World-renowned toy company, Mattel, is expanding their Barbie lineup, with a new inclusive doll aiming to represent autism. The Autism Barbie doll made its debut this week in the USA, marking the company’s efforts to reflect real-world diversity through accessible toys.
Local toy shop manager, and dad to two neurodivergent children, Dave, has said that it is the ‘little things’ with the new Barbie that has helped his son. With the doll’s elbow and wrist articulation, allowing for ‘stimming’, the child can relate to the doll. Dave and his team were ‘made aware of the new Barbie last year’ and look forward to welcoming the new toy ‘in February time’. Dave also highlights that it is not just parents of children looking for ‘autism friendly toys’ but also ‘adults with difficulties’, and that his toy shop ‘does their best to provide’ for the autism community. Dave said he ‘fully supports the rise in inclusive toys and looks forward to stocking the new Barbie in the next coming month.
The new Barbie is part of Mattel’s commitment for inclusion and representation. Whilst Mattel has said that this new Barbie has been in the ‘development stage’ for 18 months. Mattel have partnered with ASAN (Autistic Self Advocacy Network), a non-profit disability rights organisation run for and by autistic people that advocates for the rights of the autistic community, to help co-create this new doll. With this collaboration, Mattel has made intentional design choices for the first autistic Barbie doll.
The new Barbie has elbow and wrist articulation, reflecting hand flapping, stimming and other hand gestures, alongside a shifted eye gaze, mirroring how some members of the autistic community may avoid eye contact. Each Barbie is kitted with noise-cancelling headphones, pink fidget spinners and a tablet. Mattel has sensitively chosen this new Barbie’s fashion wear, as the doll is complete with a loose-fitting purple dress with flat purple shoes, helping promote less fabric-to-skin contact and easy movement.
With over 58 million Barbie dolls sold worldwide each year, it is clear that representation in toys plays a key role in childhood development. In the past, Mattel has released a variety of other inclusive dolls. They introduced a doll with Down Syndrome in 2023, a Barbie with Type 1 diabetes, and dolls with hearing aids and prosthetic legs. With Mattel launching this new Autism Barbie, inclusivity is becoming a priority for the brand as they reflect the world kids see around them.
