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"  Melissa Shang is a huge fan of American Girls \u2014 she&amp;#039;s read all the books and seen all the movies, and in this video, she holds her newest doll, Saige, in her arms. But Melissa isn&amp;#039;t satisfied with the current selection of dolls, and she hopes to do something about it. The 10-year-old has Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a form of muscular dystrophy, and she&amp;#039;s now petitioning the company to make its next limited-edition &amp;quot;Girl of the Year&amp;quot; a girl with a disability. &amp;quot;Every year, American Girl introduces a brand-new character with a story about finding success in the face of challenges today,&amp;quot; she writes on Change.org. &amp;quot;However, none of the American Girl Girls of the Year are like me. None of them have a disability.&amp;quot; Melissa explains that she wants other girls to understand what it&amp;#039;s like to be her. &amp;quot;Disabled girls are American girls too,&amp;quot; she says in the video. &amp;quot;We face challenges and overcome them every day.&amp;quot;  Melissa&amp;#039;s sister, YingYing, is helping her out, and she commented on the Change.org page: &amp;quot;Disabled girls deserve to be heard! For my sister&amp;#039;s strength, passion, and dedication to American Girl- let the stories of disabled girls be told!&amp;quot; The girls have gotten more than 3,000 signatures so far. Their goal is 9,000.      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.cosmopolitan.com/lifestyle/news/a17706/melissa-shang-petition-american-girl-disability/?src=rss>