Learning to Understant Disability Through Disabled Dolls and Toys. Are You Free of Such Prejudice?

[oldbadger]

We are all born with abilities and disabilities.
Do you think of the mentally disabled as defectives?
If you have a high IQ do you brand slow-minds as dunderheads or duffers? (I'm thinking of my dear old paternal granny, just there. )
How balanced are we about all disabilities?

Please tell us what you think?
Please tell us about how you have managed with any disabilities?

Barbie launches disabled dolls in wheelchairs and with prosthetic legs ...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Barbie-launches-disabled-dolls-wheelchairs-prosthetic-le...
1 day ago - A Barbie for every body: Mattel unveils DISABLED dolls, including one with a prosthetic leg and one in a wheelchair, as it finally answers pleas ...

 

[savagewind]

Wow. No.

 

[savagewind]

There isn't a Barbie Doll for everyone as there are many people who are just fine without a doll.

 

[savagewind]

I admit I have thought of some people as "idiots" even though I know that to do so can lead me to hell. But, they are not less intelligent than me. They act in ways that I can't fathom to save the life of me. I suppose she could have been drunk, but I certainly hope not as she is pregnant.

 

[oldbadger]

There isn't a Barbie Doll for everyone as there are many people who are just fine without a doll.

OK.......... anything else?

 

[savagewind]

OK.......... anything else?

I will try to think of something. It might take a while.

 

[oldbadger]

I admit I have thought of some people as "idiots" even though I know that to do so can lead me to hell. But, they are not less intelligent than me. They act in ways that I can't fathom to save the life of me. I suppose she could have been drunk, but I certainly hope not as she is pregnant.

Some time ago I watched a group of deaf/mute children making fun of a cerebral palsy kid as he swayed along the street on crutches. Having one disability doesn't always seem to produce empathy in folks.

 

[oldbadger]

I will try to think of something. It might take a while.

A neighbour recently told me that his widowed Mum has become engaged again. He is furious, not because she wants to remarry but because her fiance seems a bit slow minded.

 

[savagewind]

Please tell us about how you have managed with any disabilities?
.

I have an anger problem. I expect more from people sometimes. I have not managed well. I have bought some lectures on it. I shall do better in the future. I hope. When I was young, I had a problem communicating. I think that the disabilities that are invisible to other people might be harder to deal with sometimes because they come without outside help.

 

[savagewind]

A neighbour recently told me that his widowed Mum has become engaged again. He is furious, not because she wants to remarry but because her fiance seems a bit slow minded.

That is so sad! Maybe it is an excuse and he is worried about his inheritance.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

We are all born with abilities and disabilities.
Do you think of the mentally disabled as defectives?
If you have a high IQ do you brand slow-minds as dunderheads or duffers? (I'm thinking of my dear old paternal granny, just there. )
How balanced are we about all disabilities?

Please tell us what you think?
Please tell us about how you have managed with any disabilities?

Barbie launches disabled dolls in wheelchairs and with prosthetic legs ...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Barbie-launches-disabled-dolls-wheelchairs-prosthetic-le...
1 day ago - A Barbie for every body: Mattel unveils DISABLED dolls, including one with a prosthetic leg and one in a wheelchair, as it finally answers pleas ...

The link goes to an error

 

[Polymath257]

We are all born with abilities and disabilities.
Do you think of the mentally disabled as defectives?
If you have a high IQ do you brand slow-minds as dunderheads or duffers? (I'm thinking of my dear old paternal granny, just there. )
How balanced are we about all disabilities?

Please tell us what you think?
Please tell us about how you have managed with any disabilities?

Barbie launches disabled dolls in wheelchairs and with prosthetic legs ...
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Barbie-launches-disabled-dolls-wheelchairs-prosthetic-le...
1 day ago - A Barbie for every body: Mattel unveils DISABLED dolls, including one with a prosthetic leg and one in a wheelchair, as it finally answers pleas ...

I think it was Woody Guthrie that said we are all ignorant, only in different things. The same could be said about our disabilities.

I don't generally use the word 'defective' to describe people. I may well get frustrated if someone's lack of understanding affects my ability to do something, but I don't see the person as 'defective'. But I will similarly get frustrated if someone ahead of me is driving slower than I want to go, so that isn't a statement about the value of the individual.

As for myself, my lungs work at something like 35% of normal capacity. That can severely limit my ability to do strenuous activities. My lungs are defective. But I don't say that *I* am.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

Please tell us what you think?

Please tell us about how you have managed with any disabilities?

I have epilepsy/seizures. I used to get tense and, because of its affect on the brain, extreme sad emotions. Before surgery, I really didn't have much management. I was "out there." Now, when I have a seizure, depending on the seizure, I know how to ease myself to the ground with a second.

Psychologically, I basically keep to my art. Writing and journaling mostly. I used to jog. The weather is getting better so I'ma push myself to go back. I go to therapy.

A lot of things I do so I wont "feel disabled." I wouldn't and don't agree with buying toys that mimic disabilities. I see how it helps for someone in a wheelchair to own a wheel-chaired barbie doll. But it can emphasize her disability more than her ability.

 

[Woberts]

*eardrums explode*

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

I don't see the problem with the doll and don't understand why anyone would have a problem with it. I'm sure a wheelchair bound little girl will love it.

 

[Shadow Wolf]

A lot of things I do so I wont "feel disabled." I wouldn't and don't agree with buying toys that mimic disabilities. I see how it helps for someone in a wheelchair to own a wheel-chaired barbie doll. But it can emphasize her disability more than her ability.

Yup. It can help to normalize those in a wheelchair, but what about their abilities? Does wheelchair Barbie come with stories of participating in sports? Leading the way in organizations despite not having use of her legs? Will it really do anything more than reflect an existence in a wheelchair? And plus there are already wheelchair bound fictional icons such as Charles Xavier. How can they do "wheelchair Barbie" to make it seem like her being on a wheelchair isn't the main focus?

 

[oldbadger]

The link goes to an error

Oh!
Yes..... sorry
Typical Daily Mail...

Try this one please:
Barbie introduces dolls with wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs - CNN

I just went in to Google and typed 'disabled barbie dolls' and scores of sites were returned. I copy/pasted the first one.

 

[oldbadger]

I think it was Woody Guthrie that said we are all ignorant, only in different things. The same could be said about our disabilities.

I don't generally use the word 'defective' to describe people. I may well get frustrated if someone's lack of understanding affects my ability to do something, but I don't see the person as 'defective'. But I will similarly get frustrated if someone ahead of me is driving slower than I want to go, so that isn't a statement about the value of the individual.

As for myself, my lungs work at something like 35% of normal capacity. That can severely limit my ability to do strenuous activities. My lungs are defective. But I don't say that *I* am.

Thanks for your reply.
That word.... 'defective'. I first read about the term 'mentally-defective' a few years ago when I was reviewing various driving licence requirements for US States. A person could not drive if they were 'mentally defective'. That told me so much about the culture and mindset in that particular State about mental disability.

I personally would not think of your lungs as defective, I would think of them as disabled, and where I live the word 'disabled' is a key which can unlock the doors to financial support and all kinds of assistance towards travel, security, safety, education, employment and more.

Our children need to 'click' in to what disabilities are, and not treat them as failures at all.

And so I see the word defective as a very bad term. There is no disability which could be considered as 'defective'.

 

[Deeje]

We are all born with abilities and disabilities.
Do you think of the mentally disabled as defectives?
If you have a high IQ do you brand slow-minds as dunderheads or duffers? (I'm thinking of my dear old paternal granny, just there. )
How balanced are we about all disabilities?

Please tell us what you think?
Please tell us about how you have managed with any disabilities?

I guess our perceptions of disabled people in a world where body image is so important, need adjusting....big time.

So many "disabled" people are teaching us a thing or three about what "disability" really means. Their "ability" would put most of us "able-bodied" ones to shame.

If this 'normalises' us humans to see our not so able-bodied ones just as fellow humans, doing their best with their limitations, then maybe it's not such a bad thing. Having disabled kids attending mainstream schools where disabled kids are part of the school landscape is also a good thing.

Attitudes need to change. But the most invisible form of disability...the one that usually makes people run away, not knowing how to approach them or to interact with it is mental disability....autism, schizophrenia, bi-polar disorder etc....these need to be understood and accepted as well. There is no cure for these ones either under current medical practice.

So we should all be mindful of others just trying to do their best under awful circumstances, whether visible or invisible....sometimes it's the mind in a wheelchair.

 

[oldbadger]

I have epilepsy/seizures. I used to get tense and, because of its affect on the brain, extreme sad emotions. Before surgery, I really didn't have much management. I was "out there." Now, when I have a seizure, depending on the seizure, I know how to ease myself to the ground with a second.

Psychologically, I basically keep to my art. Writing and journaling mostly. I used to jog. The weather is getting better so I'ma push myself to go back. I go to therapy.

A lot of things I do so I wont "feel disabled." I wouldn't and don't agree with buying toys that mimic disabilities. I see how it helps for someone in a wheelchair to own a wheel-chaired barbie doll. But it can emphasize her disability more than her ability.

My late wife had petit-mal and grand-mal seizures, I think they call them 'tonic-clonic' now. Her grand-mal seizures only occurred when asleep and so she was allowed to drive, but she did fall off her bicycle once during a petit-mal....... but she was still allowed to keep her licence. I don't think that she would have been allowed to drive in modern times though, our Doctors have tighter rules today, I expect.

But she also suffered from violent hysterical seizures and I came to know when these could happen. Children singing triggered them, or very (too) peaceful scenarios....... most strange, and all linked to her genes, childhood and youth.

You sound like a very determined person, I think. It's very very good that you get that second when you can do your best to prepare for a seizure. I knew a man who had a little 'Canine Partner' dog which could warn him in better time than that, about ten seconds, that he was going to have a seizure. Do you like dogs?

I don't know what to think about the barbie dolls. That's why I posted this thread, really, to get a cluster of responses.