They couldn’t do it, was what a doll company told a family looking for a gift for their daughter who has hearing impairments. However, that answer wouldn’t deter this family. What happened next led all the way to Choctaw High School and an intrepid high school senior.
What Santa Brought a Little Girl with Disabilities
The students in the Choctaw High School STEM program were making toy statues. They would use the 3D printer that was made available to them at the East Oklahoma County Tech Center to print models of objects like the Statue of Liberty. Yet, one of the program’s students wanted to do more with the 3D printer.
He caught wind of a holiday dilemma that was making life harder for the parents of a young girl with hearing impairments. These parents wanted to get their daughter an American Girl doll with cochlear implants just like hers, but the doll maker only made hearing aids for their dolls. So, this high school senior sprang into action.
He borrowed his sister’s cochlear implant, took measurements, and made a scaled down version of the device on computer. Then he and his classmates printed the toy accessory, filed it down and sanded it to fit on the doll the family wanted to get the girl.
When Christmas rolled around and the little girl got to open her presents, she found a doll just like her to cherish for years to come.
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