Comic-Con: Fantastic and empowered
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The convention draws many people with disabilities. They say the subject matter draws them and that the staff provides for their needs.
If you look closely at some of the most popular comic book and collectible characters featured at Comic-Con International in San Diego, you notice some unexpected similarities. ‘X-Men’s’ Professor Charles Xavier uses a wheelchair. ‘Daredevil’s’ Matt Murdock is blind. ‘Iron Man’s’ Tony Stark doesn’t have a healthy heart.
But it’s not just the superheroes who are living with disabilities. All around the San Diego Convention Center are scores of others whose bodies are not fully functional, and many of them are navigating Comic-Con’s cavernous exhibit halls in wheelchairs.
‘You can be someone you are not in real life,’ said Virginia Baker, a 62-year-old fan of the World of Warcraft online video game and manga (Japanese comic books). Because of severe knee problems, the San Diego resident has used a wheelchair for more than seven years and was attending Comic-Con for the third time. ‘You can feel like you can be one of them -- you have legs! -- and you can become a warrior,’ she said of the appeal of fantasy gaming.
-- John Horn
