The Autistic Barbie – Motivational or a Mockery?
By: Nitzaliah Festinger
Recently, Mattel has partnered with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network (the ASAN) to release a new “Autistic Barbie”. The brand claims this doll is meant to provide representation for the neurodivergent community. This has sparked a lively debate online of whether or not the Barbie actually serves as representation or is just a perpetuation of stereotypes.
On the more positive side of the argument, many people express how they think the doll does a good job at representing some people who have autism. Morgan Foley, an influencer who often speaks about living with autism, said “I was a little concerned when I heard that they were coming out with an autistic Barbie”, highlighting that autism is an “invisible disability.” Similarly, Paige Layle, another content creator that discusses autism said “there is an often amount of time where autism doesn’t have a visible look to it.” Morgan goes on in her video saying “one doll is not a representation for every autistic person, but I do think this is an amazing start”. Paige also said something along these lines stating, “There will never be an autism representation that every single autistic person feels represented by”. She goes into detail about this later reinforcing the idea that while the doll may not represent everyone it still provides relatability for some, saying, “We are making positive strides toward inclusion.”
As for the actual aspects of the doll. She looks pretty much like a normal Barbie doll, just with a few new details. The doll comes with headphones, and a fidget toy. This is meant to reflect how there are many members of the autistic community who often use sensory devices, or toys to stay regulated. The doll also has an AAC-device, which is basically a tablet that uses text-to-speech to help someone talk. Some people on the autism spectrum like to use these because they find it hard to communicate with people using vocal speech. Lastly, the doll’s eyes are cast slightly sideways, this feature reflects how some people with autism find it difficult to hold eye contact, and have trouble maintaining conversations while doing so. She also has joints that can actually move that allow her to fidget or as Mattel puts it “ stimming, hand flapping, and other hand gestures that some members of the autistic community use to process sensory information or express excitement.” The doll is also wearing loose fitting clothing, that is meant to show how some members of the autistic community have sensory preferences when it comes to clothing.
In Morgan Foley’s review of the doll, she ends the video by adding how she is happy Mattel chose to make this Barbie a person of color. “Whiteness is so over represented in autism spaces” She says. She then mentions how this topic is still a big discussion in the autism community, but ends by mentioning how this “representation would’ve meant a lot” to her “as a little kid”. Another influencer Abby Romeo, who also discusses facing autism, online said, “I’m so happy that people are really starting to understand autism.” So, on one hand, the new doll has provided positive representation for many members of the community, and could be a step in the right direction, but on the other hand, there are many reasons people don’t like it
Some people online have expressed how the new autistic Barbie is unnecessary due to the invisible nature of the disability, and could enter a more stereotypical territory. While others in the autism community say they don’t mind that it could perpetuate stereotypes since it at least provides representation for some people.
Another thing some people have pointed out is that Mattel’s new Barbie doll could just be a way for the company to capitalize on the “trendiness” of autism nowadays. Autistic content creator, Courtney Ahn mentioned in their discussion of the doll “A massive corporation that has intentionally excluded us, has finally decided they can include us because they can make money off of it!” This comment holds a lot of weight as it describes how this new doll could really just be a product of corporate greed.
So, all in all, the internet is so far still pretty divided on this subject, and we may never know Mattel’s true intentions when creating the doll, but it has made a positive impact in some people’s lives, and discussing this topic more could lead to a lot of positive changes for the autistic community. Hopefully we continue to see positive changes.
Sources:
https://corporate.mattel.com/news/barbie-introduces-the-first-autistic-barbie-doll-championing-representation-for-children-through-play