Tag: Ryan O’Connell

I first connected with Ryan O’Connell in December of 2016. I had been working on a Queerty story–appropriately titled “Is Hollywood Finally Ready To Portray Disabled Gay Characters?–when I decided to reach out. At the time, O’Connell had just finished writing a show about a gay and disabled character, based on his own life. He was excited about the idea of people seeing the show, but was struggling to find a home for it. After all, O’Connell pitched the show to...

"I wanna show different flavors of gay sex other than 'Queer As Folk' porny whatever." Ryan O’Connell is a gay man with cerebral palsy—he is also the writer, creator, and star of the new Netflix original series, Special—which debuts April 12. The trailer for the show dropped this week, and in addition to introducing viewers to Ryan, it also shows that audiences better prepare to see some gay sex scenes, something that O’Connell doesn’t think moviegoers see enough of. “I am so...

Is television finally feeling willing and able when it comes to portraying more disabled characters? It certainly appears that way. According to GLAAD’s 2016 “Where We Are on TV” report, the percentage of series regulars with disabilities this year has risen to 1.7 percent (15 characters), up from last year’s 0.9 percent (eight characters). It is an “amazing” accomplishment, according to Ryan O’Connell, a gay and disabled TV/film writer and author of “I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves,” a...