SPECIAL Down Syndrome Barbie Modeled After Upstate Woman

By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant

t age 35, Kay- la McKeon has an impressive resume. A 2022 graduate of Onondaga Community College in Syracuse, she meets regularly with Congress as the manager of grassroots advocacy for the New York Citybased National Down Syndrome Society (NDSS)to discuss issues involving Down syndrome and the disabled

She also helped design Mattel’s newest Barbie Fashionistas doll with Down syndrome. For McKeon, helping design the doll means more than a career highlight.

As a person with Down syndrome, the doll means representation in the toy aisle.

“When I was a little dolls who didn’t look like me,” McKeon said. “It’s an honor to help make a doll who looks like me with some of the same characteristics I

She suggested that the doll design should include a crease in its palm, a trait often seen in people with Down syndrome, and clinodactyly, a curved, short pinkie finger that often occurs as genetic syndromes including Down.

Some of the doll’s other traits indicate Down syndrome, including a flat nasal ridge, small ears, almond-shaped eyes with a tilt, a rounder face, a shorter frame and a longer torso. The doll comes with pink ankle foot orthotics and her sneakers include a zipper. These resemble the orthotics used by some children with Down syndrome. The doll’s dress is printed with a symbol of Down syndrome, yellow and blue butterflies and its necklace has bears three upward chevrons that symbolize the three chromosomes of Down syndrome, “a symbol of those lucky enough to be connected with Down syndrome,” McKeon

The idea for a Down syndrome doll began about a year ago as the NDSS began discussing a partnership with Mattel to make the doll.

McKeon wants better representation so that the general public realizes that people with Down syndrome are more like others than unlike them.

“In school, I was included with my peers,” she said. “I want it to be like that everywhere. I live on my own in my own apartment. I have my driver’s license. I have a long-distance relationship.”

McKeon has been interviewed by numerous media outlets and starred Mattel’s video promotion of the new doll.

She hopes to “work herself out of a job” someday when people with disabilities are treated as equals. But in the meantime, she hopes to continue to advance her career with NDSS and perhaps help design a new doll.

McKeon is also considering going back to school to build on her associate degree in general studies. However, her work is keeping her plenty busy presently.

Nancy Carr, director of the Office of Accessibility Resources at Onondaga Community College, noted that McKeon was the first advocate for the NDSS who has Down syndrome.

“It bodes well for Kayla’s future,” Carr said. “Her personality has always been open, exploring, excited and confident. I think she had what everyone should have: a great support team, but she also has her own, innate outgoing personality.

“I like all the publicity the doll is getting; it’s long overdue. I like positivity and creativity and hope it opens the eyes of corporate America in that they’ve overlooked a sizeable population that should be represented. Kayla is wonderful to work with and I wouldn’t be surprised if other offers came her way.”

Christine Sirianni, past-president and current vice president of Family and Friends Down Syndrome Association of Niagara in Lewiston, shared her enthusiasm about the new Barbie.

“This brings awareness to the beauty and inclusion for people with Down syndrome,” Sirianni said.

A grandmother of six, she also has three daughters, one of whom has Down syndrome.

“It portrays the inclusiveness piece for people who aren’t typical, but someone with Down syndrome,” she said. “It was a very good awareness project of Mattel to do this.”

She wants to see a Ken doll with Down syndrome to further expand

Mattel’s line and represent boys with Down syndrome, too.

“This doll reflects the beauty of these children, inside and out,” Sirianni said. “It will help with promoting including and acceptance and awareness for our community to those who don’t have Down syndrome.

“And for those who have Down syndrome, they can feel far more valuable in life. Some may feel is more controversial, but with Friends & Family Down Syndrome Association, I can say we’re all very happy to have seen that doll. We’re all different in the world, but are we not all so much alike? We share the same human values and emotions. The doll will offer typical peers a good sense that they’re playing with the dolls and it’s just a different doll.”

She has ordered five of the dolls, one for each granddaughter.

Amy Monson, co-president of the Down Syndrome Parents Group of Western New York in Kenmore, has a 17-year-old son with Down syndrome. She feels pleased that the dolls have been selling out quickly, representing their popularity.

“It’s so important to have representation, even if it’s just in the toy aisle,” Monson said. “Because people with intellectual disabilities are so marginalized, this makes it look like they’re being seen since a huge corporation wants to represent them.”

She thinks that many typical kids will view the Down syndrome doll as yet another representation of what their community looks like. And children who do not know anyone with Down syndrome can learn as they ask questions about the doll.

Mattel’s 2023 Fall Fashionistas dolls, including the Barbie doll with Down syndrome, are available online and in stores for $10.99.

LEFT: Mattel’s newest Barbie Fashionistas doll is modeled after individuals with Down syndrome. Some of the doll’s traits include a flat nasal ridge, small ears, almond-shaped eyes with a tilt, a rounder face, a shorter frame and a longer torso. The doll comes with pink ankle foot orthotics and her sneakers include a zipper.

BOTTOM: Kayla McKeon poses in the studio with the new Barbie doll with Down syndrome. “When I was a little girl, I had dolls who didn’t look like me,” she says.