Barbie Doll With Type 1 Diabetes Launched – 'Hundreds of Children Live With Diabetes, Now There’s a Barbie Who Does Too'

The new Barbie doll is making a new inclusive move and is seeking representation for all children with type 1 diabetes. Here is how.

Barbie Doll Diabetes: Representation matters and Barbie has understood the assignment with its very first doll, which is a reflection of all the people who suffer from diabetes, specifically type 1 diabetes. In a rare project, a Barbie doll has been launched which makes it of a kind, is the fact that, unlike the past Barbies, this is the one that has type-1 diabetes.

The Sartorial Choices That Advocate for Type-1 Diabetes

The doll can be seen wearing a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) on her arm that is handy to help her manage the condition; the Barbie pink heart-shaped medical tape is what puts it in place. The new Barbie is all tech-savvy as she carries a mobile phone that has a CGM app to help her track her blood sugar levels at all times. Barbie wears an insulin pump, which helps Barbie with automated insulin dosing whenever needed. The big bag that she carries gets all the extravaganza covered.

Moreover, the latest Barbie has got all the trends. She stuns people with her impeccable sartorial choices, the polka dot crop top, high heels and hair that is everything but a mess. In the process of making this one-of-a-kind Barbie, the dollmaker Mattel worked in first handedly with Breakthrough T1D, previously known as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, to work with the structure of the doll, that hass made headlines in its effort to seek eptesentation to almost 304,000 kids and teens who are living with type 1 diabetes in the United States.

This representation-oriented doll was launched on Tuesday at the Breakthrough T1D Children's Congress, which is a three-day event being run in Washington. The programme aims to bring the young adults and kids who are dealing with this condition to get in contact with the lawmakers.

Understanding Type-1 Diabetes

Type 1 diabetes is one of the many health conditions that is recognised as an autoimmune disease. This means that in this condition, the body mistakenly ends up attacking its organs and tissues.

In the concerned cases, it is noted that the stubborn antibodies go after cells in the pancreas that work to produce insulin, which is an essential hormone to aid the body in turning food into energy. As a reaction to this mishap, the body ends up failing to make enough of its insulin, and so the patients have to resort to taking insulin either by injection or through a pump to help ease the condition.

More common in children

Type 1 diabetes is typically considered to be more commonly diagnosed in childhood, but that doesn't mean that it cannot be diagnosed in anyone at any other age.

The case and the consequences can differ from type 2 diabetes, in which people are still able to make insulin, but the cells of the body stop reacting to it.

What are the Symptoms Of Type 1 Diabetes?

The symptoms of Type 1 diabetes can vary from person to person, but some of the common symptoms are listed below

1. Increased thirst- it has been seen that people with type 1 diabetes often feel excessively thirsty and may drink more fluids than usual.
2. Frequent urination- Increased thirst is not the only symptom, as it has also been noted that the need to urinate more frequently, sometimes even at night, is quite common in diabetic patients.
3. Unexplained weight loss- It has been observed that people with type 1 diabetes, despite the increased appetite, continue to experience weight loss due to the body not being able to utilise glucose for energy effectively.

The new Barbie doll is indeed a well-defined representation of the kids and young adults who are dealing with diabetes; it pushes narratives of inclusivity and normalises the presence of such a condition at a tender age. But will the boys be able to seek representation through it? For that, we will have to break the gender norms.