Mattel releases new 'Blind Barbie' doll

Mattel launched the first ever blind Barbie this week in partnership with the American Foundation for the Blind.

The new doll comes with a red-and-white cane, sunglasses that provide additional eye protection for individuals who may be sensitive to light and a slightly upward-looking gaze that blind people may have, the Washington Post reported.

Blind Barbie’s skirt is designed with a textured ruffle and brightly colored high-contrast hooks to make changing outfits easier for people with vision impairments, according to the Post.

The new Barbie doll will allow blind and low-vision children to find a doll that represents them, Mattel said in a news release.

Lucy Edwards, a disability activist and British broadcaster who lost her sight when she was 17, is part of Mattel’s campaign to launch the doll, according to the Post.

“Blind Barbie makes me feel so seen,” she said in a video shared by Mattel, where she was filmed picking up the doll for the first time. “This makes me so emotional. I so wish that I would’ve had this when I was a little girl.”

Blind Barbie can be purchased at Walmart, Amazon and Target, according to Mattel’s website.

“It’s wonderful to think that children with a vision impairment can now play with a Barbie that looks like them,” Debbie Miller, a Royal National Institute of Blind People in Britain spokeswoman, said in the news release, according to the Post. “This is a positive step forward.”