Mattel launches Barbie with Type 1 diabetes

(NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Mattel has launched a new Barbie with Type 1 diabetes and a glucose monitor, expanding the company's representation.

She is the newest member of Mattel's Barbie Fashsionistas line encouraging kids to play outside of their "own lived experience"

The doll includes a wearable insulin pump attached to her waist, and a glucose monitor attached to her arm as both are medical devices that are commonly used by people with Type 1 diabetes.

Krista Berger, Senior Vice President for Barbie and global head of dolls, says representing Type 1 diabetes through Barbie "[ensures] more kids can see themselves in the stories they imagine and the dolls they love"

Mattel partnered with a diabetes research organization, Breakthrough T1D, formerly JDRF, to create the doll.

Mattel is also donating some to the organization ahead of an event that introduces children with Type 1 diabetes to congressmen and women in Washington D.C.