By Patrick Daly
Barbie has been a doctor, an astronaut and an all-round style icon since first going on sale almost 70 years ago. And now autistic Barbie has joined the lineup.
American toy company Mattel has announced a new doll that displays traits witnessed in some people diagnosed with autism.
Autistic Barbie’s eye gaze is diverted to reflect how some with autism prefer to avoid direct eye contact and she wears noise-cancelling headphones to reduce sensory overload. Her purple pinstripe dress is also designed to be loose-fitting, said Mattel, to provide less fabric-to-skin contact.
The introduction of an autistic Barbie to the doll’s range, which was first released in 1959, has the possibility of helping children to better understand the diagnosis, said Maeve Donnelly, an associate clinical professor in applied psychology at Northeastern University.
“The more examples we can have of individuals with autism and what autism might look like are so valuable,” she said.
Donnelly, who previously worked in a school for children with autism before entering academia, said children “learn through play” and that interacting with the accessories that autistic Barbie comes with could assist them in understanding how best to engage with autistic people.
