The Oracle Code - Jan/Feb 2021

[Tiffany]

Our first 2021 book selection is The Oracle Code by Marieke Nijkamp. This is a YA graphic novel set in the DC universe. It follows Barbara Gordon immediately post-injury as she adjusts to life with a spinal cord injury and becomes a wheelchair-user.

The author is disabled, but I could not find information on whether or not she has a spinal cord injury.

Please keep this thread spoiler-free until February 14th. On that date we will *officially* start discussing the book as a group and discussion questions will be posted, so finish reading before then if you don't want spoilers!

Content warnings: gun violence, institutionalization, eugenics, ableism, medical experimentation

[Sammy]

I just finished reading this and I'm so so excited to talk about it with everyone! It definitely hit some familiar and sympathetic points from my own life.

[Tiffany]

Hey, everyone! Our bookclub discussion is now open!

Usually I try to come up with a few questions to get the conversation started, but I think since this is such a short graphic novel that I'll just start with asking what y'all thought of it.

Personally, I'm kind of a mobility tech nerd, so I loved seeing different mobility aids and especially different styles of wheelchairs depicted in the artwork. Those kinds of details mean a lot to me. Also, having been through wheelchair skills training myself, it was cool to see that depicted because it's not something I've ever seen represented before.

I thought the mystery was really predictable, but I loved the anti-cure culture message at the end and how they really emphasized that disability doesn't need to be 'fixed' because we're not broken.

So what did y'all think?

[Sammy]

I really identified with the transition from abled to disabled, and the internal struggle that it brings. For the most part, I used to be healthy and abled, save for my mental health, which I've struggled with basically my whole life. My health really started to degrade in my 20s. And then the diagnosis' started rolling in over the next few years. Now there are just so many things that I can't do that I could before, and I'm constantly relying on other people. I really recognized her anger and depression, because I've been there, I'm practically still there.

Even as an adult reading a YA graphic novel, the ending was still very meaningful like @Tiffany said. The anti-cure narrative is important to readers of any age who need to hear that we're not broken.

[Tiffany]

I liked how the difficulties that come with navigating friendships after becoming disabled was portrayed, too. I did feel like those parts of the story- her coming to terms with her disability and the friendship aspects- were a bit rushed and oversimplified, but I also get why since it's only about 200 pages.

Yes, I totally agree about the ending! I feel like that message isn't usually heard in the mainstream or outside of disability circles much, so I loved seeing it in this for the sake of both disabled teens who may read it and for their abled counterparts who have probably never been exposed to that point of view before.