Comic Relief - That's it for me, guys.

That’s it for me, guys.

Posted 8 months ago / 40 notes #aw shit, i can't read vertigo either #barbara gordon #batgirl #dc #gail simone #oracle

The news that Barbara Gordon will no longer be in a wheelchair has cinched it for me. I won’t be posting any DC-related content on this blog anymore. I won’t be buying or recommending their comics. I know that doesn’t matter in the grand scheme of things, but this is my blog, so please excuse a little self-aggrandizing.

I’m really sad about this. I’m just so sad. Disabled people are often treated as inconveniences, second-class citizens. Forced to struggle for rights freely given to able-bodied people. And I’m not even referring to the physical limits, but the social ones. The staring, the condescension, the lack of access to public buildings or websites, the lack of financial and job support. Oracle was a character that disabled comic fans and their friends and families could look to. A hero. Not an empty character in a wheelchair used to manipulate emotion out of readers (as is so often the case in fiction and media), but a fully developed woman with flaws and admirable qualities. Barbara’s disability was a part of her, but it didn’t define her. That’s why she was such a great symbol for the community.

Best of all, she wasn’t invisible. She was an integral part of DC.

And just as her heroism represented the best of the disabled community, the loss of Oracle, to me, represents society’s continuous erasure of disabled individuals.

I’m sick over this. I hope that everyone else who feels the same way will turn emotion into action. Acknowledge the humanity of the disabled people in your community. If you have time, check out the National Disability Rights Network.

I hope it goes without saying that I don’t judge anyone for continuing to buy DC titles. DC and Marvel fuck up a lot. I’ve stuck around through bullshit that hurt multiple communities and I’m pulling back now because something has reached me on a personal level. Everyone has a different threshold for that sort of thing.

40 notes