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Agence France-Presse

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 charity that advocates for the rights and better media representation of people with autism.
The goal was to create a Barbie that reflected some of the ways autistic people may experience and process the world around them, according to a Mattel news release.
That was a challenge because autism encompasses a broad range of behaviours and difficulties that vary widely in degree, and many of the traits associated with the disorder are not immediately visible, said Noor Pervez, the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s community engagement manager who worked closely with Mattel on the Barbie prototype.
Like many disabilities, “autism doesn’t look any one way”, Pervez said. “But we can try to 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 self-stimulatory behaviour such as hand flapping and other gestures that some autistic people use to process sensory information or to express excitement, according to Mattel.
The development team debated whether to dress the doll in a tight or a loose-fitting outfit, Pervez said.
Some autistic people wear loose clothes because they are sensitive to the feel of fabric seams, while others wear figure-hugging garments to give them a sense of where their bodies are, he said.
The team ended up choosing an A-line dress with short sleeves and a flowing skirt that provides less fabric-to-skin contact. The doll also wears flat shoes to promote stability and ease of movement, according to Mattel.
Each doll comes with a pink finger clip fidget spinner, noise-cancelling headphones and a pink tablet modelled after the devices some autistic people who struggle to speak use to communicate.
The addition of the autistic doll to the Barbie Fashionistas line also became an occasion for Mattel to create a doll with facial features inspired by the company’s employees in India and mood boards reflecting a range of women with Indian backgrounds.
Pervez said it was important to have the doll represent a segment of the autistic community that is generally under-represented.

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 colours.
“Barbie has always strived to reflect the world kids see and the possibilities they imagine, and we’re proud to introduce our first autistic Barbie as part of that ongoing work,” Jamie Cygielman, Mattel’s global head of dolls, said in a statement.
The doll was expected to be available at Mattel’s online shop and at Target shops starting on Monday for a suggested retail price of US$11.87. Walmart branches are expected to start carrying the new Barbie in March, Mattel said.
The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention reported last year that the estimated prevalence of autism among eight-year-old children in the United States was 1 in 31.
The estimate from the CDC’s Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network said black, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander children in the US were more likely than white children to have a diagnosis, and the prevalence is more than three times higher among boys than girls.


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The toy firm said it developed the autistic doll over more than 18 months in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network


The toy firm said it developed the autistic doll over more than 18 months in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network.


Mattel adds an autistic Barbie to doll line devoted to showcasing diversity and inclusion

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}The toy firm said it developed the autistic doll over more than 18 months in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network

The toy firm said it developed the autistic doll over more than 18 months in partnership with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network