Ryan O’Connell talks life, TV series at University Union event

On Tuesday night, writer, actor and disability advocate Ryan O’Connell sat before 400 people in Syracuse University’s Goldstein Auditorium and answered questions. He had the audience choking with laughter the whole night. 

University Union, in partnership with the Disability Cultural Center and the LGBT Resource Center brought O’Connell to SU in celebration of LGBTQ+ History Month and Disability Awareness and Appreciation Month. The event also served to commemorate the 35 SU students who died on Pan Am Flight 103. 

The main topic of conversation for the night was about O’Connell starring in the recent eight-episode Netflix series, “Special,” a semi-autobiography based on his memoir: “I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.”

In this series, O’Connell effectively plays himself, a gay man with cerebral palsy who posed as an accident victim in order to cover up his disability, but decides to tell the truth and move into the workforce as an adult.

The production is most controversial in the media for its particular depiction of gay intercourse, about which O’Connell stated that he wanted to be honest and show gay sex for what it is.

O’Connell added that “Special” meant something more to him than his previous projects. He has worked on various shows including working as the executive editor of the 2017 reboot of “Will and Grace.” 

“I was in (writing) rooms where I… didn’t care about the shit I was writing,” O’Connell said, “I was paid handsomely but there are only so many $60 candles you can buy,” he joked. 

The producer-actor said his aim was to make something relatable for gay people by gay people. He did this by creating a protagonist, Ryan, who was not entirely perfect or likeable. To those against the idea of having an imperfect gay and disabled character, O’Connell proposed they “change the channel.”

When asked what drew O’Connell to storytelling, he said it just came naturally to him. He recalled asking his parents for scripts at a very young age because he was attracted to TV because it was all he ever watched. 

The answer to the question of whether or not his parents took him seriously was a confident “yes.”

“Society was always TBD about me but my parents always supported me,” O’Connell said. 

O’Connell admitted to getting angry when people question people with disability’s creativity. He said that people with disabilities have to work 20 times harder than anyone else. He recalled the difficulty of one of his internships at Interview Magazine where he was tasked with transcribing interviews while only having “one and a half hands.”

It was this struggle that caused O’Connell to be afraid of inaccurately depicting an impaired person and offending the disabled community in “Special.” But he said he was overwhelmed with the amount of support he received from the community.  

Among those attending was Madeline Johnson, a Magazine and International Relations major who said it was great to hear O’Connell talk about his experiences as a disabled and gay person.

Another audience member, public relations major Rebecca Balara, said she enjoyed how vulnerable O’Connell was in front of such a large audience. She said she could tell he didn’t come with a preconceived speech, but instead he was himself. 

O’Connell urged the audience to believe in themselves, even if only a little.

“A little bit of delusion goes a long way,” O’Connell said.