When American Girl says no to doll with disability, sisters Melissa,& Eva write a novel

Melissa Shang's transformation from a quiet Chester County fifth grader into a national disability advocate began with a battle over a doll.

article by Michaelle Bond for The Philadelphia Inquirer | Sept. 11, 2016
Born with Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, a neurological disorder that causes muscular atrophy in her legs and arms, Melissa (photo) wanted to see herself in her favorite toy. Almost three years ago, when she was 10 and her sister, Eva, was 17, they started a widely shared online petition asking the maker of American Girl dolls to design one with a physical disability and feature it as Girl of the Year, with an accompanying book.

Nearly 146,000 people signed the petition. American Girl, a subsidiary of Mattel, acknowledged the sisters' request but turned it down.

So, with Eva's help, Melissa wrote her own novel, "Mia Lee Is Wheeling Through Middle School", self-published in July and available on Amazon since last month. A doll may come later, but the book, the sisters say, is more important.

"When I was growing up, I never read any books where the main character was in a wheelchair like me," said Melissa, now 13 and an eighth grader. "I wanted to change that."

Even though the Census Bureau estimates nearly one in five people in the United States have a physical or mental disability, they are underrepresented in books and other media, said Rebecca Cokley, executive director of the National Council on Disability.

"A lot of children around the country who don't feel like they fit in anywhere can feel they fit in in Mia Lee's world," she said.

Melissa and Eva (photo below) talked to a few publishers, only to find that none shared their vision for the story. "They wanted [the sisters] to make it a pity party," Cokley said. "Eva and Melissa's book provides an optimistic view of life with disabilities. A realistic view."

The sisters wanted to show that girls with disabilities care about and encounter the same issues as other girls, and that having a disability is a natural part of life, Eva, 20, said.

So they published the book themselves.

To pay for it, they again turned to the power of people coming together online. Their supporters did not disappoint. Contributors to their Kickstarter campaign tripled the sisters' goal, giving more than $6,300 in January and February 2015. At that point, they started writing. They finished last September.

Mia Lee Is Wheeling Through Middle School is the story of a sixth-grade girl who is a stop-motion filmmaker and is campaigning to be the president of her school's Video Production Club. When her posters keep disappearing, she and her friends set out to prove her opponent is stealing them.

Mia uses a wheelchair and has an aid at school to help her, but, Melissa pointed out, "she doesn't let her disability define her."

Melissa, who also enjoys making stop-motion films, based the character on herself, although she says her life "isn't as exciting."

The sisters' agent, Clelia Gore of Martin Literary Management, called them "very impressive young women who have a shared interest in being advocates for people with disabilities."

"I think this is just one wonderful project of many to come," she said in an email.

In the year after the sisters started their American Girl petition, they were busy advocating for people with disabilities. Melissa helped introduce Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai - shot in the head by the Taliban for pressing for the education of Pakistani girls - when she received the Liberty Medal in 2014.

Melissa was given a standing ovation when she spoke about living with a disability at the United Nations to mark the International Day of the Girl Child. She and her sister gave a local TEDx talk called "Why Girls With Disabilities Matter."

Cokley, of the National Council on Disability, said she wanted to see more books like Melissa and Eva's in the hands of not only children with disabilities but also those without - potentially, future employers who could benefit from learning early on about people with differences.

In early August, Cokley organized a release party in Washington for Mia Lee.

Melissa, Eva, and their parents, Sue Liu and Cheng Shang, traveled from Massachusetts, where the family moved a year ago, to attend the book launch. Among the 50 guests were advocates for the disabled as well as a group of deaf women visiting from Ghana. The HSC Foundation, a nonprofit that works to improve access to health-care services for people with disabilities, was host for the party.

Melissa said she may eventually write a sequel, based on her experiences moving to a new state and school.

"Right now," she said, "I'm just focusing on surviving eighth grade."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20160911_American_Girl_said_no_to_doll_with_disability__so_ex-Chesco_sisters_wrote_novel.html

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Previous Posts on Melissa and Eva Shang: CLICK HERE

Melissa Shang (11yr old) is publishing a book about a girl with muscular dystrophy, and needs YOUR help!

as shared by Melissa and Eva Shang for a kickstarter campaign

11-year-old Melissa will write and publish a chapter book with her sister about a girl with muscular dystrophy who loves to sing.

About this project
The Story
Have you ever read a book about a girl in a wheelchair?

Probably not. My name is Melissa Shang and I’m 11 years old. Since I was born, I’ve had Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a form of muscular dystrophy. I love to read, and every week, I check out four books from the library. But I have never read a book about a girl who uses a wheelchair, like I do, as the main character.

Being a disabled girl is hard. Having muscular dystrophy means gradually losing the ability to run, walk, and even use a pencil, not to mention activities like riding a bike that other kids take for granted. Girls with disabilities have the same hopes and dreams as other girls, and the difficulties we face every day make our stories that much more inspirational. I don’t want another book where I’m just the side character who teaches the main character a lesson about being kind. For once, I want readers to know what it’s like to be me.

Last winter, my sister Eva helped me petition American Girl, my favorite line of books and dolls, to release a Girl of the Year with a Disability. Our petition gathered almost 150,000 signatures, and was featured in newspapers and magazines from Oprah Magazine to CBS to the International Business Times. Yet American Girl has not yet promised to tell the story of a girl with disability as the main character. Our stories deserve to be heard.

So, I’ve decided to write the book myself. With the help of my sister, we will self-publish a book about a middle school girl who has a neuromuscular disease, like I do, and tell the stories of all the girls who never get to see their own perspectives on the page. To publish the book, we’ll need your support.

The Plot
Mia Lee just wants to fit in—but it’s near impossible when she has a disability. When other sixth-graders are hanging out their lockers between classes, she’s stuck in the handicapped elevator in her wheelchair with her aide.

When Mia hatches a plan to befriend the popular girls in school, she finds herself in a whole lot of drama with her aide Miss Jackson, her best friend Caroline, and even her cool college sister Ella. Can Mia survive middle school with a wheelchair, a sometimes-awesome-sometimes-grumpy older sister, and find a way to be “cool?”

The Authors

YouTube published by TEDx Talks

Melissa Shang is a sixth-grader at Tredyffrin-Easttown Middle School and an advocate for disability representation. She has spoken at TEDxYouth@Hewitt, the United Nations, and the National Constitution Center. Eva Shang is a sophomore at Harvard University, as well as Melissa’s PR agent and #1 fan. Follow them on Twitter @shang_melissa and @eva_shang.

Risks and challenges
Although writing a book is a slow process, we are confident that we will be able to finish the book by September, and hopefully, will self-publish the book through CreateSpace, an Amazon subsidiary. If we have the opportunity to publish through a publishing company and no longer require Kickstarter funds, we will donate money raised to the Muscular Dystrophy Association to fund summer camps for kids with neuromuscular diseases.

To Learn More of the KICK STARTER campaign visit: 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/185656461/middle-school-with-a-disability-a-book

American Girl: Release an American Girl Doll with a disability - Please sign the petition..

have to share and urge all to sign petition, please share this one...

• Petitioning Jean McKenzie 

American Girl: Release an American Girl Doll with a disability

1. 1. 
    
   2. Petition by
      Melissa & YingYing Shang
      Paoli, PA

As a girl with a disability, I’ve had to overcome obstacles since I was born.

I’m ten years old, and for as long as I can remember, I’ve had Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a form of muscular dystrophy. When I was seven, like most of my classmates, I fell in love with American Girl dolls—historical and modern girls with stories about overcoming obstacles. I’ve read all of the books, seen all of the movies, and even visited the American Girl Place in New York City. For the past three years, I’ve asked for an American Girl doll for Christmas.

Of all the American Girl dolls, my favorites are the Girl of the Years. Every year, American Girl introduces a brand-new character with a story about finding success in the face of challenges today. Girls of the Year come from all different places, from Hawaii to New Mexico, and they help girls learn what it’s like to be someone else. Through Saige, I learned what it’s like to be an artist and horseback rider. Through McKenna, I learned what it’s like to be a gymnast. Girls of the Year have helped me understand how it feels to be someone else.

However, none of the American Girl Girls of the Year are like me. None of them have a disability.

Being a disabled girl is hard. Muscular Dystrophy prevents me from activities like running and ice-skating, and all the stuff that other girls take for granted. For once, I don’t want to be invisible or a side character that the main American Girl has to help: I want other girls to know what it’s like to be me, through a disabled American Girl’s story.

Disabled girls might be different from normal kids on the outside. They might sit in a wheelchair like I do, or have some other difficulty that other kids don’t have. However, we are the same as other girls on the inside, with the same thoughts and feelings. American Girls are supposed to represent all the girls that make up American history, past and present. That includes disabled girls.

Please join me and my sister YingYing in asking American Girl to release a disabled Girl of the Year. Please, sign this petition to convince American Girl tell my story, and the story of disabled youth. Will you join me and see my dream come true?

To:
Jean McKenzie, President of American Girl and Executive Vice President of Mattel
American Girl, Mattel Inc. 

Every year, American Girl releases a Girl of the Year, who comes with a story and teaches girls about overcoming obstacles in today’s world. The biggest obstacle of all is being born with a disability. Please, American Girl, release a Girl of the Year for 2015 who is in a wheelchair, so that all girls can learn about the difficulty of being born with a disability. Disabled girls are American girls too. They have the same thoughts and feelings, and deserve to have their stories told. Thank you so much for telling the stories of so many girls throughout American history—and thank you in advance for telling this one.

Sincerely,
[Your name]

To sign the petition change.org: CLICK HERE