Mattel introduces its first blind Barbie, new Barbie with Down syndrome
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In partnership with the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Barbie has launched the first Blind Barbie Fashionista doll, developed to authentically represent blind and low vision individuals.
This doll features an upward and outward eye gaze, sunglasses, and a cane with a marshmallow tip. Textured fabrics enhance the sensory experience, making fashion elements more accessible with easy-to-open Braille packaging, and elbow articulation for comfortable cane use, facilitating accessibility to show that we are all Barbie.
Inclusion and empathy are at the heart of better play.
Barbie also partnered with the National Down Syndrome Society to create the first Black Barbie with Down syndrome.
“We recognize that Barbie is much more than just a doll; she represents self-expression and can create a sense of belonging,” Krista Berger, the senior vice president of Barbie, said in a news release.
In 2020, the company’s Barbie Fashionistas line featured its first dolls with vitiligo, a doll with no hair, and a doll with a darker skin tone and a gold prosthetic limb. Last year, the company partnered with the National Down Syndrome Society and released its first-ever Barbie doll with Down syndrome.
This year, the two collaborated again — this time to create a Black Barbie with Down syndrome.
NDSS is thrilled to introduce a second Barbie doll with Down syndrome. Having this doll launched alongside the new Barbie doll with Blindness marks another important step in expanding representation for the disability community,” Kandi Pickard, the president and CEO of NDSS, said in a statement. “We are proud to partner with Barbie as they grow to reflect our diverse and beautiful world.”
Down syndrome is a genetic condition that can affect how their brain and body develops, according to the CDC. Each year, about 6,000 babies born in the United States have Down syndrome and it is the most common chromosomal condition diagnosed in the United States.
A focus group of Black individuals from the Down syndrome community reviewed the doll’s shape, hair, fashion and glasses. Taylor Freeman, a young Black woman with Down syndrome, also joined the focus groups, helping to create the face and body sculpt, NDSS’ Michelle Sagan told CBS News.
Like last year, the new doll’s face features a rounder shape, smaller ears, and a flat nasal bridge with her body also featuring a shorter frame with a longer torso and a single line on her palm — all characteristics often associated with those with Down syndrome.
But this new doll has a braided hair texture, one of the key features requested by the Black Down syndrome community.
The doll also wears pink eyeglasses, representing individuals with Down syndrome who often experience difficulties with their vision. Her dress is blue and yellow, symbolizing Down syndrome awareness, and the three arrows in some of the hearts on the dress pattern represent the third 21st chromosome that individuals with Down syndrome have.
