Renegade Visit to American Girl Store

A couple of months ago, Jordan and I had a super quick visit to Chicago to hold a design meet-up and spend a day building Jordan’s next round of prosthetics. Before we got down to the business, Jordan and I had a goal: To take her newly upgraded limb different American Girl doll to a store and introduce her to other dolls on display with differences.

The American Girl Store in Chicago is a special place for Jordan and I. We started visiting when she was just three-years-old. Since we had a quick trip to Chicago, we stayed in a hotel that was walking distance to the store. Michigan Avenue is full of stores that caught Jordan’s eye. She wanted to stop at a bunch of spots. But this visit was so quick; we only had time to invade the American Girl Store. (Okay, we dropped into the Disney Store, but it was fast.)

The one thing I like about the American Girl Stores across the country is how the displays include dolls that have all kinds of differences that are available in the Truly Me toy line. The main display shows how the standard dolls look.

But if your child is going through chemotherapy, you can send your doll to the American Girl Hospital. You can see the dolls in store displays.

There are additional doll upgrades on display like hearing aids and glasses.

American Girl continues to expand its adaptive tools for its dolls. Jordan went renegade and wanted to see what a limb different doll with a sparkly helper arm would look like on display. She thinks those should be an option!

We think it looks pretty awesome.

Jordan isn’t ready to walk away from her quest. Her petition to encourage American Girl to consider limb different options on Change.org needs around 760 signatures to reach 25,000! She’s also trying to evaluate ways to take this project and expand it into her Bronze Award work in the Girl Scouts. (Anyone with experience working on Bronze Awards is welcome to share thoughts!)

Thanks to so many of you for sharing and supporting Jordan’s petition. Imagine how many kids will have a different view of limb differences if they were on display in stores across the country. Not every kid needs a doll without hair. Not every kid needs a doll without a hand. But all kids deserve to know physical differences are just a part of life and can be seen anywhere.