Kayla McKeon loved playing with Barbie dolls growing up in the '90s. She brushed their hair and dressed them up. Together, they went on walks, hosted dinner parties and cruised around in toy convertibles. McKeon's Barbies looked all sorts of ways. Some were blonde, while others were brunette. Some had blue eyes; others, green. But none of them looked quite like McKeon, because none of them had Down syndrome. "When I was a kid, I didn't see myself in them," she said.
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Some three decades later, that's changed, thanks in large part to McKeon, manager of grass-roots advocacy at the National Down Syndrome Society. On Tuesday, Mattel and the society unveiled the most recent edition to the Barbie Fashionistas collection, a line designed to be more inclusive. Advocates hope the new doll allows children with Down syndrome to see themselves represented in popular culture - by one of the most iconic toy brands in the world, no less.
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"It's a huge step for representation," Kandi Pickard, the National Down Syndrome Society's CEO, said. Faced with stiffer competition and dwindling market share, Mattel has spent years trying to expand Barbie's appeal to millennial parents who want their children's toys to have purpose and meaning rather than to simply entertain.
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In 2016, the toy company did a makeover of the Barbie brand, introducing dozens of dolls with more varied body shapes, skin tones and hair styles. Over the years, that makeover has continued, with Mattel using the Fashionistas collection to add Barbies that use hearing aids, wheelchairs and prosthetic limbs as well as those experiencing hair loss and living with vitiligo.
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The goal: retool the Barbie brand, from one centered around a looks-obsessed material girl to something with heft - less "Real Housewives" and more real world, as The Washington Post put it in 2016. Tuesday's unveiling of a Barbie with Down syndrome was a continuation of that years-long makeover. McKeon was involved from the start when, in March last year, Mattel contacted the society to see if it wanted to help create a Barbie who had Down syndrome, a genetic condition caused by a partial or full extra copy of the 21st chromosome.
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Over the next year, McKeon helped advise Mattel. Compared with other Barbie dolls, the one introduced is shorter and has a longer torso, which is characteristic of people who have Down syndrome, the society said in a news release. The doll has other distinctive features, including a rounder face, smaller ears, a flat nasal bridge and eyes that are slightly slanted and almond-shaped. They also gave the doll a single line on her palm, another trait often associated with Down syndrome.
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A medical professional reviewed the doll's physical features to make sure they were correct, the society said. The new Barbie also wears orthotics, medical devices some children with Down syndrome use to support their feet and ankles. To ensure accuracy, the society provided Mattel with a box of orthotics as models.
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The doll also sports a dress in shades of yellow and blue, the colors used to raise awareness of Down syndrome. She wears a Barbie-pink necklace with a pendant of "the Lucky Few" symbol - three upward chevrons representing three copies of the 21st chromosome.
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McKeon said she's happy with the way the Barbie turned out. As a child, she didn't get to play with any dolls or toys that reflected a world in which people with Down syndrome exist. But she helped create one that does. "I'm so proud and so excited," she said, "that there's a doll out there that looks just like me."
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