Inclusion Paradox Sighting: A Toy Guide for Kids with Disabilities

When it comes to disability, it is clear that constructively calling out differences leads to greater inclusion. In this Inclusion Paradox Sighting, Toys R Us has a shopping guide for toys specifically for children with special needs.

 With the help of experts at the nonprofit National Lekotec Center, the New Jersey-based toy retailer has put out a guide of nearly 100 toys as a guidepost for those who purchase toys for the over 6 million children in the United States who have disabilities. Toys R Us started publishing the guide in 1994. Each year Toys R Us has printed over half a million copies of the 50+ page guide and has made it available online, this year with Whoopi Goldberg as the celebrity endorser. The retailer absorbs all costs and, impressively, only six are exclusive to Toys R Us stores.

Each toy in the guide is accompanied with a description of how it can be used, along with symbols that indicate what areas of development it can help stimulate – such as creativity, self-esteem, vision or hearing. It comes with questions to help the buyer decide whether a toy is the right fit for the child, like, “Will the toy provide a challenge without frustration?” and “Can play be open-ended with no definite right or wrong way?”

Have a child in mind you want to get something for? Check out these guides:

In English — > http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/corp/diff-abled-guide-2009.pdf

In Spanish –> http://trus.imageg.net/graphics/corp/diff-abled-guide-2009-esp.pdf

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