Barbie Launches New Dolls with Wheelchairs and Prosthetic Limbs (Coming This Fall)
Barbie is more inclusive than ever!
Mattel recently announced that they will be launching a couple new Barbie dolls as part of their 2019 Barbie Fashionistas collection – one doll will use a wheelchair and another will have a prosthetic leg. The collection will even include a Barbie-Dream-House-compatible ramp for Barbie’s wheelchair.
The Fashionistas collection was first expanded in 2016 to include dolls with four different body types — original, tall, curvy and petite — as well as seven skin tones, 22 eye colors, and 24 hairstyles. And now, other dolls in the 2019 Fashionistas line will offer a variety of appearances, including braided hair texture, and more realistic body types.
This new line of Barbie dolls will be available for purchase this fall at various retailers (just in time to be added to holiday wish lists!). Find out more about this new release on the Barbie Facebook Page.
What do you think of this new collection?
This is great!
This is wonderful!!
Finally!
How awesome! My daughter is a paraplegic/wheelchair user and uses an American girl doll chair for all her stuffies/dolls…even though it looks so archaic in style. Barbies new wheels look so much more like her wheelchair. Can’t wait to get one.
Don’t be afraid to write to them about what you want in a Barbie. Letters about special need dolls are being sent to the department in charge about this project. They do plan more different dolls in the future if this does will.
Yes! I had to buy a very expensive unfortunately discontinued wheelchair from a kickstarter campaign. My daughter is not in a wheelchair but knows kids who are and I want her dolls to look like the people around her. Nice work
Thank you so much for raising your child to learn that there’s people with disabilities in the world & we’re all human. Thank you for helping the world be a better place by raising your child to know not everyone looks the same & we were all created different. Thank you Hip2save for this wonderful/thoughtful post!
There are also children with disabilities that are not physically noticeable..such as autism. My daughter has autism and it’s hard for children to understand. I’m blessed that she has an older and younger sister who are more than willing to advocate for her. It’s all about educating are children that everyone is unique in their own way and different isn’t bad. 🙂
Finally!! As a child I always wanted one.
They made a Barbie “friend” a few years ago who was a school photographer in a wheelchair. But not a “Barbie”.
As a doll collector I’m looking forward to these dolls because it’s about time. I do like that real people with special needs were asked what they wanted in dolls during the creation. I do recommend that people buy extra if possible. Other doll makers have made special need dolls before but sadly they get discounted. Doll companies have a history of not telling the public when a series ends. You’ll know when these dolls are on clearance.
Not only the special needs but the different body types to have a heavier set Barbie that’s not hourglass-shaped that’s awesome!!! As a preschool teacher I might actually get some of these dolls for my classroom
My friend would have liked a doll like this as a kid. With all these different body types will there be clothes to fit them or will they still fit into the standard Barbie clothes?
Amen to finally seeing this collection. If only way back…my sister was in a wheelchair her entire life until she passed at 46 years old. I may buy one for myself…just because.
I’m going to get one for my 3 year old son. Dolls helped my children when they had baby cousins & this doll will help him normalize handicapped people.
My daughter would have loved these when she was younger and played with Barbie. She loved Bethany Hamilton so much at one point that she started crippling all of her dolls, Missing arms, missing legs. We don’t get into famous peoples lives much or care but I didn’t mind with Bethany because she was a good role model.
I would love a Barbie with an aac device
How about a Barbie with muscles? I lift weights and have always had sturdy legs. I’d love to see a Barbie with a fitness model body like the cover of Oxygen magazine.