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Showing 1 - 20 of 8386 items
By Dorothy Ellen Palmer. 2019
Born with congenital anomalies in both feet, then called birth defects, Dorothy Ellen Palmer was adopted as a toddler by…
a wounded 1950s family who had no idea how to handle the tangled complexities of adoption and disability. From repeated childhood surgeries to an activist awakening at university to decades as a feminist teacher, mom, improv coach and unionist, she tried to hide being different. But now, standing proud with her walker, she's sharing her journey. Navigating abandonment, abuse and ableism, she finds her birth parents and a new chosen family in the disability community. 2019.By Amanda Leduc. 2020
Fairy tales shape how we see the world, so what happens when you identify more with the Beast than Beauty?…
If every disabled character is mocked and mistreated, how does the Beast ever imagine a happily-ever-after? Amanda Leduc looks at fairy tales from the Brothers Grimm to Disney, showing us how they influence our expectations and behaviour and linking the quest for disability rights to new kinds of stories that celebrate difference. ‘Leduc peels the flesh from the fairy tales we grew up loving and strips them down to their skeletons to skilfully reveal how they influence the way we think about disability. She contrasts the stories we have with the ones we wish we had, incorporating her own life. Her wisdom lands like a punch in the heart, leaving a sizable dent that reshapes how we see tales we’ve been telling for centuries. She also – and this is the best part – suggests how we might tell new fairy tales, how we can forge new stories.’ – Adam Pottle, author of Voice ‘A unique and dazzling study … a revolutionary approach to understanding why we are drawn to fairy tales and how they shape our lives.’ – Jack Zipes, author of Grimm Legacies ‘Each chapter is a gem, but the kind of gem that turns into a knife, into a mirror, into a portal. Leduc’s real magic? That she transforms her readers as surely as any world.’ – Mira Jacob, author of Good TalkBy Rebekah Taussig. 2020
A memoir-in-essays from disability advocate and creator of the Instagram account @sitting_pretty Rebekah Taussig, processing a lifetime of memories to…
paint a beautiful, nuanced portrait of a body that looks and moves differently than most.Growing up as a paralyzed girl during the 90s and early 2000s, Rebekah Taussig only saw disability depicted as something monstrous (The Hunchback of Notre Dame), inspirational (Helen Keller), or angelic (Forrest Gump). None of this felt right; and as she got older, she longed for more stories that allowed disability to be complex and ordinary, uncomfortable and fine, painful and fulfilling.Writing about the rhythms and textures of what it means to live in a body that doesn’t fit, Rebekah reflects on everything from the complications of kindness and charity, living both independently and dependently, experiencing intimacy, and how the pervasiveness of ableism in our everyday media directly translates to everyday life. Disability affects all of us, directly or indirectly, at one point or another. By exploring this truth in poignant and lyrical essays, Taussig illustrates the need for more stories and more voices to understand the diversity of humanity. Sitting Pretty challenges us as a society to be patient and vigilant, practical and imaginative, kind and relentless, as we set to work to write an entirely different story.By Bruce Kirkby. 2020
One morning at breakfast, while gawking at his phone and feeling increasingly disconnected from family and everything else of importance…
in his world, it strikes writer Bruce Kirkby: this isn’t how he wants to live. Within days, plans begin to take shape. Bruce, his wife Christine, and their two children—seven-year-old Bodi and three-year-old Taj—will cross the Pacific by container ship, then travel onward through South Korea, China, India and Nepal aboard bus, riverboat and train, eventually traversing the Himalaya by foot. Their destination: a thousand-year-old Buddhist monastery in the remote Zanskar valley, one of the last places where Tibetan Buddhism is still practised freely in its original setting. Taken into the mud-brick home of a senior lama, Tsering Wangyal, the family spends the summer absorbed by monastery life. In this refuge, where ancient traditions intersect with the modern world, Bruce discovers ways to slow down, to observe and listen, and ultimately, to better understand his son on the autism spectrum—to surrender all expectations and connect with Bodi exactly as he is. Recounted with wit and humility, Blue Sky Kingdom is an engaging travel memoir as well as a thoughtful exploration of modern distraction, the loss of ancient wisdom, and the challenges and rewards of intercultural friendships.By Vernon Theriault. 2019
Dans ce livre, Theriault décrit son expérience dans la mine du comté de Pictou, ses combats personnels à la suite…
du désastre et la façon dont il a donné un sens nouveau à sa vie en participant à la campagne de lobbying de longue haleine du Syndicat des Métallos, qui a mené à l’adoption de la Loi Westray en 2004.By Emily Thomas. 2020
How can we think more deeply about travel? This was the thought that inspired Emily Thomas to journey into the…
philosophy of travel, to explore the places where philosophy and travel intersect. Part philosophical ramble, part memoir, The Meaning of Travel begins in the Age of Discovery in the sixteenth century, when philosophers first began thinking and writing seriously about travel It then meanders forward to encounter the thoughts of Montaigne on otherness, John Locke on cannibals, and Henry Thoreau on wilderness. On our travels with Emily Thomas, we discover the dark side of maps, how the philosophy of space fuelled mountain tourism, and why you should wash underwear in woodland cabins. We also confront profound questions, such as the debate on the ethics of 'doom tourism' (travel to doomed places such as glaciers or coral reefs) and how space travel might come to affect our understanding of human significance in a leviathan universe. The first ever history of the places where history and philosophy meet, this book will reshape your understanding of travel.By Robert Mercer. 2020
?Robert Mercer's life could have been very different. He was born with very low vision and, as a youngster, struggled…
in school. But through the intervention of a caring teacher and the support of his family, he found his way to the Halifax School for the Blind and into the classroom of Mrs. Beaton. It was there that he discovered his voice, a voice he uses to recount his remarkable journey from a shy little boy to a community leader.By Ken Haigh. 2021
By Bill Arnott. 2020
Bill Arnott guides readers on an epic literary odyssey following history’s most feared and misunderstood voyageurs: the Vikings!To “go Viking”…
is to embark on an epic journey. For more than eight years, Bill Arnott journeyed throughout the northern hemisphere, discovering sites Scandinavian explorers raided, traded, and settled – finding Viking history in a wider swath of the planet than most anthropologists and historians ever imagined.With a small pack and weatherproof journal, Bill explores and writes with a journalist’s eye, songwriter’s prose, poet’s perspective, and a comedian’s take on everything else. Prepare yourself for an armchair adventure like no other!From Europe to Asia, the Mediterranean to the British Isles, through Scandinavia to Iceland, Greenland, and the New World, with further excursions around Thor Heyerdahl’s Pacific, Roald Amundsen’s Arctic, and Olaf Crowbone’s stormy North Atlantic, Bill takes readers on a mythic personal adventure in real time – a present-day Viking quest.By Christopher Warner. 2016
Life happens, and sometimes it changes in ways that we never expected.After experiencing a surgical complication that rendered me legally…
blind, I decided there were two choices ahead of me: roll over and die, essentially giving in to the fact that life wasn't going to be the same as before, or get on with life and figure out how to move forward with reduced eyesight.This book shares a personal story of trying to bounce back from a life changing event. There were lots of good days and even some funny moments along the way. But no recovery is ever all smooth sailing. There were also bad days, and times when self-doubt and despair took over.By Dustin Galer. 2023
The story of a mid-century working-class housewife whose extraordinary physical transformation empowered her to become a dynamic social activist who…
fueled a movement to create a more inclusive future for people with disabilities.By Laura Trethewey. 2023
A Globe and Mail Top 100 SelectionFive oceans cover approximately seventy per cent of the earth, yet we know little…
of what lies beneath them. Now, the race is on to completely map the oceans’ floor. Scientists, investors, militaries, and private explorers are competing in this epic venture to obtain an accurate reading of this vast terrain and understand its contours and environment. In The Deepest Map, Laura Trethewey chronicles this race to the bottom. Following global efforts around the world, she documents Inuit-led crowdsourced mapping in the Arctic as climate change alters the landscape, a Texas millionaire’s efforts to become the first man to dive to the deepest point in each ocean, and the increasingly fraught question of whether and how to mine the deep sea. A true tale of science, nature, technology, and extreme outdoor adventure, The Deepest Map both illuminates why we love — and fear — the earth’s final frontier and contributes to increasingly urgent conversations about climate change."I lost everything that mattered in my life because I went Deaf and Blind. It was then, in the depths…
of challenges, that I found salvations. It took my disabilities to help me realize what an incredible life I could lead. Sport. Philanthropy. Storytelling. This book is about reaffirming that anyone and everyone needs to know anything is possible and no matter how tough things get, there is always going to be another tomorrow." -- cover.By Dustin Galer. 2023
The story of a mid-century working-class housewife whose extraordinary physical transformation empowered her to become a dynamic social activist who…
fueled a movement to create a more inclusive future for people with disabilities.By Edward Coolbaugh Hoagland. 1979
Follow Hoagland's travels, from equatorial mountain forests to the Sahara desert; from small Sudanese towns in the south and west…
to short stays in the capital, Khartoum. Hoagland's eye for detail presents the reader with electrifying images of life in the Sudan - rotten diets, disease, coups and civil war, the traders, poachers, tribal headmen, and those who come to help.By John Diconsiglio. 2009
By J. P. Gorham. 2014
Nestled in the Arizona mountains are several small, unassuming towns that belie the importance of their heyday. These towns are…
all intrinsic to each other for one reason: mining. The nearby ranches were established to feed the miners, and in many cases, residents moved back and forth among them depending on which mines were prosperous or closed. Some no longer exist, evidenced now by rock walls or other harder-to-find clues. Some have turned into tourist attractions. The first legislative meetings of the Arizona Territory were held at the Woolsey Ranch in nearby Dewey, where the first building in Yavapai County was constructed. Indian wars occurred here, and many of the natural resources used to support the growing country came from iron and copper mines found deep within the bowels of the Dewey-Humboldt area. The towns of Cherry, Dewey, Humboldt, Mayer, Cordes Junction, Crown King, and Bumble Bee still exist. Others, like Agua Fria, Chaparral, Stoddard, McCabe, Poland, and Cleator, have mostly vanished, but their pioneering spirit and importance will never be forgotten.By Bill Florio. 2015
Located near the south shore of Long Island at the gateway to Nassau County, the village of Valley Stream has…
grown from a bucolic farming community in the 1840s to a dense suburban hub full of history and diversity. Consisting of communities named Foster's Meadow, Rum Junction, Skunk's Misery, and Hungry Harbor, the town saw nightlife and leisure blossom after Merrick Road was built and the South Side Railroad pulled in. The village incorporated in 1925, finding itself a center of industry as the location of the Ridgewood Reservoir's conduit pipe, Curtiss Field, Bulova Demco, and later, the birthplace of Snapple. Over the years, Valley Stream gained attention through many of its attractions, including the William R. Gibson Houses, Hoffman's, the Pavilion Royal, Green Acres Mall, the Rio Theatre, Valley Stream State Park, and Itgen's Ice Cream Parlour.By Karen Gerhardt Fort, Mission Historical Museum, Inc.. 2014
The Texas Citrus Fiesta has remained an exciting celebration since its beginnings in 1932. At that time, Mission civic leaders…
decided to promote the citrus industry through a festival featuring decorated streets and store windows, a parade, coronation of a king and queen, a court with ladies-in-waiting, a queen's ball, exhibits for citrus growers, and a variety of contests and activities. Social leaders, working through their clubs, added a style show of costumes covered with fruit, vegetable, and flower pieces. Children marched in their own unique parade. The Golden Grapefruit Golf Tournament was added in 1934. Today, directors of the Texas Citrus Fiesta continue these traditional events and others added since 1932. The creativity inspired by the festival, the recognition of regional participants, and the experienced planning needed to accommodate thousands of residents and visitors combine to make Mission's annual Texas Citrus Fiesta a premier event in the Lower Rio Grande Valley.By Dana Maestas. 2015
Established on April 5, 1851, Colorado's oldest town, San Luis de la Culebra, remains remarkably true to its heritage. Nestled…
below the Sangre de Cristo Land Grant in the San Luis Valley, San Luis and its descendants sustain a way of life and preserve a culture in this high, isolated desert region. Eighteen men migrated north from New Mexico into the northernmost area of Spanish exploration in the mid-1800s to settle San Luis along the Culebra River. These pioneering families brought their use of communal land and water and a language dating back to 16th-century Castilian Spain. They carried on a deep faith from the Old World into the New. The traditions of San Luis and the surrounding villages--Chama, San Pablo, San Pedro, San Francisco, and San Acacio--continue today among the young and old who remain the keepers of culture.