As Program Coordinator at the Motion Analysis Center, St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital of Tampa (Fla.), Lauren Rosen, PT, MPT, MSMS, ATP/SMS, has a sizable office.

Rosen needs that space for her array of demo wheelchairs — power, manual self-propelled, manual tilt. And her clients — some of whom are experiencing independent mobility for the first time — need room to spin, turn, and move.

But some of the space in the office is reserved for conveying a message just as important as the need for mobility.

Barbie, Ken, Sarah, and Aaron

Rosen collects Pez dispensers, many of which live in her office. Large stuffed animals lounge in and among demo chairs.

Shelves hold Barbie and Ken dolls, all in wheelchairs, and three “Becky” dolls, also in wheelchairs. The original Share a Smile Becky — the first Barbie-franchise doll to use a wheelchair — sits atop a tiny Stimulite honeycomb cushion, supplied to Rosen by Supracor.

“Mattel made a [sitting] snow skier Barbie, so she’s on the same shelf with the Beckys,” Rosen said.

On a top shelf sits an American Girl doll in a wheelchair: “Her knees do not bend, so she has elevating legrests,” Rosen explained. A teddy bear sits in a My Life wheelchair, My Life being the Walmart equivalent of the American Girl franchise.

“I’ve got the My Life amputee doll that’s dressed like a gymnast,” Rosen said. “There’s a teddy bear sitting by itself: That’s a Sarah Reinertsen bear. Sarah Reinertsen is a Paralympic athlete who did a lot of triathlons, and she came up with Sarah Bears. She’s a single above-the-knee amputee, so my Sarah bear has the same [prosthetic limb] as hers. I was at a triathlon out in San Diego, and she signed it for me.”

Rosen has two remote-controlled toys modeled after extreme athlete Aaron Fotheringham’s ultralightweight wheelchairs, plus the Fotheringham Hot Wheels wheelchair. She’s especially excited about her newest Playmobil set: “I just added a school bus that has a ramp and has a kid in a wheelchair that you can put into the school bus.”

Her collection is more than 20 years in the making. “I was really excited when I got the [Fisher-Price] Aidan Assist,” Rosen said of the action figure who’s an EMT in a wheelchair. “That was the first boy in a chair that I had. So I was very excited when I added him, and then most of the Playmobil characters seem to be boys in wheelchairs.”

“She has a blue chair, and you have a blue chair”

Rosen described her office — where dolls and action figures in wheelchairs share space with Pez dispensers, stuffed animals, and other toys — as “a wonderland” with a clear message.

“The room just shows how normal they are,” she said of the wheelchair toys. “They’re just another set of toys. I think it does take some of the stigma away, that I’ve got a shelf of Pez dispensers, and right under that a shelf of Barbies.

“I do point them out sometimes: ‘Do you see there’s a Barbie in a chair? She has a blue chair, and look — you have a blue chair.’ But they’re not there specifically for that reason. They’re just there for normalcy. They’re things that bring me joy.”

They bring joy to the children she works with, too. Rosen routinely hands out toys to her clients.
“I offered her a Squishmallow,” Rosen said of one recent young client. “It was time for her to leave. We were delivering her wheelchair, and she was having so much fun in my office that she clamped down on her wheels and was crying and was not leaving my office.

“I said, ‘If I give you a Squishmallow, will you leave?’ No. I must have tried five different toys, before I said, ‘How about a Barbie in a wheelchair?’ That got her to let go of her wheels.”

Rosen laughed. “That’s how much fun I am. Kids get very upset when they have to leave.”

Images by Lauren Rosen

Editor’s note: This story was originally published in Mobility Management’s spring 2024 digital magazine. Subscribing to Mobility Management’s free newsletter, eMobility, includes a free digital magazine subscription.