\n The doll, launched Monday, is the first Barbie with autism\ufeff. She carries a pink fidget spinner that actually spins, wears pink noise-cancelling headphones to reduce sensory overload and holds a pink tablet that represents her augmentative and alternative communication, or AAC, device.\n <\/p>\n
\n Hill says Mikko, who is nonverbal, also uses an AAC device, which helps people who have speech or language problems to communicate.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cAutism is such an invisible disability at times, and to see that it\u2019s being represented through Barbie \u2013 everybody knows who Barbie is \u2013 it felt really good,\u201d Hill said. \u201cIt\u2019s really important to me that Mikko walks through life having representation. It really matters to me that she\u2019s not alone.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
![\"JJN58_W_26_221.jpg\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jjn58-w-26-221.jpg\")
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The new Barbie doll is part of Mattel’s Fashionista’s collection<\/p>\n
\n The Barbie doll has a gaze that shifts slightly to the side, reflecting how some people with autism avoid direct eye contact. Her fashionable purple pinstripe dress is purposefully flowy, loose-fitting and short-sleeved, a nod to how some people with autism prefer to keep fabric from touching their skin as much as possible.\n <\/p>\n
\n As Mattel prepared for the doll\u2019s launch, the company sent the new Barbie to Hill. She too has autism, and she says the doll makes her \u201cfeel seen.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n She also has two other children, 11-year-old twins Matthew and Ma\u2019Kenzie. While Ma\u2019Kenzie has not been found to have autism, Matthew is autistic \u2013 and he too was happy to see the doll.\n <\/p>\n
\n \u201cOther families that are going through this, or that also have autism or loved ones that are on the spectrum, I hope that they feel seen, too,\u201d Hill said.\n <\/p>\n
\n The new doll is part of Mattel\u2019s Fashionistas collection, which includes dolls with a diverse range of skin tones, hair textures, body types and health conditions, including type 1 diabetes, Down syndrome and blindness.\n <\/p>\n
\n Mattel worked with the nonprofit Autistic Self Advocacy Network to design the doll, which aims to represent the roughly 1 in 31 children<\/a> who are diagnosed with autism by age 8 in the United States.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cIt is so important for young autistic people to see authentic, joyful representations of themselves, and that\u2019s exactly what this doll is,\u201d Colin Killick, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network, said in a news release. \u201cPartnering with Barbie allowed us to share insights and guidance throughout the design process to ensure the doll fully represents and celebrates the autistic community, including the tools that help us be independent.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Autism spectrum disorder is a range of neurodevelopmental differences that affect how people communicate, interact and experience the world around them. It typically begins before the age of 3 and continues throughout a person\u2019s life. Although there is no cure for autism, early support and therapies can make a meaningful difference.\n <\/p>\n \n Research suggests that autism is more than three times more common among boys<\/a> than girls, but many experts believe it is frequently overlooked or misdiagnosed in girls.\n <\/p>\n \n In some cases, girls with autism are not diagnosed until much later in life \u2013 not until they become mothers. Hill was one of them.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI didn\u2019t know that I was autistic growing up,\u201d said Hill, 32.\n <\/p>\n \n It was only through her daughter\u2019s diagnosis at age 2 that Hill discovered her own diagnosis.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWhen I first learned about Mikko being autistic, I spoke with my aunt \u2013 my aunt is who primarily raised me \u2013 and she noticed it first. She said, \u2018Well, I didn\u2019t want to offend you. I didn\u2019t know how you would take the news, but I kind of noticed that there were some similarities between Mikko and you and how you were when you were growing up.\u2019 And when I was little, she just didn\u2019t know what it was. She just knew that I was different.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n But as Hill started to research more about autism to support her daughter, she realized that many of the signs, symptoms and experiences paralleled her own life. She then met with a health professional and was diagnosed at age 29.\n <\/p>\n \n Eileen Lamb of Austin, Texas, also was not diagnosed until she was a mother in her 20s.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI can totally relate to being diagnosed later in life, as a female with autism,\u201d said Lamb, senior director of social media and marketing at the nonprofit Autism Speaks<\/a>, which advocates for and supports autistic people and families. Two of Lamb\u2019s three children have autism.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cMy 12-year-old was diagnosed at age 2, and I was diagnosed like a year later. \u2026 I got my diagnosis just after my son,\u201d she said. \u201cAutism can look different in girls, and the fact that Barbie is a girl is powerful in some way. It\u2019s a great conversation opener, a great way to talk about it in a way that doesn\u2019t feel so clinical and heavy.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Lamb applauded the introduction of the new Barbie doll for highlighting some of the tools that help people with autism \u2013 such as the fidget spinner and AAC device \u2013 but she emphasized that autism is a broad spectrum, and many people may have different needs.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s possible to represent the entire spectrum in one doll. For instance, my son Charlie uses an AAC device also to communicate. He\u2019s fully nonverbal. So I love that the Barbie has an AAC device. But my other son, who\u2019s also on the spectrum, does not. So again, it\u2019s not possible to represent everyone, but it\u2019s a great step,\u201d said Lamb, who\u2019s also founder of The Autism Caf\u00e9<\/a> blog.\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cToys matter. Representation matters, and it\u2019s really good for children to see themselves in a toy,\u201d she said. \u201cIt sends a message that being different is nothing to be ashamed of.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Five-year-old Mikko\u2019s eyes lit up with glee when she noticed something familiar about her Barbie: The doll held…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":510336,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-510335","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115880976003048568","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510335","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=510335"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/510335\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/510336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=510335"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=510335"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=510335"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Barbie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jjn58-w-26-250.jpg\")
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