The Christmas season is filled with the anticipation of gifts and the thrill of finding what Father Christmas left under the tree.
With the clock ticking until December 24th, when eager children will await the arrival of Father Christmas, parents and children have turned their attention to what to ask for (and buy) amongst families with children with disabilities.
In July 2024, Mattel, in collaboration with Vision Australia, introduced a blind Barbie “in an effort to make its range more inclusive”.
Harzita Hashim from Vision Australia said in an interview with ABC, “For people who are blind and have low vision, knowing there is a Barbie that represents them is really important”.
Working with the American Foundation for the Blind, Mattel’s blind Barbie sports a long cane, bright and tactile clothing and sunglasses.
While the blind Barbie is a welcome inclusion, society has far to go in ensuring that inclusion doesn’t remain on the shelf.
Mainstream inclusion of disability toys
Whilst the value of play in therapy for children with disabilities has been longstanding, the presence of mainstream toys with disabilities is far more recent.
In 2023, Mattel introduced a Barbie with Down syndrome, following suit from Miniland USA and their “best-selling” range of dolls with disabilities ranging from hearing and vision impairment to Down syndrome.
Whilst people with disabilities are becoming more visible in mainstream areas of society, including film, television and sport, children remain largely excluded from this sphere.
According to the Bureau of Statistics, in 2022, children with disabilities made up 5.7% of children aged 0-4 years.
Whilst there is a distinct disparity in statistics of children with congenital disabilities compared to acquired, statistics show that 49% of people with disabilities have experienced problems with socialisation within society, the result of which can have long-standing effects.
Bringing disability toys into mainstream society may seem like a tokenistic approach, particularly given the vast array of disabilities that exist across society, however, by bringing them into mainstream society, particularly those with varying mobility aids, more children with disabilities may be given the gift of representation.
Too far or not far enough?
The push to have more children’s toys with disabilities has received mixed responses and it must be remembered Barbie emerged out of the United States, a country whose disability rights movement is distinctly different to that of Australia.
The campaign for people with disabilities in the United States reached an all-time high in the 1900s, and that seed has continued to grow ever since. However, progress in Australia has been decidedly limited.
Whilst Barbie was only invented in 1959, people with disabilities have continued to be marginalised across society, with the inclusion of disability toys doing little to change overall inequality.
People with disabilities are routinely placed in institutionalised living, abused, and referred to as welfare rorters by politicians and media alike.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, a person is deemed to have a disability if “they report they have a limitation, restriction or impairment, which has lasted, or is likely to last, for at least six months and restricts everyday activities”.
Despite this, discourse on disability repeatedly frames those people who are affected by disability on a daily basis as either victims of circumstance or masterminds of fraud. This narrative can be most profoundly linked with popular culture representations, the likes of which routinely represent people with disabilities as pitiful or evil.
Wrapping up
Providing an inclusive toy range for children with disabilities to enjoy and accurately represent their reality is a welcome step towards social equality.
However, inclusion doesn’t end when these gifts are opened by eager children, and the Christmas trees are put away for another year.
Whilst gifting specialised disability toys to children may provide a sense of practicality to Christmas shopping for parents of children with disabilities, it’s important to remember that they, too, want presents that they can play with and enjoy like any other child.
It also shouldn’t be a case where only children with disabilities receive dolls that also have disabilities. If we are to ensure the inclusion and representation of people with disabilities, those who do not have disabilities also need to be included.
Just as the more children with disabilities who see and receive toys that also have disabilities may reduce social isolation, the more children without disabilities who see and receive toys with disabilities are likely to perceive disability as a normal part of life rather than a point of social stigma.
As a person who is legally blind myself, I would have loved a blind Barbie when I was a child. But what would make me even happier is if the children around me had received one and, consequently, been a little more inclusive.