'Barbie' celebrates every body, except disabled ones

• "Barbie" has been praised for its representation of minority communities, including the disabled community.
• The background actors who appear to have disabilities don't have speaking roles.
• Disability representation in "Barbie" supports an alarming trend in film observed in a 2019 study.

Greta Gerwig's "Barbie" has already become one of the most successful movies of 2023, smashing summer box-office records. It's also been dominating pop-culture conversation since it was released in July. Some argue it's a feminist masterpiece; others (including many right-wingers) have written it off as overly woke and anti-man.

Representation of minority groups in the cast appears to be a less polarizing topic. Gerwig and her crew seem to have gotten that right, for the most part: Barbies of all shapes, sizes, and ethnicities play prominent roles in Barbie Land, and they're portrayed by a diverse cast that includes actors from several underrepresented communities.

Except for the disabled community.

The 'Barbie' movie's disabled cast members don't have speaking roles

Issa Rae plays Barbie Land's Black, female president. Hari Nef, a trans actor, plays a Barbie who is a doctor. Alexandra Shipp and Scott Evans, who both identify as members of the LGBTQ community, have several memorable onscreen moments as a Barbie and a Ken, respectively. Though the dolls in Barbie Land are free of sexuality and sexual desire, and Nef isn't necessarily playing a trans Barbie, the casting of all three actors in prominent roles marks important representation for the LGBTQ community.

And yes, there are some disabled Barbies seen in Barbie Land. There's a wheelchair-using Barbie who is visible enough in the big "Dance the Night" scene. Grace Harvey is credited on IMDb as "Wheelchair Vet Barbie Doll," who appears briefly early on when narrator Helen Mirren explains the history of Barbie. There's also a Barbie with a bionic arm in one of the scenes in President Barbie's Pink House, too (the actor's name is Ashley Young).

The problem is, they don't say a word. And we never see them doing their jobs. They're only seen in blink-and-you-miss-it moments.

Poor disability representation destroys the myth that Barbie Land is a utopia. Rather, it's reminiscent of the real world, where people often forget to let wheelchair users speak, let alone join the workforce in a meaningful way.

Gerwig was obviously under pressure to represent entire communities in less than two hours, and that's unfair. In a summer blockbuster filled to the brim with stars, even prominent actors had smaller parts.

This doesn't change the fact that the disability community deserves more respect from all filmmakers.

Disability representation is facing an uphill climb within the 'inclusion crisis' in film

Disability representation in film was improving, according to a 2020 study by USC's Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. Nineteen out of the 100 highest-grossing films of that year featured leads or co-leads with disabilities, the study found. But the overall statistics are still grim. According to the study, only 2.3% of all speaking characters in the 100 top-grossing films of 2019 were disabled.

According to RespectAbility, 27.2% of the US population at the time had a disability. The fact that only 2.3% of the characters with speaking roles had a disability represents the largest difference in the "inclusion crisis in film" said Lauren Applebaum, the organization's vice president of communications in a press release about the study.

I don't begrudge Gerwig personally for her oversight, but it must be said — just because disabled Barbies exist in Barbie Land, doesn't mean representation of disabled people was adequate. It's not enough to trot these disabled Barbies out only to place them back in their boxes immediately after you feel you've done enough to check a community off your diversity list.