RYAN O’CONNELL

Historically, the number of disabled characters created, written, and played by disabled people is razor thin. Despite the fact that one in four Americans has a disability, their lives are seldom reflected on the screen. In fact, a 2016 study by Ruderman White Paper showed that only 2 percent of TV characters are disabled and 95 percent of those roles are played by nondisabled actors. But there’s a new sheriff in town.

Ryan O’Connell, the gay and disabled creator, writer, and star of Netflix’s , the only show about disability that is run by a disabled person who also stars in it, has made it his mission to course-correct Hollywood’s “history of loving to profit off the pain of marginalized people,”