18 Facts About Ryan O'Connell

Ryan O'Connell is an American writer, actor, director, comedian, LGBTQ activist, and disability advocate.

Ryan O'Connell is known for his 2015 memoir, I'm Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves, about his life as a gay man with cerebral palsy, which he adapted into television series Special for Netflix.

Ryan O'Connell has a mild form of cerebral palsy since birth, which affects the right side of his body with a noticeable limp.

Ryan O'Connell would watch shows and attempt to figure out the A-Plot versus the B-plot, and the structure of the script.

Ryan O'Connell loved performing as well, acting in all the middle-school and high-school plays.

Ryan O'Connell remained closeted until he was 17 and felt he needed to come out, to pursue another boy who was already out.

Ryan O'Connell's family was supportive when he did; his sister, uncle, and grandfather had already identified as LGBTQ.

When Ryan O'Connell was 20, he was hit by a car and required four hand surgeries.

Ryan O'Connell described feeling in limbo about his CP, not really fitting in with disabled or non-disabled people.

Ryan O'Connell worked as a blogger for three years, first serving as editor of Thought Catalog in 2011.

Ryan O'Connell contributed to Vice, BuzzFeed, and other publications including The New York Times and Medium.

Ryan O'Connell later expanded the article into his book, which he publicly revealed his disability.

Ryan O'Connell was assured with Parsons and Spiewak; he felt he could not trust a network with the gay content, fearing that they would let the project die after buying the option.

In late 2015, Ryan O'Connell was named to the Out100 honoring LGBTQ icons.

Ryan O'Connell noted it was hard to launch a show with a gay lead character, let alone one who was disabled; a first for television.

In Special, the lead character Ryan O'Connell misleads his coworkers that his limp was the result of a car accident instead of his cerebral palsy.

Ryan O'Connell uses the show to "explore his own internalized ableism and insecurities of being in the gay community".

Ryan O'Connell wrote for a season of Daytime Divas in 2017.