talents on screen and stage. Ali Stroker, who uses a wheelchair, won a 2019 Tony Award for her groundbreaking performance as Ado Annie in the Broadway revival of Oklahoma!, while the numerous deaf cast members of last year’s movie The Sound of Metal just helped it nab two Academy Awards. One of the most prominent groundbreaking


talents is actor-writer-comedian Ryan O’Connell. Born with a mild form of cerebral palsy (CP) in 1986, O’Connell had multiple surgeries and intense physical therapy while growing up in Southern California. He performed in plays and musicals throughout his high school years despite his physical limitations, and he also studied screenwriting. While O’Connell was in high school, he discovered another potential roadblock: He was gay. As O’Connell recounted


to Vulture magazine in 2019: “ The moment I realized I was gay was – truly – seeing Ryan Phillippe’s ass in (the 1999 movie) Cruel Intentions. I remember seeing Ryan Phillippe’s ass and being like, ‘That’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen in my life.’ And then being, like, ‘Oh, fuck me: I’m gay and disabled; this is so rude.” He continued: “I was closeted until I was


17. I came out because I really liked this boy who I knew was gay, and I knew that in order to pursue him I needed to be out of the closet. I came from a very gay family. My grandfather was a closeted homosexual who died of AIDS. My uncle’s gay. My sister’s bi.” O’Connell has mined much of his personal journey in Special, the


series he created for Netflix in 2019. He adapted it from his 2015 memoir I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves. O’Connell stars in the show as Ryan Hayes, an insecure gay blogger with CP who still lives with his mother, Karen (played by the luminous Jessica


FEELING SPECIAL WITH W RYAN O’CONNELL


e aren’t living in the most enlightened of ages, but we are making progress in at least one way. People with physical disabilities, long ex- cluded from leading roles in the entertainment industry, are finally being recognized as major


Hecht). He also wrote the series and serves as one its producers along with actor-producer Jim Parsons of The Big Bang Theory fame. The first season was a hit with gay viewers as well as the disabled


community. It also garnered notice from the Television Academy, which nominated the show for several Primetime Emmy Awards including Outstanding Short Form Comedy Series and nominated O’Connell for Outstanding Actor. Special also received a Special Recognition Award from GLAAD last year. Even more viewers have discovered the series while bingeing streaming content during the COVID-19 lockdown. The second and final season of Special is set to premiere on Netflix on May 20. It picks up two months after the dramatic finale of Season 1, when Ryan had a huge fight with his mother and moved out. Ryan still hasn’t spoken to Karen and has a case of writer’s block that’s getting him in hot water with his self-absorbed boss, Olivia. Enter Tanner, a flirty dance instructor who charms Ryan despite not being totally available. When his writer’s block eventually lifts, Ryan is inspired to write a longform piece about disability. From there, he begins a journey of self-discovery that creates unexpected complications in his relationship with Tanner. Cute newcomer Buck


Andrews is partly responsible for these as Henry, a more aggressive gay guy on the autism spectrum who befriends Ryan. Meanwhile, Ryan’s best friend Kim (the delightful Punam Patel) lets her guard down when she meets Harrison


(sexy Charlie Barnett, who previously starred in the movie Private Romeo, a gay take on Romeo & Juliet). He is a sensitive and fabulously wealthy tech mogul, but Kim’s insecurities and jealous tenden- cies continue to hamper her personal life and threaten to push


Harrison away. This season is about the primary characters — Ryan, Karen and Kim — coming into their power and realizing they all deserve big, gorgeous lives whether society agrees or not. Did I mention Leslie Jordan also appears as an unexpected new friend to Karen?


MAY 2021| @theragemonthly 17


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