Happy Friday, Wildcats! Falvey Library is delivering you another semester of Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Annie, a graduate assistant from the Communication department, scours the internet, peruses the news, and digs through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week. 

Next Wednesday, Feb. 28, is Rare Disease Day, a day dedicated to spreading awareness about rare diseases. Suffering from a rare disease is an uphill battle, often both because of the actual symptoms and because of not being taken seriously by doctors or being treated differently. Although there are just too many rare diseases to cover in a blog post, this weekend’s recs will spread some awareness of what’s it’s like to live with one.

If you have 10 minutes…and are a fan of Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, check out this article about how she balances being a best-selling author with living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a “rare” (though, we’re slowly learning it’s much more common than previously thought) genetic connective tissue disorder. You might recognize some of Rebecca’s real life symptoms in her protagonist Violet.

Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash

If you have 15 minutes…and want to better understand what living with long COVID is like (or if you can relate), read this New York Times article. Through impeccable graphic design, Giorgia Lupi’s essay is really able to convey how long COVID can take over your life.

If you have 44 minutes…and like medical dramas, watch an episode from the first season of House M.D. (or simply House), available in Falvey’s DVD Collection.

If you have 1 hour and 35 minutes…and want to experience what it’s like to be a medical mystery (if you haven’t already personally), watch Brain on Fire, available to stream on Netflix. The movie follows reporter Susannah Cahalan and her journey to being diagnosed with a rare brain disorder.

Bonus: if you liked the movie, you can also read the book, available in our Popular Reading Collection.

If you have 4 hours…and want to solve medical mysteries along with the author, read Playing the Ponies and Other Medical Mysteries Solved, available online through Falvey.

If you have 5 hours and 31 minutes…and like medical shows about real people, watch the first season of Netlifx’s Diagnosis. It’s both interesting to learn about new rare disorders while also humanizing the people going through the often grueling process of trying to obtain a diagnosis.

Annie Stockmal is a second-year graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant in Falvey Library.

Happy Friday, Wildcats! Falvey Library is delivering you another semester of Weekend Recs, a blog dedicated to filling you in on what to read, listen to, and watch over the weekend. Annie, a graduate assistant from the Communication department, scours the internet, peruses the news, and digs through book stacks to find new, relevant, and thought-provoking content that will challenge you and prepare you for the upcoming week.

Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Did you know that July is Disability Pride Month? Disability Pride Month is dedicated to centering the voices and experiences of people with disabilities. While our society is far from being an accessible utopia, it’s important to remember the disability rights activism that gave us laws like the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and spearheaded disability pride. This weekend’s recs will celebrate Disability Pride Month by sharing some recs that center disabled people.

If you have 1 minute…and need a good laugh, watch this TikTok rating whether some Star Wars characters would be disability allies or ableist.

If you have 10 minutes…and haven’t heard of Disability Pride Month, read this article.

If you have 15 minutes…and are a fan of superheroes, read this article about Sun-Spider, the first superhero with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a genetic connective tissue disorder. Sun-Spider was recently (briefly) featured in Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, which was an important first for fans with EDS, including myself.

If you have 1 hour and 33 minutes…and want to feel a roller coaster of emotions, watch Peanut Butter Falcon. Starring Zack Gottsagen, Shia LaBeouf, and Dakota Johnson, this movie follows Zak, a man with Down Syndrome who runs away from his residential care home to follow his dream of becoming a wrestler.

Photo by Marcus Aurelius

If you have 1 hour and 42 minutes…and haven’t already seen it, watch Crip Camp: A Disability Revolution. This Netflix documentary details how a summer camp for disabled teens was able to inspire disability activism in the disability rights movement.

If you have 4 hours and 7 minutes…and want to watch a show with great autistic representation (that was created by people with autism), watch A Kind of Spark. The show follows 11-year-old Addie as she uncovers the mysteries of her town while navigating tween life. Although its a kid’s show, A Kind of Spark‘s grounded representation of autism is truly refreshing and wholesome. Rest assured, it’s not just another show where a neurotypical white man plays a savant.

Bonus: read this article for more on the importance of the representation in A Kind of Spark.

If you have 6 hours…and need a story to inspire you, read Haben: The Deafblind Woman Who Conquered Harvard Law, available through inter-library loan. This memoir is a story of curiosity, resilience, and identity, as Haben Girma, the first Deafblind graduate from Harvard Law, navigates the complex world of academia.

If you have 7 hours…and want to hear more disabled perspectives, read the essays in Disability Visibility: First-Person Stories from the Twenty-First Century, available at Falvey. This is the ultimate book for getting a diverse glimpse into the everyday experiences of people with disabilities.

Annie Stockmal is a graduate student in the Communication Department and Graduate Assistant at Falvey Library.