ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a popular culture in the form of children's toys, reflecting and validating the zeitgeist the spirit of the times. A number of toys with disability are discussed, including toys used in a medical setting, transmedia offerings associated with television, movies and cartoons, Cabbage Patch-style Hal's Pals, Down Syndrome dolls and action figures. The chapter then offers case studies associated with representations of disability within the Barbie and GI Joe franchises. Barton and Somerville argue that children were taught race- and class-based oppression through racialised toys popular between 1880 and 1930. Disability toys and comics are often used in an awareness raising capacity or are applauded for their inspirational qualities. The popular culture of the disability toys began as a history of medical culture. While dolls have historically been made to replicate the human form, they are generally conceived as white and able-bodied.
