Re: Babs needs to walk again
Yeah, I agree. It's not that I don't see the double standard in Batman healing from injuries while Barbara doesn't. But Barbara's a special case because somebody happened to take TKJ and build a character out of it, a character who is Batgirl injured and becoming Oracle. She was changed as a result of that ordeal and became the person she is now--Batgirl was not a foil for Batman and not his equal. It's Oracle who's the uber-mother to Batman's uber-father, in large part because of what Oracle (not Batgirl) does. (I wrote about the male/female Batfamily a little here, if anybody's interested: http://sistermagpie.livejournal.com/179132.html)
Batgirl remains an underling, a junior rooftop fighter. And sure, people have pointed out that she could still be Oracle who can walk. Or Batgirl can still work the computer. But it's not like they'd go to the trouble of healing her injury and making her Batgirl so that she can now walk from the computer to the kitchen to get her coffee. They'd presumably want her out there. The whole reason the wheelchair seems part of Oracle is because she's a hero that's all about the mind and not the body.
Also, I would disagree with the comment elsewhere that healing from the injury is what gives her closure or shows that she triumphed. First, because Oracle is the ironic creation of the Joker--he created one of the most powerful figures fighting against him without realizing it. And second, because who in the Batfamily gets closure? Bruce's parents are still dead, Dick's parents are still dead, Tim's parents are still dead. The characters get up with their scars and fight so that this doesn't happen to other people, not because it will ever change their pasts.
Hell, didn't Jason go after Joker with a crowbar? Didn't seem to give him closure for his issues either.