ACTION FIGURE IN WHEELCHAIR IS NOW IN LEGO MECCANOS

At London and Nurnberg fairs, for the first time in LEGO’s meccanos history, a toy figure in a wheelchair has appeared. A new toy is a part of a new series of «Toy Like Me» brand.

It is worth to remark that LEGO Group has been repeatedly accused of figures uniformity which form part of the subject collections. Campaign «Toy Like Me» was launched last year and became possible due to the gathered signatures from users. Good Samaritans signed-in at www.change.org and LEGO Company has been required to include action figures with disabilities into the play sets.

Rebecca Atkinson, one of the active action participants, stated in an interview for “The Guardian” that the lack of attention to over than 150 million children with disabilities, living in the world, and the lack of such character in products, offered by the company, is a falsification of cultural background. Initially LEGO top management has rejected these demands, arguing that children built their own stories of the pieces offered in the meccano sets. However, one of the recent meccano set has presented new characters — a man in a wheelchair and a seeing-eye dog.

The organizers of the campaign «Toy Like Me» were sincerely pleased with the manufacturer’s decision to take into account the petition requirements. They stated that such reaction of company’s top management has drawn the tears of joy, and LEGO has changed their view on the world of bricks.