What Ms. Kavita says not only melted my heart but also made me think in a way I’ve never thought before of. She says, “I never understood the concept and logic of having biological kids, when there are so many children out there who need parenting, love, and a home.”
Beyond ‘just a play thing,’ that we see in dolls, they offer a deep bonding to a child who likes to carry them all over their worlds. Imagine a child having a limb difference. What is having a perfectly beautiful companion like Barbie going to mean to her? We may never understand the depth of what exactly happens within a child in such situations. But, Amy Jandrisevit of Wisconsin, a passionate doll-maker, thought she can do something about it. In her experience of having used play therapy as a social worker at the pediatric oncology department, she saw how therapeutic dolls can be. When a woman she knew reached out to her for making a look-alike doll for her daughter whose leg was amputated, Amy knew exactly what she ought to do. She began to make lookalike dolls for children with different abilities or birthmarks or defects.