Walmart is doing its part to foster inclusion and diversity in the doll aisle.
Today, the retailer introduced its My Life As Autism Advocate doll, an 18-inch “companion for the kids who want to help others learn how to be kind, patient, and supportive of everyone.” Geared toward kids ages 5 and up, the My Life As Autism Advocate doll comes dressed in a red vest, gray T-shirt, and a denim ruffle skirt. Accessories include rubber bracelets, a toy cell phone, a fidget spinner, a beanie cap, and a pair of headphones.
The Toy Insider spoke with Walmart’s Senior Product Development and Sourcing Manager — Toys Angelina Princivalli and Senior Toy Buyer Lisa Bowman to learn more about the expansion of the My Life As line.
“My Life As strives to create dolls that represent empowerment, diversity, and inclusion,” Princivalli says. “A few years ago, we introduced a My Life As Gymnast with a prosthetic leg. We were touched by the number of responses we received from the public and how much it meant to have a positive representation in the 18-inch doll category.”
The debut of the Gymnast doll set the stage for other new dolls in the My Life As collection, including a Survivor doll inspired by kids who have battled cancer.
“As we looked to further evolve our dolls, we learned that approximately one in every 285 children will be diagnosed with cancer before their 20th birthday,” Bowman says. “Understanding the tough battle these young children face we felt that they needed a positive doll that helped them get through a difficult time. The response to our Survivor doll was immediate. Not only did we receive countless responses from children and parents facing this battle, but we also became aware of an organization in Ireland that spearheaded the purchase and delivery of hundreds of survivor dolls to children in Ireland who are fighting cancer.”
Over the past two years, the Walmart design team worked to develop its Autism Advocate doll.
“We recognized there was a need for a doll that connected with the autistic community,” Princivalli says. “We wanted to provide autistic kids and kids with autistic siblings and friends a doll that represented them. The development of the doll took two years with extensive research to ensure the doll was just right. We spoke with an autism therapist as well as multiple individuals within the autistic community to gain additional knowledge and insight to help the development of the doll. Our hope is that the Autism Advocate doll helps spread awareness and acceptance for children with autism.”
Girl versions of the My Life As Autism Advocate doll are available to preorder at walmart.com. The dolls are expected to arrive in stores on or around Jan. 18. A boy version of the doll is slated to arrive at a later date.
I bought this doll for my granddaughter that has autism and she is so thrilled to have a doll just like her. She said look she has head phones just like me and a cell phone. Except her head phones are red and mine are pink. She can’t wait until the boy is available because I am getting her that one also. Thank you to the wonder person that made these dolls possible. God bless you like you have autistic children.
I am cautious about this. I’m autistic myself, and I have a very negative reaction to the puzzle pieces, considering that they are used by Autism Speaks, which is a hate group disguised as advocacy. We tend to use the rainbow infinity symbol to describe ourselves. However, it is stated that they spoke with members of the autistic community, and I very much hope that’s true; I’m also very excited to see the headphones and fidget spinner, as that’s stuff I use. If Walmart were to ask me about this, I’d say “replace the puzzle pieces and talk to ASAN (Autism Self-Advocacy Network) real quick.” I’m a little hopeful, though!
As an autistic woman, I am sad that My Life As would rather go to non-autistics for research for this doll as opposed to actually autistic people. We are more than welcome to educate neurotypicals on what autism is an what it is like to live with it. Also, the puzzle piece symbol is offensive to the actually autistic community. We prefer the infinity symbol (which for us is normally either red, gold, or rainbow).