Why the world needs Oracle.

By Ross Tuohy

I’m 29, I’ve been confined to a wheelchair due to cerebral palsy since birth and I LOVE comics. I’ve loved Batman for as long as I can remember, one of my fondest memories is watching the old Adam West 60’s TV show on a Saturday morning with my family. I have also collected comic books since I was 16 so why after nine years would I stop collecting? Oracle. For those who don’t know Oracle was the identity of former Batgirl Barbara Gordon after the Joker paralysed her in a shooting during Alan Moore’s Batman: The Killing Joke. While this story was controversial DC comics writers Kim Yale and John Ostrander did something inspirational, they transformed the former super heroine into the lynch pin of DC universe. Babs developed the Oracle identity as an unseen computer hacker/information gatherer for any DC hero that might need it. She became team leader of the Birds of Prey (an all female super team of DC’s best and brightest including but not limited to Catwoman, Black Canary and Hawkgirl) and stepped out of Batman’s shadow to become a formidable force in her own right for 20 plus years of comics. She was a character I adored, while other comic books never dared touch the subject of disability for fear of offence, any comic featuring Oracle showed what it would be like to be wheelchair bound in a world full of superheroes. Barbara had evolved into something far more special and more than the typical weak disabled person whose chair is a burden to them that the media often relies on.

She embraced her new role and could still hold her own if the situation called for it. A moment that made me punch the air in triumph involves Babs being tipped from her chair by a mugger who believes he’s found an easy target, she smirks at him and uses the handle bars of her wheelchair to teach him a lesson. She helped Batman keep order when Gotham was torn apart by an earthquake in the No Man’s Land story line which contains some of the most heartfelt discussions of her disability with her father after he realizes just how well she has adapted since being paralyzed.

It also address the Police Commissioner’s own guilt at seeing his daughter injured and forced to rely on a wheelchair. She’s dealt with issues of inadequacy next to the other able bodied heroes and heroines, even questioning her on again off again relationship with Nightwing as she felt her trauma made them incompatible. Through it all Babs remained steadfast in her self-belief and proved repeatedly what a valuable asset she could be to Batman and the DC universe as a whole from behind a computer screen. Batman even had ramps installed in the Batcave to make sure she could use the computer.

I had found a character in comic books that I could connect with because she was relatable and struggling with similar issues I often faced in my daily life.

In 2011 DC decided to reboot their universe, this is nothing new in comics and involves resetting everything to zero in order to freshen things up and boost sales. One of the casualties of the reboot was Oracle. She wasn’t written out of the comics although she might as well have been. Barbara Gordon became Batgirl again, fighting crime, leaping off buildings and swooping in to save the day and many disabled fans (myself included) were more than upset. A campaign called Barbara Is Not Broken circulated the Internet when the news broke and a lot of readers voiced their displeasure at a company that while claiming they were using this reboot to increase diversity erased one of the most positive examples they had. I read Gail Simone’s first issue of the new Batgirl to see if everything was that bad and I had hope that Simone would treat the issue with respect. What I found was one of the most disheartening things I’d ever read. Everything in the Killing Joke still happened and Babs had been paralysed but 3 years of physical therapy fixed everything and she could put on her cape again. As my eyes scanned those panels a bad taste coated my mouth, it was as if the character I had loved for so long was saying “Work out, drink your milk and eat your vegetables and you can overcome your disability too” I was insulted, the realism I had loved about this character was shattered in three images. I made the decision to never buy a Batman comic book until the authorities brought back Oracle and so far, I’m still waiting.

A lot of people take issue with my stance, saying things like “well there’s still the X-Men, Professor X uses a wheelchair.” Put simply Professor X has been in and out of his chair so many times in comics it makes his disability meaningless and I also never understood why a man who can move objects with his mind couldn’t devote some of his vast powers to controlling his legs but that’s an argument for another day. Others say “well they ran out of ideas, this is just easier” Well shouldn’t creative people who wrote this character so well for over two decades want to do something difficult and challenge the preconception that only the able bodied or “normal” people can be superheroes? I was going to end this on a rather sour note in my original draft but when it comes right down to it all I really am is disappointed. I’m disappointed that a company I supported for years decided to make this change. I’m disappointed that it seems to have been accepted by the audience at large despite the numerous criticisms I’ve referred to here. Most of all I’m disappointed that disabled people STILL have to fight to be seen or heard in media today and that every time I see a wheelchair user in TV, Film or Comics we’re still the exception not the rule. I hope one day we can change that and all disabled people will get fair and balanced representation in all forms of media.

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30 Year old writer, gamer and comic book nerd who will grow up once he stops thinking up stories. Twitter @GuitarZero183 https://www.facebook.com/RTuohyAuthor/

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Ross Tuohy

Ross Tuohy

30 Year old writer, gamer and comic book nerd who will grow up once he stops thinking up stories. Twitter @GuitarZero183 https://www.facebook.com/RTuohyAuthor/

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