[T]oymaker Mattel released the very first autistic Barbie doll. … Her eyes are slightly averted, and she’s holding a communication tablet and a fidget spinner — all outward signs that represent some of the different ways autistic people experience the world.
The doll, designed with expertise from autistic people, invites more children — and adults, for that matter — to see parts of themselves in the iconic doll.
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Throughout 2025, senior officials in the U.S. government told a darker story about autism, one that distorted and ignored science that didn’t fit their narratives.
… Robert F. Kennedy Jr. … cast the rising rates of kids with autism … as an alarming epidemic, one that “tears families apart.”
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Then there’s the false link between vaccines and autism, a cacophonous blast of misinformation that has been getting louder.
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“The idea that vaccines cause autism is not only scientifically false, but it’s also profoundly stigmatizing to autistic people and to their families,” [said Alison Singer, cofounder and president of the Autism Science Foundation].
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As we look back over the recent autism news, it’s easy to see the outrage, the distortions, the fear. But here’s the beauty of a story. We can choose which ones we hear.
