Inspired by teddy bears with cleft palate surgery scars from the Cleft Palate Foundation, the Moebius Syndrome Foundation just ordered some bears of our own that will be available at the 2012 Philadelphia Conference (and online afterwards, depending on availability). While we don’t have completely custom bears like Cleftline has, we have bears with very cute purple t-shirts. One has “The Spirit of 2012 Moebius Syndrome Conference” logo on it and the other has the Moebius Syndrome Foundation logo and our unofficial motto, “I’m Smiling on the Inside” on it.
As a child, I was almost obsessed with anything I could relate to about other kids with disabilities. Because I was also book-obsessed, many were books. I would’ve been so excited to have these toys to play with, too. I don’t think there were really disability-related toys when I was a child. I remember being really excited to see that the American Girl catalog sold doll-sized wheelchairs, even though that happened when I was too old to really play with my dolls (bet my parents were thankful about that…)
So much of life with Moebius syndrome is not “fun”… so it’s great to have something cute and cuddly that is fun and spreads awareness of Moebius syndrome!
Natalie Abbott 