The 2020 Barbie Fashionistas line will also feature a Barbie with a disability.
Mattel
Following Greta Gerwig’s smash hit Barbie, it’s safe to say Barbiecore and Kenazy are here to stay. The film, which grossed a staggering $155 million during its North American opening weekend, set a new record for the biggest opening of 2023, and is inviting us all to (re)discover the world of Barbie through a pink lens. But while Barbieland has diversified over the years, it took Mattel (the company that makes Barbie dolls) a while to get here, especially when it comes to disability.
The first Barbie with a disability was launched in 2019 with the creation of “Barbie Fashionista in a Wheelchair,” a big step for Mattel, which is valued at $7.52 billion in market capitalization (as of July 28). The California-based toy giant had considered featuring a disabled person in 1997 with the introduction of Becky, a school photographer and friend of Barbie. However, a little girl with cerebral palsy soon realized that Becky’s wheelchair would not fit into the elevator of Barbie’s dream house, and wrote to Mattel asking if they could make the house more barrier-free. The company simply stopped producing disabled dolls and refused to comment on this particular issue when I asked.
Wheelchair Barbie
“I felt a connection with Becky because Mattel’s response to her not fitting in the elevator felt similar to how women with disabilities are treated in society,” Madison Lawson, known as @WheelchairBarbie on Instagram, told me over Zoom. “Sometimes people act like it’s easier to forget about us and treat us like an afterthought. So knowing that Wheelchair Barbie fought to be here and to exist in a space that tried to erase her, I’ll always feel a strong connection to her.”
Madison Lawson, also known as Wheelchair Barbie, and a friend, from left, at the New York premiere of the film “Barbie”… [+] LA.
Madison Lawson
The 26-year-old journalist, model and disability advocate was born with a form of muscular dystrophy that has left her in a wheelchair since she was a child, and she says she started calling herself “Wheelchair Barbie” when, in her early teens, an older woman stopped in front of her at Macy’s and told her she looked like a little Barbie in her wheelchair.
“When I was growing up, there were no wheelchair Barbies,” Lawson added, “but I wanted a doll that was in my image, so I made her a ‘wheelchair user’ without using a wheelchair. I had Ken hold Barbie, that was his job!”
And that’s the beauty of a child’s imagination: they’ll always find a way to relate to and identify with the world around them, including their toys. This was beautifully expressed by AnnaSophia Robb in the film Soul Surfer. Playing Bethany Hamilton, a real-life surfer who lost an arm in a shark attack, Robb breaks off one of her doll’s arms after the accident.
240 million children with disabilities
According to a recent UNICEF report, there are approximately 240 million children with disabilities in the world. “Inclusive education is not a luxury,” Maria Alexandrova, UNICEF’s youth advocate for inclusive education, said in the report. “For too long, children with disabilities have been excluded from society in ways that no child should ever be.”
Parents are fighting hard to ensure their children with disabilities are fully recognized in society, including Renee Garcia, head of inclusion at Paloma Model & Talent. Her daughter, Kennedy Garcia, is an actress, model and speaker with Down Syndrome who fights for greater inclusion in Hollywood and beyond.
“For years we approached toy brands about making a doll with Down Syndrome, but were told they would never make one due to lack of interest,” Renee Garcia wrote to me in an email. “We’re glad that Barbie recognized the need and filled it. We hope that children with and without disabilities will love and enjoy Barbie for years to come. Maybe a Ken with Down Syndrome will be next (hint, hint, Mattel!).”
Down Syndrome Barbie and Kennedy Garcia.
Renee Garcia
This year, Mattel released a Barbie doll with Down Syndrome that appears to have been well-received by the community. Mattel says it worked closely with the National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) to ensure the doll’s aesthetic, clothing, accessories and packaging were accurate.
“Our goal is for Barbie to reflect the world as kids see it,” Kim Culmone, Mattel’s global head of Barbie and doll design, said in an email. “We know that children’s early experiences help shape their thoughts and perceptions, and Barbie can play a key role in this process. When kids play with a Barbie doll that reflects their identity, they directly imagine themselves living out their dreams and aspirations, creating a deeper personal connection. When kids play with a doll that is different from their own identity, they are able to better understand others. Both of these learnings are pillars of Barbie’s mission to promote empathy, self-discovery and kindness.”
Disabled doll
Since 2019, the Barbie lineup has expanded to include Barbie dolls with prosthetic limbs, hearing aids, vitiligo, etc. According to Mattel, Wheelchair Barbie was the second most popular Fashionista doll in 2020 and remains in the top 10 most popular dolls in the world in 2022, proving that there is a high demand for dolls with disabilities.
While Barbie is one of the most recognised early childhood play brands globally, there are other brands that are launching toys that take diversity and disability into consideration.
Playmobil, for example, sells a fully furnished schoolhouse with ramps, elevators and accessible toilets to welcome all toys, able-bodied and disabled alike. Its Royal Companion boy doll is based on a real child with autism and comes with a loyal companion dog, headphones to reduce distracting sounds, sunglasses to reduce visual sensory overload and a communication card. And the Vermont Teddy Bear Company has been making bears with missing limbs or disabilities for decades.
A bear with missing limbs from the Vermont Teddy Bear website.
vermont teddy bear
“Our study found that when children play alone with dolls, they talk about other people’s thoughts and feelings, activating areas of the brain associated with social processing and empathy (the posterior superior temporal sulcus),” Dr Sarah Gerson, a lecturer in the School of Psychology at Cardiff University, wrote to me in an email. “We saw similar language and brain activity when the children played with the researchers. We think this may mean that children are rehearsing social interactions when they play alone with dolls, which could benefit them in future social interactions.”
Thus, children’s play takes on a whole new meaning, as playtime teaches a lot about who they are becoming and how they interact with others.