Dolls with Disabilities
Kids need dolls and toys that resemble them. Sure, it’s great to have toys that you aspire to be, like an astronaut or scientist. But if every astronaut or scientist you see is an able-bodied white male, it changes the way a child thinks. If a child is disabled, they need disabled dolls and toys.
This is an older post that used to be called Dolls with Special Needs, but I am moving away from using the phrase Special Needs.
It’s so important for kids to see toys and dolls with disabilities. To have them play in their imaginary world and do things normalizes it for real life. Here are more than 25 dolls and action figures with disabilities.
I’ve also included accessories for toys and action figures you might already have, plus where to buy them. These disabled dolls and action figures are not always easy to find.
Disability Awareness Dolls
American Girl–American Girl has a great assortment for kids. While I’ll admit that they are not cheap, they are super cute! You can buy a wheelchair, a walker, hearing aids and much more. If you keep scrolling down, you’ll see I have listed similar items at Toys R Us that are less expensive.
American Girl Wheelchair
Barbie– Barbie is finally getting it right and adding disabilities to the lineup.
Playmobil-There’s a movement out there called “Toys Like Me” and these folks got Playmobil to make some toys that look like our kids. Never doubt what motivated parents can do.
Build a Bear– Build a bear has hearing aids and a few other accessories that you can add on to their existing dolls/stuffed animals. For example here is the $2 Hearing Aid you can buy and put on any stuffed animal.
And they have a seizure helmet! A seizure helmet!
Flaghouse– Is a toy/educational games make that offers the following accessories for dolls: Wheelchair, Vinyl Glasses, Forearm Crutches, Leg Braces, Walker, Seeing Eye Dog and Cane, and Dark Vinyl Glasses.
Lakeshore-Another great retailer of educational stuff, stimmy toys, sensory…you name it. They have a decent selection of disabled toys and dolls, I’ve put them here because they are available on Amazon.
Lego– Lego City has some mini figures that use wheelchairs.
Toys R Us–Toys R Us has a whole line called Journey Girls. Journey Girls has cool accessories like a wheelchair and a T1 insulin kit for dolls. Journey Girls is the same concept as American Girl dolls, but much more affordable!
Ok, obviously TRU is out of business, but Journey Girls is available on Amazon.
Shadow Buddies-Shadow Buddies don’t look very realistic as far as the face and body, but they have everything! They have g-tube dolls, seizure helmets, prosthetics, surgery, and much more.
Star Wars-I’ve heard that you can buy Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader with their prosthetic arms, but I could not find them.
Ringside Collectibles-I was so pleased to find this WWE toy! Take a look! If your kids have the WWE action figures, they can get accessories for them.
Etsy shop- AFOs for dolls?! Yes, please!
Fisher Price-This item you will likely only find via resale on Amazon or Ebay, but it’s super cool. I have it up above in the Amazon ad.
Barbie-Mattel used to offer Barbie items, but they took a lot of heat when the Barbie wheelchair didn’t fit in the Barbie dreamhouse. Oops! You can still find dolls and accessories, but again, look to Ebay and Amazon.
