Here’s what we know for sure about Special, the upcoming Netflix series;
Ryan Kayes (played by Ryan O’Connell), the star of the series is in his mid-20s, gay and with cerebral palsy.
“Cerebral Palsy is a disability of the brain manifested through muscular in-coordination” Ryan says in the trailer just before he falls.
In an interview with Vulture, Ryan shared about the importance of accurate representation of gay and disabled people.
“I want to bring gay sex to the forefront in a very accurate, human way. We’ve been so hypersexualized, and it’s just assumed that we fuck like rabbits. It’s also a really intense, emotional thing for us too,” Ryan said. “It’s overwhelming because I know that ‘Special’ is not going to speak for every disabled person’s experience. It can never be. You can’t speak for everyone. But when you’re one of the first people that gets the seat at the table, there’s a lot of pressure on you. I hope that ‘Special’ is a success so other stories can be fucking told. Disabled people need to be empowered.”
“Special, is a distinctive and uplifting new series about a gay man, Ryan with mild cerebral palsy who decides to rewrite his identity and finally go after the life he wants,” Netflix synopsis reads. “After years of dead-end internships, working in his pajamas as a blogger and communicating mostly via text, Ryan eventually figured out how to take his life from bleak to chic and began limping towards adulthood.”
The eight-episode season is based on series creator and star, Ryan O’Connell’s memoir, “I’m Special: And Other Lies We Tell Ourselves.”
Anybody who has read the memoir is sure to find parallels between O’Connell’s own life and the character on the show, but the similarities aren’t meant to be all encompassing, O’Connell says in an interview.
“I was in the closet about being gay, and then I was in the closet about being disabled, and now…no more closets,” O’Connell declares in the trailer.
The show premieres on Friday, 12th of April and we can’t wait!
Watch trailer below:
