hi hello hey, we don’t have children!

In all seriousness, it’s no secret that we’re both very close with our own parents. We’re each grateful to have had very loving and supportive upbringings. We don’t claim to understand the joys and difficulties of parenthood, but we still wanted to create an open letter to parents, especially parents of visually impaired children. This episode is also a nod to our own parents, and the things we appreciated that they did for us as we grew and as they learned with us.

For the parents, we hope this encourages you to continue to understand your child and inspire them to advocate for their needs. Even if you’re not a parent, we hope you enjoy some fun, childhood stories about growing up low vision.

hi hello hey, it’s been a bit since we talked fashion!

If you’ve followed us for a long time, you’ll know we did an episode on style and confidence early on into our pod’s life. While our love for style and personal philosophies on confidence and self-expression haven’t changed, our outward style has! Whether it’s new trends or updates with age, we want to talk about what’s changed in the past three years.

We also talk a bit about closet clean outs like we did in our 2021 episode on sustainability and what lasting changes we’ve made to get more wear out of our clothes. That being said, we still love to shop, so we also gush over some of our favorite recent items we’re crushing on.

hi hello hey, what if you weren’t… you?

What if, in an alternate universe, there was a variant of you that was different in one crucial way? How would you be different? This might be a brain-breaking thought experiment, but it’s fun to consider, and potentially to appreciate the life you have.

In this episode, we think through how we might be different if we didn’t have Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome. Of course, it’s impossible to know for sure, but we may not even recognize ourselves without it (literally and figuratively)! Despite all the difficulties our rare disease has brought, it’s fundamentally changed our lives. Join us as we talk through what our lives would be like, for better or for worse.

hi hello hey, can you believe it’s been THREE years of Rare with Flair?!

We surely can’t, and it’s wild to remember where we were when we started this show in the peak of the Covid pandemic. We’ve created 72 episodes (plus some minis) on topics we’re passionate about, and we’re so grateful for our loyal listeners. Whether you’ve just found us or have been around since our very first episode, we’re grateful you’re here.

Speaking of our first episode, we decided to give it a live listen and react to it, now three years later. We hope you enjoy our lighthearted roasting and our “love fest” over the things we’ve loved about this show. Stay tuned for more!

hi hello hey, this episode is a little… meta?

We’re sharing our experience doing advocacy online, ironically while posting on our podcast online. But before the podcast, we both did advocacy on blogs, YouTube, and our own personal social media. In this episode, we do a deep dive on why we advocated online and how we feel about sharing vulnerably on personal platforms now.

hi hello hey, wanna learn what we do every day?

If you’ve listened to Rare with Flair for a while, you’ll know that we love sharing most things relating to our disabilities and interests. However, we don’t always have the opportunity to give you, our lovely listeners, a real glimpse into our daily lives. If you’ve ever wondered, “I wonder what Case or Cass is doing right now,” today is your lucky day! We give you an overview on our daily, weekly, and monthly routines at this moment in time. We hope you enjoy this window and feel cozy as you go through your own routine.

hi hello hey, cuddle up and grab your remote (or streaming device), and let’s watch some cartoons!

Some may say that cartoons or animated shows are just for kids, but we beg to differ. We’ve loved animated media our entire lives, and have even used it as a way to spice up our long distance friendship! Join us as we take a trip down memory lane and talk about our childhood favorite shows. We also explore why we love animation, and talk about shows we’ve watched together along with our thoughts.

hi hello hey, have you ever been a test subject?

We have! Having a rare disease like Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome, we often get recruited to participate in a variety of medical research. The goals of each study vary, but the goal is to identify potential treatments to help improve various aspects of our disease. We’ve given so many samples to the National Institutes of Health, universities, and even private companies.

Although being part of medical research can be difficult to process, the value to our community is tremendous. We’re happy to laugh about the quirks of these experiences, and we hope you enjoy this episode!

hi hello hey, get ready to be annoyed!!!

Not really, but today’s episode is all about the things that tend to get on our nerves, or pet peeves. Like Case says at the beginning of the episode, this is all in good fun. Nothing we rant about is very serious, so don’t worry about having offended us if you’ve ever done these things. Everyone has things that bother them, and we thought this would be a funny way to get to know us. We hope you enjoy this potentially cathartic listen!