Dr. Jessica Taylor@DrJessTaylor
‘Autistic Barbie’ by Mattel just landed. So, let’s get into it.
She is thin.
Conventionally attractive.
Feminine.
Long straight haired.
Neatly presented.
Barbie-proportioned.
Minidress and long legs.
And what marks her out as autistic?
Headphones. A fidget spinner. And I quote, a ‘vacant look in her eye’ according to Mattel, to represent that ‘autistic people struggle with eye contact’.
That’s it.
Be real with me. This is not representation of autistic lives. It’s aesthetic labelling. Autism reduced to a single, sanitised visual cue that has become popularised through social media stereotypes. Headphones function as a shorthand for ‘sensory sensitivity’, which is then flattened into ‘autism’.
This is branding and commodification of autism.
“Autism is where you have headphones on and a vacant look in your eye.” I mean. Are we being serious?
Nothing about this doll reflects the material realities of autistic people’s lives. There is no engagement with power, exclusion, or harm. Autism is treated as something you accessorise, not something that shapes how you are treated by schools, employers, healthcare systems, families, friends, partners, police, courts, prisons, or the state.
But forget about all that. Look pretty, get your legs out, and play with your fidget spinner, sis.
My new article sharing my views has arrived.