Becky

Becky, Barbie's friend, school photographer and Paralympic champion. Her launchment in 1997 opened the door to diverse Barbie models representing people with special needs, but such a thing would not happen again until twenty years later with the Fashionistas line. Mattel designed a very cool wheelchair and worked closely with the National Parent Network on Disabilities (NPND) and Toys r 'Us to launch and market its first Share a Smile Becky doll. The reception was good, Becky sold out in a couple of weeks but when she got home her chair did not pass through the entrance of the Barbie Dreamhouse, which was not adapted to her needs, much less in her elevator, which sparked controversy but the house remained as it was. Mattel considered making the chair smaller but in the end the thing did not prosper and Becky after few models disappeared without being very clear if it was because of the torrent of extreme opinions about her, good and bad or because changing the horizontal property regulations in Barbie's world wasn't an option.Of course, before making the character disappear, they made her a Paralympic champion with an athletic chair. Today we can find Barbie dolls in a wheelchair, with prosthetic legs, vitiligo or alopecia, as well as with various body types and of all races. All boys and girls should be able to feel represented by their dolls because many times that helps to accept themselves and is a refuge when things get difficult for at the end everyone has things to accept, perhaps in some people they're physical, perhaps they can't seeing or walking or perhaps the procession goes inside and we have to live with an enemy in our mind but in any case all of us have their own issues that make us different. In any case the name Becky, whether it was Francie's friend in the 60s, the Sensations character, or this Barbie friend, it seems like it isn't destined to have very long stays in the Barbie lines.