Toy maker Mattel adds autistic Barbie to doll line
Mattel Inc. is introducing autistic Barbie as the newest addition to its line that aims to celebrate diversity, joining a collection that already includes Barbies with Down syndrome, a blind Barbie and a Barbie and Ken with vitiligo.
Mattel said it developed the autistic doll over 18 months in partnership with the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, a nonprofit organization that advocates for the rights of people with autism and better representation in the media.
The goal is to create a Barbie that reflects some of the ways autistic people experience and process the world around them, Mattel said in a statement.
This was a challenge, according to Noor Pervez, community engagement manager for the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, who worked closely with Mattel on the Barbie prototype, because autism encompasses a wide range of behaviors and challenges that vary greatly in degree, and many of the characteristics associated with the disorder are not immediately apparent.
Pervez said that, like many disabilities, “autism does not resemble a single aspect.”
“But we can try to show some of the ways autism expresses itself.”
For example, the new Barbie’s eyes are slightly skewed to the side to represent how some people with autism sometimes avoid direct eye contact, she said.
The doll was also given jointed elbows and wrists to accept giggles, claps and other movements that some autistic people use to process sensory information or express excitement, according to Mattel.
Each doll comes with a pink finger-clip fidget spinner, noise-cancelling headphones and a pink tablet modeled after devices some autistic people who have difficulty speaking use to communicate.
The addition of the autistic doll to the Barbie Fashionistas line also served as an opportunity for Mattel to create a doll with facial features inspired by the company’s employees in India and mood boards that reflect a variety of women of Indian descent.
Pervez said it was important that the baby represented a segment of the autistic community that is generally underrepresented.
Mattel introduced its first Down syndrome doll in 2023 and launched Barbie, representing a person with Type 1 diabetes, in 2025.
Fashionistas include a Barbie and Ken with prosthetic legs and a Barbie with hearing aids; but the line also covers tall, petite and curvy body types and a multitude of hair types and skin tones.
“Barbie has always sought to reflect the world children see and the possibilities they imagine, and we’re proud to introduce our first autistic Barbie as part of this ongoing work,” Jamie Cygielman, Mattel’s global head of dolls, said in a statement.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the estimated prevalence of autism among eight-year-olds in the United States in 2025 is one in 31.
The estimate from the Autism and Developmental Disability Tracking Network said Black, Hispanic, Asian and Pacific Islander children in the U.S. are more likely to be diagnosed than white children.
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