Quick Post: Barbie’s Relate Ability

If you’ve taken any notice of the current Barbie play line dolls, you will have seen that Mattel is not only producing dolls with more variation in ethnicity and body shape, but is also including dolls with disabilities and medical issues, and I love it.  I have had some people say they wonder what child would want a doll with these types of issues, and of course the answer is any child who also has that condition or disability.  It’s about inclusivity, seeing a doll that’s just like you.  But it’s also about education and normalisation, showing that not everyone is the same, but we should embrace our own and each other’s differences. Empathy comes through imagination and understanding, and dolls like these can foster it.  I know that I would have loved these dolls as a kid, as I’ve said before, I’ve always liked my doll collection to represent my world and these would have been on my must have list.  Now of course, as much as I’d love all of them, money, space and my only-one-of-each-face mould policy mean I have to be picky, so at the moment I only have four.

Barbie, Ken and Chelsea have all been issued in wheelchairs, but so far, I’ve only bought Ken.  In fact, I’ve bought several.  It’s somewhat ironic that these dolls in wheelchairs have the fully articulated Made to Move bodies, while the dolls with prosthetic limbs aren’t articulated at all.  It means they’re perfect for head swapping though, so several static Fashionista Kens have been upgraded to these Made to Move bodies.  The wheelchair Chelsea dolls have bendable legs and straight arms. As much as I love the Made to Move bodies, I wonder if instead, these wheelchair dolls should have very loose joints in their knees, ankles and hips, meaning they can’t stand or hold any pose at all.

I just had to buy Fashionista #187 that has two Barbie pink hearing aids.  My mum, dad and sister all wore two hearing aids, so although I already had a doll with this head mould, I had to have her.  I love her 60s inspired dress and her hearing aids really are accurate dolly representations of over the ear aids. She sits on my book case and I know my mum and sister would have loved her too. 

Fashionista #197 has braces on her teeth – and a new face mould, so for me she was a must have.  Her face has similarities to both the Millie and CM Millie moulds, so in my collection she’s the younger sister to doll’s with these faces (she’s also been swapped onto a Made to Move body).  Her braces are just painted on and my only issue is that her face paint is quite pixelated, but I love her all the same.

My most recent addition is Chelsea in a back brace for scoliosis.  Again, mum had scoliosis, so this was a doll I had to have.  I was also curious as to whether it was just a standard Chelsea body with a brace moulded to look as though the spine was crooked, but was pleased to find it was a whole new body and leg type.  Scoliosis is most commonly picked up in adolescence, but can present in childhood, so I love that Chelsea was chosen for this condition.   

There has also been a bald Barbie, both Barbie and Ken with the skin condition vitiligo and Barbie with a prosthetic leg. I think one of the next releases will be a doll with Down syndrome. Kmart have also released their Anko branded dolls with disabilities and medical conditions. There have been dolls in wheelchairs, with hearing aids, low vision with a cane or Seeing Eye dog and a doll with a leg in a plaster cast.  I hope both companies continue to release dolls such as these, as every child deserves to have a doll just like them, and hopefully they’ll also spread a little understanding.

Update: She’s here! The doll with Down Syndrome is on shop shelves and she’s gorgeous. Her box is labelled with the US National Down Syndrome Society tag and the doll herself wears the logo on her necklace. She has a new body type, a short curvy body and a new face mould. She does present me with a bit of a dilemma, I love my dolls to be articulated but I also love that this girl is so tiny. If I swap her head to a curvy articulated body, she’ll be a wee bit taller. I think I’ll leave her as is for now.

Don’t forget, I’m now on Instagram – @jenjoysworld(and a non-doll photo art account @jenniferbs_world). There’ll be some unique content and behind the scenes stuff, so head over and follow.

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