Health Conditions
Autistic Barbie Spurs Debate Among Parents, Advocates
Mattel’s launch this week of its autistic Barbie doll triggered a hot debate among advocates for and parents of autistic people. Some praised the toymaker’s effort to create a “relatable” experience for kids. Others said the doll minimizes and “normalizes” what for many children with autism is a severe disability.
Mattel’s launch this week of its autistic Barbie doll triggered a hot debate among advocates for and parents of autistic people.
Those in favor said the doll may be relatable to a growing number of children. Others accused the toymaker of “normalizing” the autism epidemic.
Mattel said it created the doll “with guidance from the autistic community to represent common ways autistic people may experience, process, and communicate about the world around them.”
The toymaker partnered with the Autistic Self Advocacy Network to develop the doll, the latest in its collection of Barbie dolls with medical conditions and disabilities, including Down syndrome, blindness and Type 1 diabetes.
John Gilmore, executive director of the Autism Action Network and a member of the federal government’s Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee, said, “There are probably a lot of kids out there who would appreciate a doll that ‘has’ whatever health condition they are dealing with.”
Polly Tommey, CHD.TV program director, had a different take. Tommey, who has interviewed many parents of autistic children, said the doll “doesn’t represent my son with autism or the 12,000 signatures on the bus. Normalizing a condition that is debilitating with lifelong suffering is cruel.”
Tommey conducted many of her interviews on the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) Vax-Unvax Bus.
Data published last year by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that 1 in 31 U.S. children had autism in 2022 — up from 1 in 36 in 2020 and 1 in 10,000 in the 1970s.
Katie Wright, the mother of an autistic child, told The Defender she doesn’t want “to villainize Mattel,” as “they are trying to be ‘inclusive’” of this growing segment of the child population.
However, “for the vast majority of affected families, autism is not a condition to celebrate, but a serious disability,” Wright said.
Mattel said it made “intentional design choices” to “authentically” reflect some experiences individuals on the autism spectrum may relate to. These include an eye gaze “shifted slightly to the side” to reflect “how some members of the autistic community may avoid direct eye contact.”
The doll also comes with accessories often used by children with autism. Among them are a fidget spinner, headphones and a tablet. The doll also wears “sensory-sensitive fashions.”
Autism is a ‘neuroautoimmune disorder and not a people group’
Mattel said the doll “can help children better understand the world around them by encouraging doll play outside of a child’s own lived experience.”
But Brian Hooker, Ph.D., CHD’s chief scientific officer and the father of a severely autistic adult male, called the doll “extremely insulting.”
“Autism is a neuroautoimmune disorder and not a people group,” Hooker said. “Most individuals I know with autism identify at their core with their humanity and uniqueness and not their belonging to some type of ‘marginalized people group.’”
The Conversation praised Mattel for doing “a great job” of creating an autistic Barbie. “Her inclusion creates a much-needed opportunity for representation, education and normalises the use of disability accommodations,” The Conversation wrote.
Biologist Christina Parks, Ph.D., agreed. “The particular accessories and differences between this doll and others may open up conversations about the dysfunctions many of our children — and now adults — struggle with every day, and lead to a better understanding by the general public of those struggles.”
Autistic Barbie doesn’t come with ‘head-banging helmet’ or adult diaper
Karl Jablonowski, Ph.D., CHD’s senior research scientist, said he had a mixed reaction to the new doll. “Autism is an injury, and an injury is not to be celebrated or normalized. But autism affects children, and all children should be celebrated and included.”
Jablonowski said that autistic Barbie could play an “important” role in raising autism awareness among children. But it could also contribute to the normalization of autism and its increasing prevalence in society. He said:
“Autistic Barbie is not designed to portray moderate or severe autism, which accounts for roughly 60% of all autism diagnoses. She does not come with a head-banging helmet nor an adult diaper. When they grow up, there are some cold, hard facts that await people who played with autistic Barbie.”
Parks agreed. “Presenting several core features of autism visually turns this health issue into a caricature,” she said. “I think it will result in autistic people feeling more self-conscious rather than more accepted.”
Parks said the new doll is part of a larger conversation concerning normalizing autism in which certain neurodivergent traits are seen as part of the person’s identity rather than as a symptom of dysfunction.
On Substack, cardiologist Dr. Peter McCullough said autistic Barbie “raises complex ethical and sociological concerns.” He said it “blurs critical distinctions between acceptance and indifference” and “can dull urgency for researching underlying causes, removing pressure from regulatory agencies and vaccine developers whose negligence may have contributed to the surge in cases.”
McCullough questioned the timing of the doll’s launch, in the midst of the federal government’s efforts to study autism’s causes and weeks after the release of a comprehensive review he co-wrote about possible causes of autism. The review identified vaccination as the leading “modifiable risk factor” for autism.
“The timing of this release is revealing,” McCullough wrote. “Instead of confronting potential iatrogenic causes of epidemic level neurodevelopmental disorders, corporations and advocacy networks are reframing autism as a benign form of ‘neurodiversity’ to be celebrated.”
Role of organization that helped launch autistic Barbie questioned
Mattel highlighted the Autistic Self Advocacy Network’s role in developing the doll.
“It is so important for young autistic people to see authentic, joyful representations of themselves, and that’s exactly what this doll is,” said Colin Killick, the group’s executive director.
But Kim Rossi, managing editor of Age of Autism, in a blog post criticized the group, which she said “actively fought” against the addition of wandering as a medical diagnostic code in 2011.
According to the National Autism Association, wandering, also known as elopement, refers to “the tendency for an individual to leave the safety of a responsible person’s care or safe area, which may result in potential harm or injury.”
Nearly half of autistic children are at risk of wandering.
Rossi said “hundreds” of people with autism have wandered and drowned while the Autistic Self Advocacy Network participated in a “huge push to normalize autism.”
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Is autism ‘overlooked’ or ‘misdiagnosed’ in girls?
Several mainstream media reports suggested Mattel’s autistic Barbie could raise awareness — and improve the diagnosis of — autism among girls, who are diagnosed with the condition at a lower rate than boys.
Jolanta Lasota, chief executive of Ambitious about Autism, told The Guardian, “With girls three times less likely than boys to be diagnosed with autism, this toy also shines a light on the experiences of autistic girls, who often slip under the radar.”
“Many experts believe [autism] is frequently overlooked or misdiagnosed in girls,” CNN reported.
But some advocates for autistic people questioned the suggestion that autism in girls has fallen under the radar.
“There are some people out there trapped in identity politics who have trouble accepting that a health condition could affect males and females at different rates, and the difference is not just evidence of sexism,” Gilmore said.
“Whether they are boys or girls, causes and treatments need to be found so that we do not have to accept this as if it is a normal, unavoidable situation,” Parks said.
Related articles in The Defender- Biggest Risk Factor for Autism? Bombarding Young Children With Multiple Vaccines
- ‘Uncompromising and Relentless’: HHS to Study All Possible Causes of Autism, Including Vaccines
- ‘Honesty at Last’: CDC Says ‘No Evidence’ to Support Claim that Vaccines Don’t Cause Autism
- 1 in 31 Kids Had Autism in 2022 — Up From 1 in 36 in 2020
- ‘Autism Epidemic Is Real and Overvaccination Is Its Cause’: A Conversation With Mark Blaxill
- Autism Awareness Month: Health Officials, Media Focus on ‘Inclusivity’ Not Prevention, Experts Say
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