My thoughts on the erasure of Ricky’s disability and portrayal of his mutism
Like everyone in the ride the cyclone community, I recently learned of the changes in the script. To say I’m upset is a severe understatement. It’s blatantly ableist to erase his disability, especially after the McCarter Theater debacle of 2022 and what Yannick Mirko had to go through. That being said, I have some thoughts on the changes.
Ricky Potts is a character whose disability is an important part of him. He even named his crutches! Erasing his disability means erasing who he is. If it wasn’t for his degenerative disease, which is the cause of his mutism, not a separate issue, he wouldn’t have made up Zolar, the cat ladies, or the persona of the Bachelor Man. SABM makes much less sense now, as does his entire character arc.
For disabled people, a character like Ricky is so few and far between, especially in theatre. And representation is so important, so giving a marginalized group a character for years and then just yanking him away is flat out disrespectful to the group he’s representing.
Also, this isn’t just a disservice to physically disabled people, but to mute people, as well. I’ve talked about this before, but I have selective mutism, and seeing Ricky, who was canonically mute, made me beyond happy. I even wear a bracelet with his name on it! I know he’s not mute for the same reasons as me, but it still warmed my heart. But this line below just felt like a giant slap in the face.
I know they gave Ricky traumatic mutism (can’t talk because of a traumatic event) in the new version, and this line just totally contradicts that. Also, this idea that the individual can talk and just won’t is so exponentially harmful to mute people. It perpetuates this idea that they’re just being difficult and downplays the struggle of physically not being able to speak. If you’re gonna give him a different condition, at least put in the effort to get it right and not completely butcher it. I cannot stress enough how problematic and ableist this line alone is.
In summary, Ricky Potts has seen more than his share of blatant ableism recently and his disability needs to be restored in canon. Switching out one condition for another doesn’t make it okay, especially if you can’t even get that one correct. Ricky deserves better.
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