Ad featuring Elsa with disabilities brings mum to tears
"My daughter is going to FLIP when she sees this!"
A mum in America was moved to tears when she spotted an advert for Halloween costumes in a Target (a bit like Asda) store catalogue featuring an Elsa costume worn by a little girl on crutches.
Jen Spickenagel Kroll posted the ad on her Facebook page, telling Target "I love you", explaining that her own daughter uses arm crutches and has prosthetic legs, and that she would "FLIP" when she saw the image.
"Including children with special needs into advertising makes them less of a spectacle to the general public when they venture out into the real world. Normalizing [sic] disabilities in children is PRICELESS."
Jen's post went viral and when it was picked up by website Upworthy, she told them: "People do not see children like my daughter very often.
More like this
"They don't SEE children with disabilities. So when I saw Target place a child with Spina Bifida front and center [sic], advertising Disney's sweetheart, Elsa, it brought me to tears."
Jen told Upworthy she tries very hard to make sure her 5-year-old daughter Jerrensia - who joined the family on a medical visa from Haiti in 2011 - never feels left out but that unfortunately, at times, in public, she becomes "a circus side show and many people lose all their manners", pointing and staring at her legs.
"We work very, very hard to make sure that her little corner of the world is anything but lonely and void of other children with similar abilities," says Jen. "But as far as media is concerned - there is a vast emptiness of children with whom she can relate.
"A Target ad with one precious little girl dressed as Elsa met her where she was and made the world a little more beautiful and friendly."
The move from Target has received loads of positive comments, with one poster saying: "Unbelievable. Well, actually I can believe it. God is awesome." Another said: "Love that Target is doing this...I hope that more stores will follow their example."
We totally agree.
Read more
Authors
Tara is mum to 1 daughter, Bodhi Rae, and has worked as Content Editor and Social Media Producer at MadeForMums since 2015
How NatPat's wellness patches may help your family
NatPat's range of wellness patches and stickers aim to tackle everything from allergies to lack of focus. We take a closer look at the range.