The First Blind Barbie Doll and Black Barbie Doll with Down Syndrome Are Here

Two new Barbie dolls are becoming a member of the Fashionista line! Your children can play with the primary Blind Barbie doll, in addition to a Black Barbie doll with Down syndrome.

The addition of each 12.7-inch dolls will increase the illustration within the Barbie Fashionista Doll line, permitting extra children to search out and play with dolls with similarities. Mattel can be collaborating with accessible trend model Aille Design for a Barbie-themed line with legible braille beadwork!

The field has “Barbie” in braille. | Supply: Mattel

Children with low imaginative and prescient can play with blind Barbie’s tactile clothes. | Supply: Mattel

The corporate partnered with the American Basis for the Blind (AFB) to make sure that the blind Barbie doll precisely represents these with blindness and low imaginative and prescient. The doll features a white and crimson cane with a marshmallow tip and sun shades, as some blind or low-vision people use the lens for additional eye safety. The doll has elbow articulations for comfy cane use and options a watch gaze that faces barely up and out, reflecting the attention gaze that’s typically current with blind people.

The blind Barbie doll additionally includes a satin-like shirt and ruffled skirt for tactile curiosity, a brightly coloured, high-contrast hook and loop fasteners for closure on the doll’s prime, and an elastic skirt waistband. These additions make swapping outfits simpler for these with low imaginative and prescient. Mattel and the AFB additionally created accessible packaging, akin to the right placement and writing of “Barbie” in braille.

The addition of the Black Barbie Fashionista Doll with Down Syndrome follows Mattel’s first Barbie doll with Down syndrome, which launched final 12 months. Mattel partnered with the Nationwide Down Syndrome Society (NDSS) and spoke with a spotlight group of Black people with Down syndrome to create this doll. The doll options bodily traits of individuals with Down syndrome, together with an extended torso, shorter body, low muscle tone, and a single line on the doll’s palm.

The doll’s face has a rounder form, a flat nasal bridge, smaller ears, and barely slanted eyes as properly. Moreover, the doll comes with pink eyeglasses, as some people with Down syndrome have imaginative and prescient impairments, and braided hair texture. The outfit is blue-and-yellow — representing Down syndrome consciousness — and has three arrows in a few of the hearts, representing the third twenty first chromosome.

The Barbie Fashionistas sequence additionally contains Barbie dolls with Vitiligo, listening to aids, and prosthetic limbs, in addition to dolls in wheelchairs, and it’ll continue to grow!