25,000 Signatures To Change The Toy Industry

We did it! Jordan’s ongoing push to petition American Girl to include limb difference options with its Truly Me line of dolls just hit 25,000 signatures! 25,000!

Thanks to you, this was possible. In the time it took to launch this petition and get to 25,000 signatures, Born Just Right has evolved into a nonprofit. Jordan has grown into a more confident speaker about disability and design. A New York prosthetic office, A Step Ahead Prosthetics, started offering free upgrades to American Girl dolls for kids with limb loss or limb differences. Other organizations have also gifted kids with prosthetic-wearing American Girl dolls. We are all more aware of the importance of mainstream toys that recognize physical differences. The organization, A Toy Like Me, is collecting a catalog all types of inclusive toys in this world. But American Girl nor Mattel have made any additional comments since the company offered a new release about Jordan’s petition to CBS last year.

What is next? 

Who knows if 25,000 will push American Girl to take our request even more seriously. But I hope the company keeps looking into ways to make it possible. According to the Amputee Coalition, two million people live in the United States with a limb loss. About 2,250 children are born with a limb difference (upper and lower) each year.

Representation matters. Children who see differences in mainstream dolls better understand physical differences when they see physically difference children on the playground. Children living in the disability world who see themselves in toys feel relevant, appreciated, and know they have a place in society. And that’s why Jordan keeps pushing so hard to change American Girl dolls. (Even though, yes, she’s growing out of them.)