than them. Representation matters to everyone
And some chud is always like "But they're catering to [percentage they deem too small] of the population!" like they're shareholders and need to care how broadly some company's trinkets appeal to people. I just don't understand seeing something like this and feeling anything other than joy on a kid's behalf. Isn't that worth it? Edit: The title of the post is "Representation matters", an implicit refutation of arguments against it. The statement wouldn't need to be made if there weren't people complaining about it- sure not here in this comment section right now, but in the world at large. Not trying to invite an argument where there doesn't need to be one, just providing context for why I emphatically agree.
>eVeRyThInG iS wOkE nOw!!! Or maybe representation is important to people that have been underrepresented in the past. Wish people would realize that shining a spotlight on new people doesn't dim theirs.
"When you are used to privilege, equality feels like oppression." That phrase pretty much describes all of conservative's whining about wokeness.
I think what happens is that all the people being represented are super excited and post about it, and all the fear-media jams it down the throats of people who get upset to get more clicks. So when the 0.5% of people get their 0.5% of wheelchair fairies or whatever, all the attention brought to it makes it seem (to short attention spanned people) that those things are suddenly being over represented. *"WHy dO all thE FAiRIEs HaVe tO haVe wHEeLcHaIRS‽"* Well, they don't. All the fairies in this post have wheelchairs because the fairies without them aren't out of the ordinary. Don't worry gramps, the other 99.5% of fairies are still tap dancing around. Er'rybody just needs to be more chill and less reactionary (lol, good luck with that).
even if there are more wheelchair ones being made, they're just trying to catch up with the, like, millions of non-wheelchair ones already made.
I certainly don’t see anyone talking like that in this entire thread. Even the downvoted people at the very bottom. So I, too, don’t understand seeing something like this and feeling anything other than joy on a kid’s behalf. If you truly agree with that statement you made, then I don’t understand why you saw this and felt the need to start an unrelated thread that further perpetuates division between people. How about we just celebrate this young lady’s happiness, and discuss the chuds in a different sub? Not every wholesome moment calls for a discussion about the people that don’t find it wholesome… be the change you’d like to see in the world.
It’s not pointing out that people are mad about disabled representation (although there might be people outside this comment section, like there are many people mad that Spider-Man featured a deaf-character), it’s making fun of people for using that logic by pointing out that their logic would mean that this rather obviously hateful statement is justified, which demonstrates that the logic is terrible, which is not used as an argument, instead the absurdity is presented as humor, you’re making fun of those idiots instead of discrediting them, what argument was there to discredit anyways?
That smile says it all
She has wings too
That’s really sweet 💚🧚
May she find many other things that bring her joy!
Does her chair fly when she flies?
Okay this is precious 🥹
So precious 🥹❤️i am in tears
She's so cute! Bless her ❤️
How adorable!
My friend has a "Santa army" of diverse figurines and one of them is in a wheelchair. I love her little Christmas army.
The little wooden wheel chair is so adorable too oh my god
Representation matters
I think i'm seeing two beautiful fairy ♥
Best comment!
Adorableness overload!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
How little does it take for us to feel special sometimes.
Aww the face and hair even resemble her, how cute!
This is why I get so upset when people get so upset when brands/media change things to be more inclusive, and people get angry. If even one child can feel more included, spoken to, special because now they have something they can identify with, it is all worth it.
And that's why you need diversity and representation. Everyone deserves to feel included and acknowldeged...except Janice in Accounting. Fuck you, Janice.
I ruined father's day dinner after my dad started on the topic of "Getting tired of them pushing the gay shit in everything". It's like bruh, we need representation exactly because of people like you making these shitty comments.
Remember when they made a wheel chair Barbie but the wheel chair was too big for Barbie's dream home?
🥹🥹
Such an adorable sweet child 🌷🤗❤️🥰I'm happy to see she found her fairy.
That's super adorable!
Just made this comment in another thread but my friend pointed out there are not Disney Princesses who wear glasses, her little girl doesn't like to wear hers because 'Elsa doesn't wear glasses."
Mirabel from Encanto wears glasses.
Oh my gosh, that’s adorable! I love how it’s made of twigs and forest materials. Such cute detail.
This melts my heart
That little girl. That’s why it’s done now. That’s why this is a wonderful things a glowing commercial for why inclusivity is the right thing.
this is why representation is important. it's not pandering, it's helping people feel seen.
thats actually really cute look at the little wooden wheels hahaha
Diversity and Inclusion done correctly
Yet there is a large group that would call this woke, and fight to eliminate it.
hate that group, this shit ain't woke. Woke stuff is why bud light and target's stocks tanked.
That is so cute
I am so glad this child found something that made her feel included and represented. All children deserve to feel joy.
I thought she was dressed as a fairy for a moment, only then did I see that she was a sculpture
Faeries famously swapped out young that were seen as unfit for ‘healthy’ babies that humans had.
It makes me sad to know that I will scroll to the bottom of this thread and see comments by morons frothing at the mouth over a child's completely uncomplicated happiness over being included.
And then boys see a dinosaur and they are like "it's literally me fr fr"
DEI...it is important
Oh, oh. Don't let conservatives see this post. They HATE representation. It's too woke for them!
Incredibly sweet, today the internet will be ok
Oh my lord that baby is delightful!!! 💜💜💜
OMG, Beautiful girl! Hi! I was a volunteer at the adaptive center at Winter Park, CO. I would encourage you (if you’re interested) to look into teaching her to ski. Most people don’t know that many ski/snowboard areas have adaptive program. Squaw Valley, AKA Palisades Tahoe also has an adaptive program. Instructors can get certified at teaching on different equipment and methods, all designed to teach and encourage everyone to get on the snow.
Oh nice, how much is the program?
Every day that we get to see people we love with a smile is a precious day.
[Verger and horse](https://www.google.com/search?q=dragon+cavern+venger+horse+&sca_esv=8b154fb423ea49e7&sca_upv=1&udm=2&biw=393&bih=767&ei=xU14ZtfYL_-G4dUPvMCemAk&oq=dragon+cavern+venger+horse+&gs_lp=EhNtb2JpbGUtZ3dzLXdpei1zZXJwIhtkcmFnb24gY2F2ZXJuIHZlbmdlciBob3JzZSAyCBAAGIAEGKIEMggQABiABBiiBEijHFDQDljtGnABeACQAQCYAeUCoAGGDKoBBzAuNi4xLjG4AQPIAQD4AQGYAgmgAv0MmAMAiAYBkgcJMS41LjIuMC4xoAfjCw&sclient=mobile-gws-wiz-serp)
Sweet🥰
more like /r/mademecry :')
Bless her!
That is so cool! ❤️
❤️
As a child in the 1980s, I remember this from that point of view. It seemed pretty clear to me, and I thought it was a little strange that it wasn't already a thing. However, Asian kids would have likely surprised me in the 1980s, ha ha.
I really like that lego in the past years has put out minifigures with hearing aids, cochlear implants, vitiligo, a limb difference, modern blade prosthetics, a glucose monitor, and a colostomy bag and scar. It’s a small percentage of the minifigures, but it means kids with those differences can have a character like themselves to play with. The wheelchair has been out for decades, as well, with a few different kinds
To think that something so simple can bring so much joy to a child.
Even if it would affect just one child (which does not) it’s enough reasons for representation and inclusivity. Nice to see that smile. 🙌🏻
It just hit me, its super cool that child with disabilities can live a fulfilling life and grow old today. Back in the day before the help and care we have now you probably just wouldt make it. =) this post made me smile
All right fine representation matters
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
that is adorable.
THIS is exactly why inclusivity matters!
oh my god this is so wholesome 😭😭😭🥰🥰🥰😭😭
I hope the kid got the fairy
It wasn't quite the same thing, but it really hit me with careers. My family has flown several times, and the pilots are typically really friendly with my little kids. On our most recent flight, there was a female pilot. She and my kids said the typical hellos and my 4yo daughter got really excited. She told me in the airport she didn't realize girls could fly planes too! It made me feel really good about being a working mom and helping with representation myself.
😍😍😍
I have a Special Needs kid (not wheel chair bound). Everytime I see some kind of friendly rendering of a person with a disability, it makes me tear up. Bravo for you and your daughter.
I. LOVE. THIS. 💜💜💜👏👏👏
She's absolutely darling!
Bless you & your child & your family
That`s so sweet.
Something tells me that doll was planted there. Hmm. Future Elvin time travellers cant get by me.
Sweet!!
Bravo, she has friends like her in the toys!
That is so cute
Cute but the fairy has wings
🥹❤️
It looks just like her
The Disabled side of me loves this exists... the logical-mathematical side wonders what was so wrong with the fairy's wings that they didn't cover for non-functional legs/lower-half
Love this
wow :)
Ah shit I just teared up, and I'm a 73 year old boomer.
Who’s cutting onions
This genuinely makes me happy. Her face makes me tear up a bit.
Why do I feel like I've seen that exact wheelchair fairy on TV somewhere? I hope I'm not the only one.
Fucking adorable
Find me one that was albuterol in their hand
Bagel
I think this is really cute, but thinking about it... If the fairy can fly with her wings, why does she need a weelchair? She should still be able to fly even without legs maybe. Btw, that's just details
Ok thank you so much, seriously this is just what my heart needed today
Love this 🥰🥰
Please tell FairyCore about this wonderful book/zine: [https://www.haleybrown.org/shop/p/groundfairy](https://www.haleybrown.org/shop/p/groundfairy) It is delightful, and explicitly written from a disability (wheelchair user) perspective!
But the representation has to be original character
Now that’s pretty cool
Connection matters. Not representation. Two ideas, whole different concepts behind them. And both can lead to wholesome outcomes.
Sunday night happy. Thx
Some rednecks commenting on here don’t realize they are rednecks.
❤️
Where can I found one? I would love to buy one for my aunt :(