10 years old Melissa Shang from Philadelphia, who is suffering from Muscular Dystrophy has petitioned the makers of the American Girl dolls, to make its 2015 Girl of the Year doll a character with a disability. The Petition itself has gone viral and has received more than 10000 signatures within hours.
In a petition addressed to Jean McKenzie, President of American Girl and Executive Vice President of Mattel which makes American Girl Doll brands, to release a Girl of the Year for 2015 who is in a wheelchair, so that all girls can learn about the difficulty of being born with a disability.
In the petition, she writes, “I’m ten years old, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve had Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a form of muscular dystrophy. When I was seven, like most of my classmates, I fell in love with American Girl dolls—historical and modern girls with stories about overcoming obstacles. I’ve read all of the books, seen all of the movies, and even visited the American Girl Place in New York City. For the past three years, I’ve asked for an American Girl doll for Christmas”.
Of all the American Girl dolls, my favorites are the Girl of the Years. Every year, American Girl introduces a brand-new character with a story about finding success in the face of challenges today. Girls of the Year come from all different places, from Hawaii to New Mexico, and they help girls learn what it’s like to be someone else. Through Saige, I learned what it’s like to be an artist and horseback rider. Through McKenna, I learned what it’s like to be a gymnast. Girls of the Year have helped me understand how it feels to be someone else.
However, none of the American Girl Girls of the Year are like me. None of them have a disability.
Being a disabled girl is hard. Muscular Dystrophy prevents me from activities like running and ice-skating, and all the stuff that other girls take for granted. For once, I don’t want to be invisible or a side character that the main American Girl has to help: I want other girls to know what it’s like to be me, through a disabled American Girl’s story.
Disabled girls might be different from normal kids on the outside. They might sit in a wheelchair like I do, or have some other difficulty that other kids don’t have. However, we are the same as other girls on the inside, with the same thoughts and feelings. American Girls are supposed to represent all the girls that make up American history, past and present. That includes disabled girls.
Melissa is a 5th grader from Paoli suburb of Philadelphia and suffers from Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a neurological disorder and form of muscular dystrophy that causes muscle weakness and numbness. She uses a wheelchair or a walker to get around.