KarunaNews Story

Mattel’s autistic Barbie, created in collaboration with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, aims to represent ways autistic people may experience, process, and communicate. Features include a new face sculpt with the doll’s eyes shifted slightly to the side to reflect how autistic people may avoid direct eye contact; articulation at the elbows and wrists, “allowing for stimming, hand flapping … as a way to process sensory information or to share excitement”; accessories such as a pink finger clip fidget spinner, noise-cancelling headphones, and a symbol-based Augmentative and Alternative Communication tablet; and sensory-sensitive clothing. Barbie is working with autistic advocates including fashioner designer Aarushi Pratap and Madison Marilla from Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum. “This autistic Barbie makes me feel truly seen and heard. I hope all the kids I’ve mentored feel the same when they see her and I hope people who aren’t autistic feel educated and gain a better understanding of autism when they see this doll,” says Madison.