A deaf toddler is happier than ever after receiving a doll that came complete with cochlear implants and looks like him. Jasmine Mead, 27, gifted her son Harley, 21 months old, who is deaf, with a doll complete with cochlear implants in January 2022.
She found the doll on the website of BrightEars - a non-profit family run business that makes inclusive dolls for children, such as dolls with cochlear implants, cleft lip palettes or feeding tubes. Harley, who has profound bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, loves his doll 'Baby' and Jasmine has been thrilled to see inclusivity for children with different abilities finally being represented with dolls.
With Barbie releasing a Barbie doll with cochlear implants last month in a collaboration with Strictly Come Dancing's first deaf contestant, actress Rose Ayling-Ellis, 27, Jasmine loves the idea of children feeling accepted with seeing dolls that look just like them. Stay-at-home mum Jasmine lives in Bedfordshire and has another son, Alfie, six.
She said: "Harley loves his doll, he takes it everywhere. We always show him the doll's ears and the cochlear implant and explain how it is helping the doll to encourage him to recognise how useful it is.
"When we are teaching him how to sign, we use the doll as well to sign. I thought it was lovely that Tasha (Ghouri) went on Love Island because you don't see many people with additional needs on these kinds of shows.
"I'm really happy to hear that Barbie are releasing a doll with cochlear implants - it's really nice that the inclusiveness is becoming more readily available. Babies that are a bit different are finally being represented and it's lovely to see.
"Harley doesn't really understand that he's different at his young age, but I hope that when he's older and maybe feeling hesitant about wearing them to primary school that the doll will help him feel more confident. The doll is very special to us and very much appreciated."
The mum behind the doll's creation is Clare Tawell, 40, who made her first with a hearing aid in 2018 after struggling to find one that looked like her deaf daughter Tilly, now six. As a member of a support group for parents of children with hearing aids, fellow parents saw the doll and asked Clare if she could make one for their kids.
Word spread about Clare's creations and she now runs a non-profit business called BrightEars, making dolls for children with different disabilities and conditions that look just like them. She's progressed from hearing aids to making dolls complete with guide canes, hip spica casts, MIC-KEY gastronomy feeding tubes, and dolls that have cleft lip palettes and Down's syndrome.
One of her most popular requests is from parents of children with birthmarks, where Clare customises the doll to have the exact same birthmark - and she says customers have been moved to tears as a result.
Radiographer Clare, who lives in Lidlington, Bedfordshire, with her husband, engineer Miles, 40, and their two daughters Evie, 10, and Tilly, six, said: "BrightEars grew from one hearing aid doll to a range of inclusive dolls that not only empower children but also promote inclusiveness through play.
"Bullying often stems from ignorance and knowledge is the power to overcoming this. The name BrightEars came about because Tilly and I 'pimp' her hearing aids with a range funky stickers, from unicorns to dinosaurs, and she also has a vast array of retainers made by myself to jazz up her hearing aids.
"Her hearing aids are purposefully designed to be colourful and noticeable. They are a part of her and I never want her to be ashamed of them or be made to feel she has to hide them. She is deaf and proud.
"BrightEars has and always will be run as a non- profit company because the purpose of BrightEars isn’t to make money but to instead shout loudly that we're not going to hide away with our 'differences'. We're here, we exist, we have the right to be acknowledged and we're proud!"
