Celebrating Differences

Inspiration: When Jordan Reeves walked into her first dance class, everyone stared at her left arm, which stops above her elbow.

“They kept looking and whispering,” recalls Jordan. “It made me so mad because they weren’t even bothering to talk to me.”

By the next week, Jordan’s anger had subsided. Still, she wanted to send a message. She strutted into her next class wearing a T-shirt with bold letters that read “Don’t Stare. Just Ask.”

To her disappointment, no one asked her anything—but the staring stopped. “I don’t know if [the shirt] made a difference,” says Jordan. “But I felt stronger.”

Six years later, Jordan, now 14, is featured in Marvel’s Hero Project, a docuseries about teens who are igniting change. Her mission: to help kids feel the strength she felt in her T-shirt.

Action: Four years ago, Jordan attended a workshop in San Francisco called BOOST and found another way to make a bold statement.The purpose of the workshop was to teach kids with limb differences how to use 3-D printers to make prostheses that can do all sorts of creative things.

With the help of a designer, Jordan created an “arm” that looked like a sparkly purple unicorn horn that sprayed glitter. Jordan’s mom posted a photo of her demonstrating it and the internet went wild. Reporters began reaching out, and she was invited to pitch her unicorn arm to the cast of Shark Tank.

Jordan used her newfound fame to fuel her activism. In 2017, she and her mom started an organization called Born Just Right. It holds design workshops, like the one Jordan attended, to help kids learn how to use science and design to make the world more inclusive.

Outcome: Today, Jordan is a powerful advocate for kids with physical differences and Born Just Right encourages brands to make products more accessible to people with disabilities. Last year, Jordan helped the toy company Mattel design its first Barbie doll with a prosthetic limb.

Ultimately, Jordan wants to build much more than arms and dolls. She wants to build a new world where differences are not criticized or whispered about but embraced. A world where everyone knows to not stare and just ask.