You go, girl
Melissa Shang is not mad at American Girl. But she is getting even.
I LIKE PLUGGERS. My favorite plugger these days is pint-sized charmer Melissa Shang.
Not because she sparred with American Girl, maker of dolls that bankrupt you, and lost. But because she's gonna make a believer out of those who told her no.
Melissa is 11 years old, has a super-best friend named Cassidy, carefully observes what the "the cool girls" wear at school, makes fun of her dad's cellphone ineptitude and sings a heart-melting rendition of "Let it Go."
So she's practically indistinguishable from a million other sixth-grade girls in America.
What makes her stand out is her muscular dystrophy. It also makes her disappear.
People see her wheelchair before they see her smile. They notice the adult aide with her at Tredyffrin Easttown Middle School in Berwyn before they notice that Melissa is wearing awesome new jeans. Because her fingers can't grip, they see that she clutches a pencil between her bent wrists before they see that she is writing a story.
"I'm just a regular girl," says Melissa, whose disease causes debilitating muscle weakness and numbness. She navigates the Paoli home she shares with her parents, Cheng and Sue, by grabbing onto a chair, then a table, then a railing. She uses a wheelchair or braces outside the house.
"Girls with disabilities are still normal girls," she says.
Melissa has been trying since December 2013 to help the world see that she is more than her wheelchair, that all kids with disabilities are more than what makes them seem different. She and her sister Eva, a sophomore at Harvard, launched a petition on Change.org to get American Girl to create a "Girl of the Year" character who is disabled.
Melissa is a fan of the company's $115 dolls that American Girl says "celebrate girls . . . who they are today and who they will become tomorrow." Eight of the dolls depict different periods in American history; and every January, American Girl releases a "girl of the year" whose story is set in current time. Each doll comes with a well-written book about her daily life.
Young girls love the books, and their parents love their hopeful messages of triumph over adversity; the power of pluckiness; the value of family and friends.
What young girl wouldn't want to see herself - or a possible version of herself - depicted in such a flattering and positive light?
But if you're a girl with a disability and you look at those dolls and books, all you see is all you will never be: a surfer like Kailey, a dancer like Marisol, a gymnast like McKenna.
"Disabled girls might be different from normal kids on the outside," Melissa's petition read. "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 believed that an American Girl doll with a disability wouldn't just help girls like her feel included in the greater world; it would help able-bodied girls see girls like her as deserving inclusion.
Scoff if you want at the notion of a doll changing the world. But ponder this: Since 1986, more than 25 million American Girl dolls have been sold through the company's catalog, retail stores and website (helping to boost the profits of sugar daddy Mattel Inc. to more than $13.4 billion last year). That's a lot of young minds to influence with a positive tale about disability.
The public thought so, too. Melissa's petition garnered more than 145,000 signatures. The resulting publicity got her invited to the National Constitution Center in October to help introduce young Malala Yousafzai, winner of the 2014 Liberty Medal. And she was asked to speak at the United Nations International Day of the Girl last year about what it's like to live with a disability.
Her speech got a standing ovation - but her petition failed to sway American Girl.
The company is "thoroughly impressed" by the Shang sisters' passion and determination, says spokeswoman Stephanie Spanos. But American Girl has "never created a doll or accessory based on a specific customer request . . . due to laws around intellectual property." Besides, the "development plans for future characters are confidential and it's impossible for us to say when [or if] a particular character will be introduced."
So Melissa has decided to write her own book, all about the adventures of a middle-school girl with a disability, a cool best friend, a great voice and - possibly - a shot at winning a chance to perform with Taylor Swift.
She's calling it Wheeling Through Middle School.
Last week, the sisters launched a kickstarter campaign to raise $2,000 to self-publish the book. Supporters have already donated more than $4,300.
My hope?
That it goes viral, that Taylor Swift reads it and then invites Melissa on stage one day to sing "Let It Go" - to the envy of girls who hope to be just like Melissa one day.
Interested? Go to http://goo.gl/rZ2pzo.
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