Barbie debuts first doll with type 1 diabetes, boosting visibility and inclusion
BY THE OPTIMIST DAILY EDITORIAL TEAM
This article was originally published on July 18, 2025
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Mattel introduced its first-ever Barbie doll with type 1 diabetes in an effort to improve representation and produce dolls that truly mirror real life. Created in partnership with Breakthrough T1D, a nonprofit focused on type 1 diabetes research and advocacy, the new Barbie aims to normalize life with the condition and inspire empathy, understanding, and pride.
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Argh! This makes me think of Evy and her brother Jack. Both Type 1’s. Is this “Barbie” going to have a shortened lifespan, infertility, ill-health, vision problems, and blood sugar swings that make life a wild painful ride?
It seems like it trivializes the problems they had all so that Mattel can make a few bucks. I am not against making a few bucks. And maybe it can make children feel differently about themselves.
BUT, (and there is always a BIG butt), I suspect that Mattel’s motives are not all altruistic. If they said their profits were going to fund a research prize for a cure, then I’d be positively impressed. Otherwise, Argh! I suspect that any “donations” will come off their taxes and will go fund (what I call) “Red Cross style” bureaucrats① (i.e., high paid “leadership”) and a never ending (what I call) “March of Dimes” charity organizations② (i.e., an organization which when it cures its disease — like polio — rebrands to a “disease” that can never be cured, ever. Hence the organization attains “immortality” of lucrative high-paying jobs).
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FOOTNOTES:
① Salaries of “Leadership”
$832,241: Gail McGovern, President and CEO ARC https://paddockpost.com/2024/03/24/executive-compensation-at-the-american-red-cross-2022/
Compared to:
Reports suggest the General earns between $13,000 and $79,000 annually, depending on the country and organization structure.
② “March of Dimes” rebrands to fight “birth defects”
What began in 1938 with President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s personal struggle with polio led to the creation of the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, better known as March of Dimes.
In 1958, the organization expanded its purpose to “broader medical causes” but retreated in 1965 to a narrower, birth-defects focus. In 1979, the group changed its name to March of Dimes Birth Defects Foundation, but the phrase “birth defects” was removed in 2006.
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