A Facebook post on the importance of wheelchair-using Barbie doll is going viral

The wheelchair-using Barbie, that features in Mattel's Fashionista line, is part of the company's attempt to create more inclusive toys.

Barbie, Barbie in wheelchair, Mattel barbie, Barbie for representation, Trending, Indian Express news

Other dolls in the 2019 Fashionistas line offer a variety of appearances, including braided hair texture and more realistic body types.

A woman’s experience on seeing the wheelchair-using Barbie doll is going viral, with many talking about how such toys help.

The author of the Facebook post is Lorna DH, who runs a blog called Gin and Lemonade, which she describes as “a disability lifestyle and parenting blog, sharing my adventures fighting ableism, promoting accessibility, and picking up all the toys in my house”. In a Facebook post, she wrote about finding the doll in a toy store and why it moved her to tears.

Along with a picture of the toy, she wrote in a post:” I finally found a wheelchair user Barbie. I’ve never had a Barbie, but I bought one today.”

She explained her own experience as a child.

“When I was a kid, an old neighbor knocked on our door with a Barbie in a leotard. She suggested to my mother that it would inspire me to walk unaided. If I tried hard enough. As if my disabled body wasn’t good enough. As if my wheelchair wasn’t cool enough.

The neighbor walked away, mystified that her idea wasn’t graciously accepted. And I’ve never forgotten that moment,” she wrote.

She said she had cried in the aisles of the toy store because “representation matters”.

“My point is, my wish is, kids will finally get to see that we don’t need to work ourselves out of our wheelchairs to be seen.

We matter as we are,” she wrote.

Here’s her post:

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Many responded to the emotive post and spoke about the importance of representation when it comes to physical disability. Some of them also shared their own stories of disability. Here are some reactions:

The wheelchair-using Barbie, that features in Mattel’s Fashionista line, is part of the company’s attempt to create more inclusive toys. Other dolls in the 2019 Fashionistas line include dolls with braided hair and more realistic body types. In June, Barbie debuted a doll with a prosthetic leg.