Mattel Adds an Autistic Barbie

Mattel is introducing an autistic Barbie on Monday as the newest member of its line intended to celebrate diversity, joining a collection that already includes Barbies with Down syndrome, a blind Barbie, a Barbie and a Ken with vitiligo, and other models the toymaker added to make its fashion dolls more inclusive. Mattel said it developed the autistic doll over more than 18 months in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, a nonprofit that advocates for the rights and better media representation of people with autism. The goal: to create a Barbie that reflected some of the ways autistic people may experience and process the world around them, reports the AP.

That was a challenge because autism encompasses a broad range of behaviors and difficulties that vary widely in degree, and many of the traits associated with the disorder are not immediately visible, according to Noor Pervez, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network's community engagement manager who worked closely with Mattel. Like many disabilities, "autism doesn't look any one way," Pervez said. "But we can try and show some of the ways that autism expresses itself." For example, the eyes of the new Barbie shift slightly to the side to represent how some people with autism sometimes avoid direct eye contact, he said. The doll also was given articulated elbows and wrists to acknowledge stimming, hand flapping, and other gestures that some autistic people use to process sensory information or to express excitement.

Each doll comes with a pink finger clip fidget spinner, noise-canceling headphones, and a pink tablet modeled after the devices some autistic people who struggle to speak use to communicate. Mattel introduced its first doll with Down syndrome in 2023 and brought out a Barbie representing a person with Type 1 diabetes last summer. The Fashionistas also include a Barbie and a Ken with a prosthetic leg, and a Barbie with hearing aids, but the line also encompasses tall, petite, and curvy body types and numerous hair types and skin colors. "Barbie has always strived to reflect the world kids see and the possibilities they imagine," said Jamie Cygielman, Mattel's global head of dolls.