All dolled up with diabetes.
Stacey McGill was really important to me.
She wasn’t a real person, though. One hundred percent made up, disease-introduction inspired by two of the author’s friends. Stacey was a member of fictional and wildly popular Baby-Sitter’s Club from the books by Ann M. Martin.
Good ol’ Stacey had type 1 diabetes.
I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes in September of 1986 and the third Baby-Sitter’s Club book, The Truth About Stacey, was published in December, 1986. Stacey carried snacks in case her blood sugar went low. She talked about her health condition with Claudia (so fashionable) and the rest of the BSC. Her parents were stressed out about managing her diabetes. She wasn’t sure what to do with the feelings that she had about diabetes.
The very existence of Stacey McGill hit hard for me. The timing of this book series felt downright serendipitous, with the books releasing while I was in elementary school. All my friends read them. We’d talk about what Claudia wore, or what Kristy would do with all her younger siblings. When Mallory had a crush on Logan? Or when Dawn’s mom started dating Mary Anne’s dad again? It was like we knew them.
When Stacey talked about her diabetes, it was the narrative I didn’t know I needed.
Having a popular book character talk about type 1 diabetes was formative for me. Seeing the details of my diabetes life reflected in the pages of The Baby-Sitter’s Club books felt validating. Even if it seemed silly or unnecessary to others, or it was flagged as trite or even offensive because there are always bigger, global problems worth looking at, it meant a lot to me, as a kid with a chronic illness, to see my world in that story.
Diabetes requirements are easier to follow through on when you have a foundation of support. Support makes me want to check my blood sugar, makes me want to count the carbs, almost makes me want to stay on hold the whole necessary time to order my supplies. Support makes burnout easier. Stacey McGill was part of my support team when I was a kid. And she didn’t even know because she’s frigging made up but that’s the point! You don’t have to be real-life inspirational in order to make a difference for a kid. It can be enough to simply know that the treasurer of the popular Baby-Sitter’s Club book series also had raisins in her bag in case she went low.
Which brings me to the Barbie with type 1 diabetes that Mattel released last week.
The Barbie has access to a CGM (with a heart-shaped sticker around it — on brand), an insulin pump that looks like a Medtronic, and an outfit dotted with blue circles for diabetes awareness. She’s making people mad on social media because some ignorant commenters want her to be missing a leg or holding a doughnut or whatever stereotype about diabetes they want to apply to her doll existence. She’s exciting to Pharma people because she’s bridging the gap between marketing and pop culture.
When I was a kid and going to endo appointments every three months, my mom and I would sometimes stop at Toys Backwards R Us after Joslin visits and I’d be allowed to pick out a Barbie doll. After several years with diabetes, I had several Barbie dolls and it was a guarantee that they’d encounter one of the following: a tragic haircut, a tryst with G.I. Joe, or a diabetes diagnosis.
Because even though I didn’t have a doll specifically fitted with evidence of diabetes, diabetes was a big part of my little kid existence and it manifested in how I played. My Barbies went to their own endocrinologist appointments (Barbie’s Dream House Joslin!). The fleshy fabric rolls of my Cabbage Patch doll’s arms received saline injections. Several My Little Ponies pricked their hooves to check their blood sugar.
I am a diabetes child of the 90s and it shows.
It might seem small to some, or silly to others, but for kids to see their lives reflected in their toys, it can mean the world. T1D Barbie might help another kid living with diabetes find a place to put their feelings about their disease. Might make them feel better when the world feels tough.
Just like Stacey McGill did for me.
