| Autistic Thoughts ( @ 2007-09-22 15:30:00 |
| Current mood: | accomplished |
| Current music: | The Cure- "Kyoto Song" |
| Entry tags: | data points, disability, fandom, media, more data please |
"Fixing" Oracle
So, there've been recent discussions going on in comics fandom over whether or not DC should let Booster Gold go back in time and retcon the events of The Killing Joke so that Barbara Gordon never gets shot and paralyzed. I haven't been participating at all since I don't really have much of an interest in most comics, Western or Eastern, but this, unsurprisingly, piqued my curiosity. Most of the debate that I've seen has centered around whether or not what happened to her fits the trope of "Women in Refrigerators", whether said trope is overinvoked, whether or not 'fixing' the events and letting her continue to be Batgirl is worth sacrificing her character development and role as Oracle (not to mention simultaneously retconning about a million other character's storylines), whether your "classic" version of a character should be called the "original" even if they had a predecessor or not, etc...
And in the middle of it, someone points out: Also, I think changing it would detract from DC's one prominent disabled character whose disability doesn't have anything to do with their "powers".
So, here's some actual data on that:
Note that this only includes characters which Wikipedia thought were noteworthy enough for an entry, and whose disability they actually considered a disability. There are subcategories for characters who are blind, mute, deaf, albino, autistic, cognitively disabled, amputee, or have spinal injuries or dwarfism.
Other disabilities are not flagged and are presumably ignored- and I unfortunately have neither the time and energy nor fandom knowledge to go searching for them. Just off the top of my head, I know they're missing things like Scott Summers (Cyclops) who has an acquired disability impacting his control of his superpowers, Cassandra Cain (Batgirl)who has some sort of learning disabilities as a result of being raised fluent in body language/nonverbals and trying to learn spoken communication late in life as a (largely counterintuitive) second language, Reed Richards (Mr Fantastic) who has Aspergers, Victor Stone (Cyborg) who has what effectively amounts to full-body prosthetics, all the hundreds of characters out there who are missing one eye, and characters who wouldn't be considered disabled in our society but would be in their own. (Oddly, it does choose to include a mute telepathic character who’s perfectly normal for her species.)
In any case, these lists are far from complete or all-inclusive even for the series and disabilities covered and don't constitute a proper scientific sample.
DC
Harold Allnut Minor mute supporting character with kyphosis. Later had his voice and spinal curvature corrected by Hush, who used him as a sort of living Trojan Horse trap before killing him.
Black Manta Autistic supervillain who carries a grudge against Aquaman for not coming to rescue him from torture and abuse. Sold his soul to a demon and became half manta ray, was later “cured” both of that transformation and of his autism by Aquaman, who he continued attempting to kill.
Edgar Cizko (Doctor Psycho) Minor supervillain with dwarfism, either a hypnotist who controlled ectoplasm or, post-Infinite Crisis, a psychic.
Elizabeth Chapel (Doctor Midnight) Minor superhero with extreme photosensitivity, resulting in perfect nightvision but effective day-blindness when not using infrared lenses.
I Ching- Very minor blind martial artist who played a role in Wonder Woman's backstory and then was murdered.
Pieter Cross (Doctor Mid-nite) Superhero with extreme photosensitivity and the ability to see via infrared and ultrasonics.
Niles Caulder (the Chief) Paraplegic antivillain and leader/mentor of the Doom Patrol.
Yrra Cynril (Fatality) Minor supervillain with a prosthetic arm.
Destiny Technically blind, but he’s frickin’ Destiny of the Endless.
Cody Driscoll (Risk) Superhero who turned villain after losing an arm during Infinite Crisis.
Johnny Do (Dehman Doosha) Very minor autistic pyrokinetic superhero, severely abused for much of his life until he was rescued by and enlisted in the Psi-Force team.
Dolphin Minor aquatic superhero who had difficulty mastering spoken language due to an effectively feral childhood, initially communicated via sign language.
Edmund Dorrance (King Snake)- Very minor blind martial artist villain and father to a more significant villain. Had his sight temporarily restored and shortly loses it again because Status Quo Is God. Somewhat noteworthy because the addition of visual feedback, after fighting so long without it, was actually interfering with his combat effectiveness.
Linda Friitawa (Fright) Very minor supervillain who cured her albinism and acquired the ability to exhale nerve toxins by combining her previous genetic experiments with those of Jonathan Crane (Scarecrow).
Barbara Gordon (Oracle) Was Batgirl until an assault by the Joker left her paraplegic, continued fighting crime as Oracle and is capable of kicking ass both as a hacker and as an eskrima fighter. Prominent, awesome, and the reason for this entry.
Ted Grant (Wildcat) Superhero with "nine lives", suffered a career-ending spinal injury during the Infinite Crisis storyline but later recovered- and in the continuity reboot after that, it was retconned to never have happened in the first place.
Anatoli Knyazev (KGBeast) Villain with a gun replacing his amputated hand.
Charles McNider (Doctor Mid-Nite) Superhero with extreme photosensitivity; he can see in complete darkness but is effectively blind in normal lighting conditions when not using light-blocking visors or other adaptive technology.
Mikron O’Jeneus (Gizmo) Genius gadgeteer supervillain with dwarfism, at least in comics continuity. In animated continuity, he’s a preteen kid.
Orin/Adam Curry (Aquaman) In one continuity, he loses a hand and has it replaced with a cybernetic harpoon.
Herr Starr a villain who starts out missing an eye at the beginning of the series and proceeds to lose an ear, a leg, and his genitalia by the end.
Joseph William Wilson (Jericho) Mute psychic superhero who can possess the bodies of others (but can only use their voices if they’re unconscious). Usually communicates via ASL.
Nimue (Madam Xanadu) Recurring divinatory supporting character, later blinded by Spectre in an Infinite Crisis tie-in.
Marvel
Irene Adler Minor psychic supporting character and former lover of Mystique. Blind but can navigate and used ranged weapons by ‘seeing’ via precognition.
Ruth Aldine (Blindfold)- Recurring minor psychic superhero. Blind (and born eyeless), but clairvoyant to a degree that essentially negates this.
Blind Al Supporting character and friend (of a sort) to Deadpool.
Gustav Brandt (Libra) Recurring minor psychic supervillain, father to a superhero. Blind, but completely compensated by psychic senses.
Maxillian Coleridge (Shroud)- Recurring minor superhero/antihero with powers over the "Darkforce dimension". Blind, but with extrasensory powers that are undeniably superior to normal vision.
Claudette St. Croix (one of the M-Twins) Very minor psychic “autistic” superhero, who can merge with her twin Nicole for even more powers. Character description sounds, quite frankly, like the writers don’t really know much about autism and are relying on some very odd stereotypes... The fact that Marvel’s official site uses “autistic” to describe Legion (David Haller) when he’s in a blatantly catatonic state suddenly and disturbingly makes a lot more sense.
Curt Connors (the Lizard) Former amputee who accidentally turned himself into a reptilian supervillain while attempting to regenerate his lost arm.
Milla Donovan Very minor blind supporting character, off-and-on girlfriend of Daredevil.
Gaza Very minor recurring psychic supervillain. Blind, but sees with psionics.
Gale EdgertonFormer supporting character, sought out energy-draining Emplate powers and became a very minor supervillain after becoming paraplegic.
Garrison Kane (Kane/Weapon X) Quadruple amputee superhero with “liquid metal” cyborg limbs.
Hoder Minor divine superhero, based on the Norse god of the same name. Blind, prescient, and with general godlike strength and powers.
Eugene Judd (Puck) Agile and superspringy superhero with dwarfism. Was temporarily given normal height via a wellspring of mystical energy, but despite the fact the change to his proportions and center of balance not only disrupted his fighting style but also interfered with his ability to walk, he was written as responding bitterly when he was returned to his original height.
Lonnie Lincoln (Tombstone) Very minor mook with albinism and superpowered strength and constitution.
Maya Lopez (Echo/Ronin) Minor deaf superhero with Taskmaster-esque photographic reflexes.
Alicia Masters Blind supporting character, daughter of a villain and sometimes love interest of The Thing. Eventually hooks up with the Silver Surfer for a while and gets some adaptive technology in the form of an armored supersuit which allows her to detect and manipulate quantum energy.
Taki Matsuya (Wiz Kid) Very minor paraplegic genius superhero with dyslexia and, prior to House of M, technoforming powers. In Ultimates continuity, makes an appearance as Whiz-Kid, a kid with post-polio syndrome who uses a wheelchair and is taken in and generally condescended to by the Defenders so that they can receive corporate sponsorship for having a disabled member.
Matt Murdock (Daredevil) Blind superhero who sees with hyperaesthesic and “radar sense” powers.
Douglas and William Scott (Razor Fist) A pair of brothers who became minor villains, consecutively assuming the same villainous identity. Each replaced an amputated hand with a giant knife, the latter of the two doing so twice.
Regina (Ladyhawk) Minor superhero whose career ended after an assault by Hobgoblin left her paraplegic.
Stick Very minor blind martial artist compensated with “radar sense” and general hyperaesthesia. Trained the similarly-powered Daredevil before dying.
Kamo Tharnn (Possessor)- VERY minor ex-villain superhero with "vast cosmic powers and knowledge". Blind, but has "unrevealed wxtrasensory perceptions which take the place of his sight" according to one of the stub articles that the Wiki links.
Scott Washington (Hybrid) Minor paraplegic superhero bonded to a quartet of Venom symbiotes, giving him full normal mobility and access to various superpowers
Cassandra Webb (Madame Web) Minor blind supporting character with late-stage myasthenia gravis and powers of clairvoyance and telepathy. Through a magical ritual, she becomes immortal and the course of her disorder is reversed enough to allow her to get around in a wheelchair rather than be dependent on an elaborate life support system.
Charles Xavier (Professor X) Paraplegic genius superhero with intense telepathic powers. Has been healed and then later re-paralyzed on at least two separate occasions, demonstrating once again that Status Quo Is God when you’re a prominent comics character.
Other
Niles Cable from Amalgam, canonmeld hybrid of Cable and Chief (Niles Caulder). A paraplegic psychic superhero with telepathy and teleportation abilities.
Miho from Sin City. Possibly mute, but she could, like Kevin from the same series, just be choosing not to speak during the times she’s on-panel.
Slade Murdock (Dare the Terminator) from Amalgam, a sort of canonmeld hybrid of Deathstroke and Daredevil. As a combination of the two, she’s both blind and missing an eye but has “hypersensitive radar” and hyperaesthesia.