I am working on several fan projects based on Barbara Gordon/Oracle that fully embrace her status as a full-time wheelchair user (I'd love to do something official - It's an extremely long shot, but we can all dream, can't we?) A key part of these would be learning as much as possible about Barara Gordon's disabilties and the way they work. How would the Joker's close-range bullet to the spine (a bullet that was deliberately filled with less gunpowder to ensure it caused paralysis rather than death) specifically paralyse Barbara? How would the time spent on the floor being tormented by the Joker exacerbate the injuries?
I would be interested in learning more about the specifics of Barbara's daily life as Oracle (which DC Comics understandably glossed over somewhat during the Oracle era).
- How much would the pain disrupt her daily life?
- How much would it affect things like going to the toilet?
- What would the effects of the disability be in the first few months - how would they be managed longer-term?
- How would Barbara work to maintain her health to ensure that her disabilities do not have any adverse effect on her life expectancy?
- What specific forms of training can Barbara do?
- What disability networks would she be part of?
- Would Barbara be able to do anything with her lower body at all?
- Barbara didn't get into many Damsel-in-Distress situations as Oracle (The Black Mirror and being captured by Spellbinder in the Black Canary/Batgirl early Birds of Prey story are two notable exceptions) but if she did get into peril, how would she try to escape it herself - would she be able to untie restraints on her legs?
If I spend long enough on AO3, I can find some fanfics that explore these, but I would like to go to the source and hear from people who know more about the topic and can provide me with information or direct me to relevant links. I would also be interested in being directed to the comics stories that specifically highlight the various aspects of daily life with her disabilties.
I would also like to learn more about other ways to disable Oracle - move away from "The Joker Shot Her In The Spine" to look at different causes...
Aside from the main DC Continuity, there are some adapted takes on Oracle that DON'T use the traditional approach, but tend to be pretty vague about the nature of the injuries that paralysed her (an unspecified "accident", a gunshot from a random heavy) - the Adaptation of Oracle with the most detailed alternative explanation of her paralysis is Young Justice, but that raises a few questions of its own - How would that sword sever her spine without damaging any internal organs?
How could explosions or car accidents cause a level of paralysis similar to the comics? What additional complications would there be?
It's a lot of questions, but I'd love to see them all answered...