Lego is releasing a new toy collection featuring a mini-figure in a wheelchair set for release later this year, a company executive told ABC News today.
Photos of the Lego character in a wheelchair emerged online from the Nuremberg toy fair in Germany and the London Toy Fair in the U.K. this week, and took the Internet by storm.
The Danish toy giant has created the Lego "City" set, which "features a mini-figure scale wheelchair," Michael McNally, senior director of brand relations for Lego, told ABC News. "It will be available starting in June."
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This change seems to have come out of a Change.org petition, spearheaded by London-based activist Rebecca Atkinson. The petition, which urges Lego to "Please make this the last Christmas disabled kids are culturally excluded from your much-loved products," has gathered over 20,000 signatures.
And now it seems the petition has prompted some actual change.
Atkinson updated the Change.org petition with a statement praising Lego for the move of including a disabled toy figure in their collection. Atkinson writes, “Lego we salute you! You’ve just made a 150 million children, their mums, dad, nans, granddads, teachers, carers, pet dogs and hamsters very very very happy!”
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