Kulturkampf

[Uncle]

For example, the eyes of the new Barbie shift slightly to the side to represent how some people with autism sometimes avoid direct eye contact, he said.

...n-no...? not at all?



looks like they wanted to do that but were reluctant to alter the molds/paint alignment machines and got told ok we can do them 1mm off center without incurring a $100,000 reconfiguration and calibration both ways

The doll also was given articulated elbows and wrists to acknowledge stimming, hand flapping and other gestures that some autistic people use to process sensory information or to express excitement, according to Mattel.

also aren't the bold stripes of the dress kind of overstimulating for such a person?

anyway that article led me to this one, which is a couple years old now

https://apnews.com/article/cherokee-nation-wilma-mankiller-mattel-barbie-oklahoma-060faaf1d0cc13e401e79497c14b65cc

Barbie doll honoring Cherokee Nation leader Wilma Mankiller is met with mixed emotions

Still, some Cherokee women are critical, saying Mattel overlooked problematic details on the doll and the packaging.

“Mixed emotions shared by me and many other Cherokee women who have now purchased the product revolve around whether a Wilma Barbie captures her legacy, her physical features and the importance of centering Cherokee women in decision making,” Stacy Leeds, the law school dean at Arizona State University and a former Cherokee Nation Supreme Court justice, told The Associated Press in an email.

Regina Thompson, a Cherokee basket weaver who grew up near Tahlequah, doesn’t think the doll looks like Mankiller. Mattel should have considered traditional pucker toe moccasins, instead of black shoes, and included symbols on the basket that Cherokees use to tell a story, she said.

“Wilma’s name is the only thing Cherokee on that box,” Thompson said. “Nothing about that doll is Wilma, nothing.”

The Cherokee language symbols on the packaging also are wrong, she noted. Two symbols look similar, and the one used translates to “Chicken,” rather than “Cherokee.”

Mattel spokesperson Devin Tucker said the company is aware of the problem with the syllabary and is “discussing options.”