They Oughtta Not Made This Comic Book

They Oughta Have Bells is considered one of the most offensive reprehensible comic books ever published. If anyone out there knows more about the specifics of this comic book, please drop me a comment. This 1960’s comic book mocked disability in living color. Its message lampooned disability and disregarded human compassion. It never reflected the public rights of being disabled in America nor political correctness. Instead, it found its way into American pop culture promoting the kind of hurt that could make Helen Keller speak. To borrow symbolism, it lit the torches carried by the hate mongers to Frankenstein’s castle. This comic book may have setback disability rights a generation. I hope the comic book’s circulation was small and its shelf life short.

Thankfully, disability rights have come a long way in the last fifty to a hundred years. Nonetheless, diehard prejudice still finds a warm cozy home by the fire with some people. As a social worker, I receive a high volume of mail. I recently received a complaint letter from the neighbor of one of my clients. Its content left me aghast. The letter awfully reminded me of the comic book.

Let me preface the introduction of my client by saying that I admire Nat. Nat functions in the mild range of mental retardation but he does his best to negate cognitive limitations. He is gainfully employed as a porter. Furthermore, Nat has been recognized in the local newspapers for his dedicated work as a porter. In unheralded fashion, Nat helps his sister raise her children and even does the family laundry. Nat is a member of society in good standing. He lives in a 600 unit apartment complex, the nosy kind of residential community where everybody knows your name. It sounds like Cheers but it is far from the Norm.

Human beings are indeed different but shouldn’t be treated differently in terms of civil rights. For the sake of argument, let’s talk about Nat’s individual differences which came under scrutiny. Nat looks a little different but I guarantee you, he wants to be treated fairly and not judged based upon his appearance. Nat has an idiosyncrasy of talking to himself whenever he spends time alone. He mumbles and perseverates out loud. He can often be found humming and singing to himself as a way to fill the silence of being alone. Self-talk is no crime against humanity in any state in the country. I do it myself and do not want to be imprisoned because of it. Nat, you see, is as harmless as his namesake.

In so many words, the neighbor apparently finds Nat abnormal and repulsive. She felt so strongly about Nat that she went in writing to the apartment complex. The venomous letter found its way to my desk but not before the neighbor further reported Natty to the Division of Youth and Family Services for babysitting her nephews without supervision. Slack-jawed, I read the letter through a few times before my Marty Feldman eyes subsided. The neighbor’s letter indicated that her safety was being jeopardized sharing the same laundry room as Nat. Leaving nothing to interpretation, I include only a couple of her comments:

“The creature roaming the laundry room is downright scary.”

“He scrapes the bottom of the barrel of society.”

Talk about airing dirty laundry! As part of the dehumanization, the neighbor never referred to Nat by name. Let me assure you that this letter was not penned from ignorance. Rather, this was hate mail born in the witching hour. The neighbor would have been better served if she referred to Nat as Whatshisname. I wouldn’t be surprised if this neighbor had an entire collection of this comic book. I guarantee you Whatshisname doesn’t own a single copy.