Mom Lunches Inclusive Doll Line with Hearing Aids & Feeding Tubes

Children like dolls that they can identify with them. The problem arises when a toddler has a disability.

Clare Tawell is a UK-based mother of two. Her younger daughter, Matilda, has been deaf since birth. When she was four years old, she wanted to buy her a doll with a hearing aid. Unfortunately, she couldn't find one anywhere. This event motivated her to act on it.

This British lady founded the organization Bright Ears UK. She herself works in a hospital every day and knows how important it is for children to be accepted by their own environment and to be able to find friends similar to them. With this in mind, Clare started a line of dolls that represented visual disability or as a result of hospitalised procedures such as feeding tubes and stoma bags.

“Now I want to empower children and give them the confidence that comes with seeing themselves represented."

Thanks to this toys, no child will feel excluded from society. Dolls additionally support the development of toddlers, and also have a positive impact on their self-confidence. Since then, she has sold almost 2,000 dolls to families worldwide, as far away as Australia and the USA.

“I’ve had hospitals and schools want to use them to help explain certain illnesses, or even parents wanting to use them to teach their children about their own condition and help them to understand it.”

What do you think of this project and unusual dolls?