disability pride - invisible or undiagnosed
in honor of disability pride month, here is a series on the colours of the flag! our third colour on this flag is white, which highlights invisible or undiagnosed disabilities. examples of some of these are ehlers danlos syndrome, chronic illnesses, MECFS, long covid, fibromyalgia, POTS, ulcerative colitis, IBS, and more. books within this list will be fiction and non-fiction. as always, feel free to recommend books which you feel should be added to this list.
created by keyaunna
last updated August, 2026
Comments
Appreciate this one a lot as a pwME! Thank you!
Also another amazing ME rep novel is Survival Kit. It's a zombie book where one of the two MC's has severe ME and has to navigate severe illness and PEM flares to escape the outbreak in her city. Written by an author with ME herself. On point rep!
Edit - just wanted to say the whole series of lists are wonderful! Well done! âĄâĄâĄ
these lists make me so happy as a disabled person myself!! :)
id recommend adding "Constellations: Reflections on Life" by SinĂŠad Gleeson. it's a collection of essays about her life with chronic illnesses (a type of arthritis and leukemia if i remember correctly) and society's attitude towards illness. it made me feel really seen and i ended up writing an entire essay about it lol
keyaunnaOP
thank you for the lovely rec!
These really are such great lists you have made! đ
Just a couple of suggestions, if this is ok:
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Fourth Wing (Empyrean series) by Rebecca Yarros- FMC - Has POTs & EDS - just like Yarros herself.
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Unwell Women: Misdiagnosis and Myth in a Man-Made World by Elinor Cleghorn - Non fiction- the book talks generally how womenâs pain is treated by society. But the author has Lupas. Itâs a both enlightening and infuriating book.
i don't want to add zionists to these lists, and i'm pretty sure yarros is one. but i'll add unwell!
I apologise for suggesting a potential Zionist. I honestly hadnât heard that about her. But I get why you say that.
Cool about the unwell one. Itâs definitely a difficult read cause of how badly women are treated in relation to pain and how it has basically changed for centuries.
keyaunnaOP
it's not your fault! not everyone is knowledgeable about zionist authors so it's okay /pos!
Thank you! Itâs also hard to keep up with everyoneâs views and actions at all times. Especially when we are constantly bombarded by news. Btw what does pos mean here?
keyaunnaOP
it's a tone indicator! this one means positive!
Ah, ok. Thank you for clarifying! I honestly wouldnât have guessed. đ
Recs I've gotten that belong here: A Life in Too Many Margins by S. E. Thompson (fiction, would also fit on the neurodivergent list!) Floppy by Alyssa Graybeal (nonfiction, EDS) Some of Us Just Fall by Polly Atkin (nonfiction, EDS)
Also curious what the disabilities are in Piranesi and Parable of the Sower!
keyaunnaOP
in parable of the sower, the MC is chronically ill. the author of piranesi is chronically ill :)
