Toy giant Mattel has released its first autistic Barbie, featuring elbow and wrist articulation for stimming, a shifted eye gaze and fidget spinner.

The doll, which is available in Australia for $20.99, was developed in partnership and with guidance from the autistic community.

The Barbie includes:

• Elbow and wrist articulation, enabling stimming, hand flapping, and other hand gestures that some members of the autistic community use to process sensory information or express excitement.
• The doll is designed with an eye gaze shifted slightly to the side, which reflects how some members of the autistic community may avoid direct eye contact.
• Each doll comes with a pink finger clip fidget spinner, noise-cancelling headphones and a tablet.
• The doll holds a pink finger clip fidget spinner that actually spins, offering a sensory outlet that can help reduce stress and improve focus.
• Pink noise-cancelling headphones rest on top of the doll’s head as a helpful and fashionable accessory that reduces sensory overload by blocking out background noise.
• A pink tablet showing symbol-based Augmentative and Alternative Communication apps (AAC) on its screen serves as a tool to help with everyday communication.
• The doll wears a loose-fitting, purple pinstripe A-line dress with short sleeves and a flowy skirt that provides less fabric-to-skin contact. Purple shoes complete the outfit, with flat soles to promote stability and ease of movement.

Mattel has previously released Barbie dolls in the Fashionistas range which have type 1 diabetes, Down syndrome and blindness.

Do you have a child with autism? What do you think of this doll? Let us know in the comments below.