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Autistic Barbie

TheCatWoman

They've just launched autistic Barbie, with pink noise cancelling headphones, tablet and clothes that don't irritate the skin and other features.

Do you find it good, bad or indifferent?

I'm not sure what to think, on the one hand anything that makes people feel included and to have toys that "look like them" is a good thing, but on the other it seems a cynical marketing ploy.

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  • I think a autistic Barbie is morbid, especially if the only way a doll can be labelled as neurodivergent are the accessories that they come with. It's not the props that make someone autistic, they're coping mechanism to make it through a neurotypical world, they're not autism itself. 

    If it's supposed to raise awareness of autism for neurotypicals, then you will need Mattel to manufacture enough dolls and enforce a marketing strategy that everywhere where Barbies are sold there will also be an autistic Barbie on display..... sounds realistic? NAH.

    If it's meant for autistic people to identify themselves as autistic.... well that's coals to Newcastle. 

    Besides, the props that Mattel uses to exemplify what an autistic Barbie would look like are stereotypical too. Not all on the spectrum use all of them, and some don't even use a single one (including myself).

    I fear to say that the autistic Barbie will quickly fade into history as Allan did.

  • in reply to NAS64261

    I get your point. Completely but I dont know how else they could do it as autism doesn't have a look.

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