I grew up with the Broadway soundtrack playing on repeat in my house. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I finally went to New York and saw the play. Spoiler alert: I adored it.

 

But it wasn’t just a love for the music or the dancing or the costumes that I connected to (though we can all agree that those are all STUNNING); I found myself immediately drawn to the Phantom character, and I recognized pieces of myself in him. See, I was born with an eye condition called Strabismus (crossed eyes, which leads to reduced eye function and vision loss), and years of surgery, eye exercises, patching, and therapy led to development of a pretty noticeable case of Amblyopia (commonly known as a “Lazy Eye”). As such, I was bullied in school, shunned by classmates, and treated differently through college, all because my appearance made people uncomfortable. Even as an adult, it continues to have a large impact on my social interactions.

So where other people might have seen a mysterious, obsessive ghost lurking under the opera house trying to lure Christine into his lair, I saw someone like me. Someone who wanted desperately for the world to accept him. Someone who had been hurt and shamed for something he had no control over. And while the Phantom’s specific condition differed from mine and the social abuse he suffered was more extreme, I connected with his perspective in a way I hadn’t with any other fictional character before.

My hope is that as readers discover Isda’s story and see through her eyes, they’ll think harder about how they view people who are different from them and maybe show a little bit more kindness and compassion.