Wheelchair Imposter Syndrome & Barbie's Not-So-Dreamy Dreamhouse

Wheelchair Imposter Syndrome & Barbie's Not-So-Dreamy Dreamhouse Rita Maria Martinez (bio) for Denise Duhamel A doll in a wheelchair busts a move with quick spins and pivotsin a Dua Lipa dance number in Barbie, holds her own amongabled cohorts, unapologetic in a bubble of polypropylene bliss. I'm a self-conscious ambulatory wheelchair user. I worry strangersat airports think I'm a faker when I rise and walk to the restroom.The chair saves. Prevents migraines from erupting on flights. I shouldn't have wheelchair imposter syndrome. Nobody spitsor gives the evil eye when I board. Wheelchair police don't blowwhistles in hot pursuit to toss me in airport clink. With each trip, I acclimate more to chair, but lack kick-ass confidencelike the movie Barbie who appears on screen less than a minute,then vanishes like relatives in photos in Back to the Future. I want her to race rollerblading Barbies and skateboarding Kens—pink-checkered flags flapping furiously as everyone eats her dust.I want muscular Kens to envy her buff upper body, arm wrestle her, line up to ring the Dreamhouse doorbell and court her. Alas, even dollsface accessibility woes. In 1997, Share-a-Smile Becky can't take selfiesin the two-story Barbie Dreamhouse. No sleepovers. No pillow fights for barred Becky. Not a ramp in sight. Dreamhouse doors are too narrow.The elevator isn't designed to fit her wheelchair. Kjersti Johnson—a Tacomateen and Becky owner with cerebral palsy—writes Mattel, requests an elevator overhaul. Poor Becky is discontinued. Two decades pass before Dreamhouseredesigns, before any Barbies in wheelchairs are deemed worthy to enterslumber party central, to trade nail polish secrets in the posh pink promised land. [End Page 66] Rita Maria Martinez Rita Maria Martinez is the daughter of Cuban immigrants. Her poetry collection—The Jane and Bertha in Me (Kelsay Books)—was a finalist for the Andrés Montoya Poetry Prize. The recipient of a neurostimulator implant, Rita's current poetry raises awareness about triumphs and challenges when navigating life with chronic daily headache (CDH) and migraine. Martinez's poetry appears in publications like The Best American Poetry Blog, Ploughshares, Tupelo Quarterly, West Trestle Review, SWWIM, Harbor Review, Honey Literary, and Wordgathering. Her work has also been featured in CLMP's 2023 Disability Pride Reading List. Follow Rita on Instagram @rita.maria.martinez.poet or visit https://comeonhome.org/ritamartinez.