Ryan O'Connell

O'Connell grew up in Ventura County, California with what he described as his "liberal" family. He has a mild form of cerebral palsy (CP) since birth, which affects the right side of his body with a noticeable limp. Because of his CP, he had ten or eleven surgeries as a child, spending time in the hospital, and received much physical therapy.

Growing up, O'Connell requested TV scripts for Christmas, and watched shows with the closed captioning on to learn more about writing. He would watch shows and attempt to figure out the A-Plot versus the B-plot, and the structure of the script. He loved performing as well, acting in all the middle-school and high-school plays. Later on he suppressed this desire, seeing himself not represented in popular culture. He attended Foothill Technology High School.

On discovering his sexuality, O'Connell said,

The moment I realized I was gay was—truly—[seeing] Ryan Phillippe's ass in 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 remained closeted until he was 17 and felt he needed to come out, to pursue another boy who was already out. His family was supportive when he did; his sister, uncle, and grandfather had already identified as LGBTQ.

When O'Connell was 20, he was hit by a car and required four hand surgeries. The accident resulted in compartment syndrome, and affected mainly his left hand. Nine months later, he moved to New York City to attend The New School. There, peers assumed his limp was from the car accident, and he chose not to correct them. He described feeling in limbo about his CP, not really fitting in with disabled or non-disabled people. Additionally, disabled representation in popular culture was nearly non-existent.