Ryan J. Haddad

I think the realities of pain, I think the realities of structural damage, I think the realities of mobility issues or accessibility issues, those are very real things.

I think one of my best friends, Ryan Haddad, has cerebral palsy and is a playwright and is starring in his own show right now actually at The Public and we talk about this all the time.

How do you exist in this world that's telling you that not all of it is for you? And defy that in a way while still acknowledging the things you do need.

I think it's a matter of normalizing the things that we do need.

We can push the field to now create work that is intended for this audience from the ground up with that audience in mind.

So i- the accessibility of it is a creative challenge from the very beginning, um, and that we're not just creating a show and then thinking, "Oh, how can we make this accessible to our audiences?" But actually recognizing from day one with the director, the actors, all the designers in the room, how can we make this accessible in its creation? Pushing that even forward, Ryan Haddad is a really phenomenal disabled artist.

This is outside of the realm of TYA.

He did this creative, beautiful show called Dark Disabled Stories that ran at The Public last year.

well it's like gross like burning man aesthetic i don't know like this burning man polly whatever like well

you you mentioned the role model thing i mean in that way you have become a role model because you are you know somebody exhibiting this talking about it writing about it um i interviewed ryan haddad a while back and he's actually going to be in the show coming up and he was talking about how important you were um you know just being there and how we need more stories like this Is that strange for you, having that responsibility, knowing that people are actually like, oh, well, if Ryan O'Connell can do this, then I can.

No, I mean, I think the key to surviving that is to not thinking of it as a responsibility.

Like I the only thing I'm doing is living my life the best way that I know how.