#save ricky potts

[elevator-to-mars]

you may like ricky potts but you will never like him as autistically and obsessively as i do

[iliketodrawig]

@word-to-the-wise SECRET SANTA!!!!! SURPRISE!!!!

Take sugarspace making cookies 👍🏻👍🏻 (ssshhhh I know that Christmas is kinda over already but in my country Christmas ends on January 6 sshhh)

[zp3nc3r-und3r5c0r3]

need you all to understand how perfect grace chastity and ocean o'connell rosenberg are for each other. "teen sex kills" bestie with her "i had lustful thoughts before marriage and killed people about it" bestie. mildly homophobic type-a religious freaks with god complexes. they would hold hands and then grace would have a panic attack over it and ocean would use it as a teachable moment like "and this is what you do when someone is having a panic attack." they are the besties ever they are everything to me.

[newts-frogs-toads]

Babe wake up new RTC slime just dropped

[little-bumblebeeee]

okay Space Age Bachelor Man with headphones is just... eeeeeeuugghhhhhhh because in my right ear I just hear "MEOW" and in my left I can just hear Ricky having the time of his damn life

[democracyrockz]

A Project.

So, Im sure everybody here knows about #Saverickypotts.

I agree with this movement, and I'm here to make my contribution to it.

Im going to attempt to rewrite the script, re-add Ricky's disability, and keep him disabled in the afterlife.

This will all be explained in my version of the script.

The ableist Ocean comments will be kept, but in Ocean's monologue towards the end of the show she will apologize to the end of the show for her harmful words.

I am completely open to ideas!

#Saverickypotts. <33

-Ocean ☆

[miintsprigz]

UPDATE 01/20: BOTH NEW AND OLD VERSIONS OF THE SCRIPT ARE NOW AVAILABLE AND CLEARED FOR USE

GOOD JOB YALL/GEN

RTC FANDOM WE NEED TO TALK

So get this. In the musical ride the cyclone, the representation of physical disability in Ricky Potts character was already pretty horrible. Because he loses it as soon as he enters the afterlife even though it’s such a vital part of his character. And it’s literally just for the ease of making him “better” to choreograph with. To this day, there has only been one person who is disabled in real life that has played this character, and they were treated horribly, not at all accommodated, not even told the character was written to have a disability, to the point where they were physically ill on set. They were then fired for being too disabled. To this day, the theatre blocks any attempts to speak out about the incident and refuses to even admit that it happened. The actor has received absolutely no compensation. Well now the official writers of the show have consented to the disability being removed entirely. Erased. Gone. What little representation was there was garbage anyway, but when I tell you I wouldn’t hesitate to deck the people responsible for this. OH and by the way, anyone who does the show now has to use that version of the script

Please sign the petition, reblog if you’re comfortable doing so. This bullcrap needs to end.

[phosphorusab]

Things that I liked about Ricky Potts being an explicitly disabled character (because rewriting him as able bodied with curable PTSD, because people don’t want to see/work with real disabled people onstage is fucking stupid)

1. Him being disabled should’ve been an opportunity for other disabled actors, who often don’t get a chance to shine in big roles. It’s also kinda weird to suggest that one’s disabilities will disappear when they go to the afterlife, as if they wouldn’t be allowed in if they didn’t. Karnak letting Ricky speak/sing was important, but removing his crutches/wheelchair is just erasing the fact that Ricky was disabled in his life.

(Also, when Karnak was going over Ricky’s life, I’m pretty sure the characters casted as Ricky’s parents made random hand gestures instead of actual ASL or LSQ. I find it bizarre that the Potts family would just make up a whole new language, rather than learn ASL/LSQ with Ricky when he lost his ability to speak.)

I could totally see some really creative and neat choreography with crutches or a wheelchair. Hell, Glee fucking did that with an able bodied actor. There are literally people who do dancing tricks with crutches out there, why can’t they do that on stage? It honestly shows a lack of creativity.

2. While all the other Ricky’s were very talented, there was a big difference between how Yannick Mirko portrayed him and how the able bodied Ricky’s did. I noticed that some of the able bodied Ricky’s portrayed him as very nervous, soft spoken, passive and genteel, almost to the point of woobiefication.

Yannick Mirko’s Ricky was none of those things. His Ricky was very sassy and charismatic (which makes sense for Space Age Bachelor Man, now that he got to express his thoughts out loud) and did not take any shit from Ocean.

3. Speaking of Ocean, I think that Ricky being disabled really showed Ocean’s true colors- casual cruelty and literal eugenicist ideals in What The World Needs (Ocean is arguably the character who goes through the most growth in the show).

Ocean is a character that pretends she’s all woke and stuff, but her core philosophy is social Darwinism. Her song demonstrated to the audience that she was not only better than the rest of her peers, but that she was the only choir member fit enough to live. In the song, Ocean mentions that Ricky didn’t deserve to survive the crash because of his (in the original script) degenerative disease, so reviving him would be a waste.

Despite her true feelings about how her life should be prioritized over Ricky because he was disabled, she made a big deal about adding him to the choir despite his mutism, using him as a prop to make the choir look more “inclusive”.

She also constantly infantilizes Ricky for being disabled, and was at first disgusted that “sweet little Ricky Potts” had sexual desires and enjoyed porn. One thing I noticed when Yannick Mirko was Ricky, is that he visibly did not like Ocean, unlike the Ricky’s of the past who seemed to be afraid of her. Mirko’s Ricky would give Ocean attitude, talk back to her- and I remember this one moment where Ocean pushed Ricky around in his wheelchair without asking, causing Ricky to be visibly irked and freaked out.

Ocean is always shown to be in the wrong. So the lesson the audience *should* learn from her is to not treat disabled people as a burden on others and to not infantilize them, they are adults with the same needs, interests and sexual desires as able bodied people.

4. Yannick Mirko being cast as Ricky should have set a positive precedent for other disabled actors. Instead, it seemed like the opposite happened. It just goes to show how shallow and cruel the theatre world is to disabled actors. As an actor with a chronic illness that causes lots of pain and fatigue, I can do literally everything my able bodied castmates can do- I just would need some accommodations and support. I’ve had that before, it’s literally not that hard to be accommodating. But some people see people with a health issue and think that they are such a burden to work with.

A new layer of irony has been added to Ocean’s line, “Accessibility for All 🥺”.

And it really stings.

[pinklemonslices]

ricky potts is disabled

ricky potts is disabled

ricky potts is disabled

ricky potts is disabled

ricky potts is disabled

ricky potts is disabled

ricky potts is disabled

ricky potts is disabled.

[thelegendofmik]

Ride the Cyclone's Ableism Runs so Much Deeper than I Realised

Hi friends! Its been a while since I spoke about Ride the Cyclone, because it was a shitshow and I quite frankly wanted nothing to do with it anymore.

But I am a chronic ruminator, and its midnight and I am currently in a pain flare, so I have found myself ruminating on RTC. In my head, I jokingly introduced Ocean as "Ablest Extraordinaire!" - which led me to realise that while Ocean is the only one who is explicitly ableist, the others are inherently complicit in her ableism, as they stand by and do literally nothing about it. And they were most likely the exact same while they were all alive.

And then I had the realisation:

The choir only deem Ricky worth listening to - his story worthy of being heard - after he is magically cured of his disabilities and is all of a sudden able-bodied. Now that his existence is palatable to the ableds.

Isn't this an amazing message to be sending to disabled kids? (/s) That in order to even be listened to they should suppress their access needs (by ditching the mobility aids and/or forcing themselves to communicate verbally).

And this isn't just a mentality expressed in the show (and by extension, by Jacob Richmond/Brooke Maxwell), it is one that is expressed by the teams that produce this musical. Exhibit A: McCarter theatre. They hire yannick-robin, but try to dictate which mobility aids he uses, and when, in order to try and make his disabilities more palatable to them and their target audience. And the moment yannick experiences a symptom of said disability (*gasp* shocking, I know, that a consistent denial of one's access needs leads to intensified symptoms) that doesn't fit with the carefully curated image of disability they want to portray, they throw him aside and deem him too "inconsistent".

Fucking pathetic, if you ask me.

To any disabled folks reading this:

You deserve to be heard, as you are. Tell your story however the fuck you see fit. You don't need to force yourself to be palatable to the ableds. They need to pull their heads out of their asses and grow the fuck up, quite frankly. And don't let anyone diminish your access needs - you deserve to have equal access in EVERYTHING. I love you all xx

That's all for today :)

[elevator-to-mars]

how i view the choir/my rtc headcanons (it's pretty clear who's my favourite tbh)

ocean

I mainly see her as tiffany tatreau's portrayal

she/her, cis, aroace

doesn't really get the concept of being trans, was only introduced to it when ricky joined the choir

ocd, asthma

2nd shortest in choir, 5'4

has never had a haircut

the only time she got into trouble at school was when she and noel were arguing. she cried until she threw up after that. it was the first day of senior year.

says she's a polyglot but she's nowhere near fluent in the languages she claims to speak

hates theatre :(

texts with proper grammer

listens solely to up with people

noel

i mainly see him as james ragen's portrayal (trinity theatre actor)

he/they/she, nonbinary, gay

jean valjean from les mis was his gay awakening

speaks french

autism, bipolar disorder

unironically says slay, pop off, queen, etc.

instead of saying "who in gods name" he says "who in jean genet's name"

can't cook or spell for the life of him

has ocean saved in his phone as "the lion, the witch, the audacity of this bitch"

types only in lowercase with no punctuation

does ricky’s french homework

5'8

listens to french music and mitski (once ocean walked in on him belting a taylor swift song. that was never spoken about again)

has a crush on mischa. cried when mischa and ricky got together.

he has a boyfriend...! he just... goes to a different school... in a different timezone... in a different country...!

permanent teen angst phase

mischa

i see him as a mix of adam stanley and chaz duffy's portrayals

he/him (doesn't mind they though), trans, bi, poly

dating ricky and talia

has invited noel to the polycule before but they prefer to live in tradgedy

adhd, ptsd

once he forgot how to breathe

learnt spanish for ricky and his family

hates duolingo

polyglot

fluent in multiple types of sign too

when ricky came out as trans (while they were in a relationship with eachother) he posted a video to his youtube talking about trans rights and changed every video with ricky's deadname in it <333

once his "friends" (the people that mischa hangs around with to keep his persona strong but in reality despises them) made fun of ricky, safe to say ricky isn't a very safe candidate to mock for them now

usually types all in uppercase but does relax it sometimes

the human embodiment of a golden retriever around people he likes

listens to maklemore and eminem but is willing to listen to music that talia & ricky like

him, talia and ricky all have promise rings

loves sharks

when talia comes to canada, she agreed to go to a planetarium with ricky and teach him some ukrainian

once he forgot a word in ukrainian and look horrified

6'9

ricky

i see him as yannick-robin eike mirko's portrayal... like only their portrayal... godamn you, autism (although i do have multiple versions of him in my mind)

he/they/it/xe/nameself prns, trans, boyflux, pansexual, poly

dating mischa and talia

autism, adhd, degenerative disease, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia, asthma, maladaptive daydreaming

always looses his inhaler

speaks spanish, german and korean as well as three types of sign (and english ofc)

puerto rican

moved to canada at 14

he’s 16 (technically canon)

his parents are really religious

when he learnt what sex was, zolar became his horny place as well as his escape

emoticon user

once ate a bauble because xey were bored

does noel’s spanish homework

used to unironically watch the emoji movie and liked it...

does write music, prefers to keep it a secret because ocean WILL use his music for choir songs

listens to glam rock in general with a few musicals mixed in there

randomly has allergic reactions

paints his nails

knows everyones secrets :)

writes fanfiction

HATES THE TAMBOURINE.

tries to hum along to the music at rehersal

has his text size at the biggest possible one

has glasses, whenever he adjusts them ocean thinks he's trying to correct her

won't eat the school lunches

constantly sleep deprived

does not know how to kiss

5’1

okay i don't want this to entirely be ricky... so lets move on

jane | penny

i see her mainly as em flosi's portrayal

they/it/she, agender, aroace

autism, drdp

carried her doll everywhere

speaks latin

joined choir because her social worker made it

doesn’t really listen to music, but when she does they listens to old music

has their parents old jewlery

spends most of their time in the library

6’2

constance

i mainly see her as princess victomé and tiffany polite's portrayal

she/they, demigirl, pansexual, asexual

depression, social anxiety

had a crush on ricky for a while

haitian

loves to bake

brings brownies, cookies, cakes etc to choir rehersals

brings extra food for kids that don’t have any

usually runs the café on weekends

her brother is called xavier

okay that’s it. this took me >2 hours to write so erm…

[lore-gore]

Concept: Ricky is actually talking through telepathy, and is just mouthing along. He still has his disability as he is in limbo, not the afterlife. But he now has the power to make his thoughts heard by others.

[nibblelinephym]

if we all act as outraged abt this as possible (should be easy bc We Are Outraged) maybe theyll change it back maybe we can salvage this. biting and tesring them to shreds

[myersesque]

didn't think i'd have to spell this one out but "there is more to ricky's character than his disability" and "ricky being disabled is incredibly important to the plot and erasing it is not only ableist but negatively impacts his character development" are statements that can and DO coexist. nobody is defining ricky by his disability alone, but it was still part of him - a pretty big part of him, which a lot of people felt represented by - and erasing it does a lot more harm than good.

i saw someone say that "at least now we won't get any more able bodied actors as ricky", and... yes, but we also won't get any more disabled actors as ricky. we've had, what, one (yannick)? it's hard enough getting roles when you're disabled without writers removing disabled rep from their productions - ricky has been portrayed as disabled for years and should, if these people were to practice what they preach about listening to disabled people ("i'm the same person i've always been, it's just nobody listened to me when i was alive" hmm), be a character for disabled people, to put disabled people on stages and on camera, where we can't be ignored.

this isn't the first time this has happened and it likely won't be the last. that doesn't make it any less outrageous. that doesn't make our anger any less righteous.

[followingthefanfiction]

Making a PSA on Ricky Potts

Hi everyone, I need help to gather evidence of ableism in this new production. I will be making a PSA to inform people on the changes to Ricky’s characters and how terrible this situation is so hopefully we can do something. 

I’ll need Ricky's introduction from 2016 to compare to the Bluebridge and McCarter productions, as well as information on what went down in the McCarter production and perhaps some quotes from fans on their feelings on this change.

[disabled-character-showdown]

ROUND 2, SIXTH SHOWDOWN