Mad Men is back for its fourth season and the core gang from Sterling Cooper have jumped ship to start a new agency. In Sunday night’s season premiere, Don was interviewed by a reporter from “Advertising Age” magazine in an attempt to gain publicity for the fledgling enterprise. The interview took place in a fancy-schmancy restaurant and, as usual, Don had trouble divulging any precious details about himself. Thus, the interview was a disaster and Don knew it. Roger and Pete joined Don and the reporter at the end of the interview. When the reporter got up to leave the table, he stumbled, revealing a detached proesthetic leg. When questioned, the reporter said his leg had been amputated as a result of an injury sustained in the Korean War.

Don, Pete and Roger’s reactions to this man’s disability were fascinating. Don accepted it as it was, which is his usual modus operandi with disability. He seems to treat it as private matter, as though it would be disrespectful to even acknowledge it. For example, he never seemed to notice his “ex-wife” Anna’s limp, he chatised the boys for laughing about Freddie Rumsen’s alcoholism (“It’s only a man’s reputation”) and he told Peggy to bury any memory of her time in the pychiatric hospital (“It will shock you how much it never happened.”)

Pete was politely inappropriate, of course. “Thank you for your sacrifice,” he told the reporter. Pete, being Pete, was referring to the reporter’s missing limb, not his war service or time spent away from family and friends. Pete was not expressing empathy for physical pain, illness and post-traumatic stress the man probably experienced as he recovered from the war and his wounds and surgeries. No, Pete was thanking him for going to war, taking the hit and “suffering” the stigma of disability so trust fund babies like him didn’t have to. (Yes, I know: Pete’s dearly-departed daddy spent every cent but he’s still got his darling Trudy, right?)

And then there’s good ol’ Roger Sterling. His was the most intriguing reaction of all. When it was clear the interview hadn’t gone well, Roger chewed Don out for half a second for being his usual laconic self and then took the heat off the golden boy by blaming the magazine. “Why’d they send half a reporter, anyways?” he snapped.

Half a reporter?

Oh, Roger.

Rather than lambasting the reporter for shoddy journalism, Roger equated the missing limb with professional ineptitude. He blamed the man’s disability, not his poor interviewing skills or lousy writing. It was a cheap shot but Roger is not alone in thinking (or saying) such things. The idea that having a disability is dehumanizing, that it makes one passive, weak and “less of a man” is well-ingrained in our culture.

But why did Roger say it? We don’t know a lot about Roger. While he seems to have found happiness with Jane (for now), the sharp barbs and acerbic wit are definitely a defense mechanism. But for what? We know that Roger has something of an inferiority complex, having ridden his father’s coattails to success on Madison Avenue. (The “Sterling” in Sterling Cooper is for his dad, Roger, Sr.)

We also know that Roger is a WWII veteran. Roger’s time during the war remains a black hole, as empty as the reporter’s wooden leg. What happened during the war, besides the fact that he loved and lost Annabelle? How do all of these factors combine to produce a spiteful retort like, “Why’d they send half a reporter, anyways?”

I don’t know. I find it curious that this was the very first scene of the new season, which takes place in 1964 as the Vietnam War really starts to get heated. This promises to make things very interesting for the new Sterling Coop: Joan’s hubby Greg is in the Army, Pete brought a defense contractor (North American Aviation) with him from the old agency and you know Sally is going to be a love child. As the war progresses, the wounded warriors will be coming home, many of them with permanent disabilities. Disability will be fundamentally changed during the Vietnam era, as the disability rights movement formed during the ’60s and ’70s to fight for deinstitutionalization and equal access to housing, employment, transportation, health care, education and much more.

How will the Sterling Cooper (Draper Pryce) folks handle all the changes the war will surely bring? Will it change how they see disability? I’ll be watching to find out!

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