Teacher makes dolls with hearing aids and cochlear implants for deaf students

Children with disabilities can have a hard time finding people who look like them in the media. Whether they're in a wheelchair or hard of hearing, this underrepresentation can often lead to bullying from peers. That's why one granddad with vitiligo decided to make dolls for children with the same condition. 

And now, a teacher is following suit by customizing some dolls for their deaf and hard-of-hearing students by painting a hearing aid and a cochlear implant to give their students a toy that looked like them. 

Twitter user Genesis Politron took to Twitter to share photos of the dolls on September 27. 

Politron explained: "I teach preschool and kindergarten for Deaf/Hard of Hearing kids, and my students never see toys that resemble their hearing devices (Hearing Aids/Cochlear Implants), so I added some to our new baby dolls on my own. I wish everyone could see their faces playing with these."

One Twitter user raised concerns about children getting cochlear implants before they can choose whether they want one, writing: "Where I don’t agree with young children being implanted before they can choose, I think it’s amazing that she’s exposing these kids to advocacy and knowing it’s okay to be differently-abled."

To that concern, Genesis responded: "My exact stance, along with the whole purpose of it! I was afraid of it being misunderstood, thank you so much for your comment!"

Unsurprisingly, people loved the idea as a whole. One user wrote: "This is the sweetest thing ever!!!! My friend has two deaf daughters and she got them custom American Girl dolls with hearing aids... to see their faces light up was priceless! Nice job teach!!! You’re a hero!"

While another added: "As a former Deaf Education major, this is so beautiful. I love seeing this, and really hope there’s the balance where even if the implant is given to the child they’re still able to learn ASL and have a connection with the Deaf community if they choose to."

One user concluded: "This is amazing and I’m freaking out that you did this for these babies."

This article was originally published October 1, 2019. It has since been updated.