[Sharon]

This is a Down’s syndrome doll which has been designed with the characteristics of children born with the condition.
It’s one of an increasingly popular — but hugely controversial — range of dolls with different disabilities produced to give youngsters with health problems a toy with which they can identify.
The manufacturers claim such dolls, which are finding a growing market in Britain, help ‘normalise’ conditions like Down’s syndrome so young sufferers don’t feel so different from their friends. They even say such dolls may help make disabled people more accepted by society.
Children undergoing cancer treatment can get ‘chemo’ dolls which are bald and come complete with headscarves. Others are available with hearing aids, glasses, guide dogs, wheelchairs, crutches and leg braces.
Many parents of disabled children have welcomed the dolls as a realistic alternative to the physical perfection of the Baby Annabells already on the market.
Others, however, dismiss them as a sick joke. In fact, their detractors believe they only emphasise a disabled child’s differences to their able-bodied friends.
Civil servant Sue Farren, from Durham, whose daughter Rebecca has cerebral palsy and has to use a wheelchair, is horrified by the very idea.

The wheelchair & crutches dolls represent me during my brain bleed and foot operation

[ragnaeri]

hohoho!!

[Hotstuff]

*dont trust myself to comment*