Intro: When approaching this assignment, I immediately knew I wanted to create a playlist.

In my free

time, I often create playlists based on sources of media that I am invested in at that time, so this comes

very naturally to me. The non-fiction book I chose for this assignment is The Power of Disability (Al

Etmanski), and the fiction book I read for this is Wonder (R.J. Palacio). For the written part of this

assignment, I thought it would be appropriate to explain why I picked each of these songs on this playlist

and how they relate to the topic of disability or the characters and real life people in the books that I read.

Song meanings:

I'm Different (Randy Newman)- This song was a pretty obvious pick because it talks about differences in

people. I thought that this could relate to disabilities in general, but the line, “I have a different kind of

smile,” really stood out to me since it reminded me of Auggie from Wonder. I also like how positive this

song is. I think it could be very helpful for someone struggling with their differences. In the song, Randy

says “I’m different, I don’t care who knows it.” Showing that it is okay to be different and it can actually

make you more interesting.

Space Oddity (David Bowie)- This one was really more about Wonder specifically, since it was

referenced in the book! Miranda quotes this song by calling Auggie “Major Tom” when he wears his

space helmet. I thought this song also captures Auggie pretty well, considering he often looks like a

spaceman when he is wearing his helmet.

Star Wars Main Theme (John Williams)- This song is also very Auggie. He is absolutely obsessed with

Star Wars, so I had to add in at least one song from it. Throughout the book there are many times where

Auggie is comparing himself or the world around him to something from Star Wars, for example: He

compares himself to Chewbacca, saying that if he went to school with a Wookie, he would probably stare

too. So he understands why people are looking at him since he looks different. I think this also helps him

make sense of the world around him.

Beautiful Boy (John Lennon)- I thought this was a good song to have on this playlist for Auggie. I think

of it from the perspective of one of his parents. They do not see him the way that society sees him. He is

beautiful to them, and that is what is important.

Luckiest Guy on the Lower East Side (The Magnetic Fields)- I opted to use this song because in the book,

Wonder, Auggie says that this is his favorite song.

Something Wild (Lindsey Sterling)- I thought this song was also good for describing Auggie. This one is

more about his own feelings. He feels a lot of fear going into his new school, which is why I think the

lyric, “even if you’re scared, you’re stronger than you know,” fits him really well. At first, Auggie does

not think that he can do this, he is scared to go to a real school for the first time, but he is stronger than he

thinks, and he makes it work.

We’re Going to be Friends (The White Stripes)- I think this song really captures the friendship between

Auggie and Jack-Will. It could also relate to Auggie and Summer. I think this is a really sweet song about

friendship that just really fits this book.

Boys will be Bugs (Cavetown)- Overall, I think the vibe of this artist fits Auggie's personality perfectly.

This song specifically I liked because of the lines, “I feel stupid, ugly, pretend it doesn’t bother me.”

When reading Wonder, you can definitley tell that Auggie thinks he is stupid and ugly. Although, he

typically does not pretend to ignore it. He is definitely less secretive about it than the singer in this song.

Another line that fits Auggies character is, “I just turned 14, and I think I know everything.” Auggie

definitely thinks he knows a lot more than he does. He tries to act a lot more mature than he is.
This is Home (Cavetown)- Again, using the same artist. However, this song specifically reminded me of

Auggie because A LOT of the words reminded me of him. Listening to the song, I bet you would feel the

same way. He talks about cutting his hair, which was a big moment for Auggie in Wonder. He also talks

about “flying out of here,” which reminds me of Auggie because of his spacesuit. There are more lyrics

about not knowing how to communicate, which is also very Auggie to me, because he is not the best at

that.

Respect (Aretha Franklin)- This song is all about respecting people. Although it was not intended to be

related to disability advocacy, it can definitely be seen in that way. The theme of the song is to respect

everyone no matter their differences.

Inspiration Porn (Joseph Visaggi)- Inspiration Porn is the idea of putting disabled people on a pedestal

and saying it is inspirational for them doing average things. For example, in the Power of Disability book

on page 105, Itzhak Perlman talks about how he wants people to be moved by his music, not because he

has polio. This can also be related to how in Wonder, Auggie won an award at the end of the book. There

wasn’t really a reason that he won this, it was kind of just because he was seen as inspirational for going

to school. Which Auggie thought was strange.

We are the Same (Mark Goffeney)- This is an upbeat song that kind of talks about how people with

disabilities are just the same as able-bodied people, just with different abilities. The singer speaks from

experience, since he himself is a disabled person, as he was born with a limb difference.

Explanation: As a whole, the readings showed that just because someone has a disability, does not make

them “wrong” or “less than,” they just do some things differently. I learned a lot of the correct

terminology when reading, especially The Power of Disabilities. I knew some things like person-first

language, the idea of inspiration porn, but some of the things said in this book were things I didn’t even
know were offensive. For example, the word “lame.” In modern language, we use this as “stupid,”

“boring,” etc. However, it was originally used as “broken,” and used a lot to describe a disability. So you

can see that even though language evolves, there is still a connection. Both The Power of Disabilities and

Wonder further educated me on inspiration porn and its effects. I do not think either of these books

mentioned the idea by name, but there were definitely parts in each book that pertained to it. As

previously mentioned, Itzhak Perlman (The Power of Disabilities pg 105) wanted to be remembered for

his musical abilities, not because he had polio. In Wonder, a similar thing happened. Augie won an award

at his school for being inspirational, but he was confused on why he was. He realized that he was only

winning because of his disability, however, he was not too keen on that fact. People with disabilities

aren’t inspirational just because they are disabled. They should be recognized for the actual talents they

have, like Augie's academic smarts, or Perlman's musical talents.

Family is important to us all, but especially in Wonder. Augie's family is so important to him that

he feels like he doesn’t need anyone else. He thinks of his sister as his best friend. We can see that this

ends up being hard on her because she does not want to be seen as just a part of him. She wants to be

independent from Augie. She also feels as though she does not get attention from her parents and they are

only focused on Augie. She thinks it is difficult to be in a family such as her own. On the other side of the

coin, Christa Couture (The Power of Disabilities page 90) embraces her disability alongside her

pregnancy and motherhood. She was trying to make a statement since she rarely sees pregnant women

who have disabilities. She was saying that just because she is disabled, it does not make her an unfit

mother.

Kids who have diverse abilities all learn differently. As we see many times in The Power of

Disabilities and in Wonder. We have to understand these differences in order to be great teachers and

educate as well as we can. We need to know what each individual child needs so we can accommodate.

Relating back to the readings, Augie needed someone to show him around school, and that is where Jack-

Will came in.