Service Alert
Website maintenance April 24 10pm ET
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
On Wednesday April 24 at 10pm ET the CELA website will be unavailable for about 15 minutes for planned maintenance.
Showing 1 - 20 of 1186 items
By Madelaine Dickie, Wayne Bergmann. 2024
'I've spent the majority of my life fighting for the rights of Traditional Owners. This has put me in the…
firing line. But I chose this job, I chose this political path. My family did not.' - Wayne BergmannIt's Broome, 2010. Nyikina man Wayne Bergmann has just received a death threat. His wife has watched a friend cross the road to avoid speaking with her. His children are subject to intense schoolyard bullying. Bergmann, a boilermaker by trade, and lawyer, is chief executive of the Kimberley Land Council during the controversial James Price Point gas hub negotiations. It's an event that will tear the Broome community apart. Wayne's story starts on Nyikina country and encompasses backbreaking station work, buried treasure, a Swedish bone thief and traditional magic love songs. His is an electrifying tale of resilience, determination and optimism, which shows what it takes to be an Aboriginal person walking in two cultures in a country where racism runs deep.By Gerald Friesen. 2024
The life and times of the Premier from Red River John Norquay, orphan and prodigy, was a leader among the…
Scots Cree peoples of western Canada. Born in the Red River Settlement, he farmed, hunted, traded, and taught school before becoming a legislator, cabinet minister, and, from 1878 to 1887, premier of Manitoba. Once described as Louis Riel’s alter ego, he skirmished with prime minister John A. Macdonald, clashed with railway baron George Stephen, and endured racist taunts while championing the interests of the Prairie West in battles with investment bankers, Ottawa politicians, and the CPR. His contributions to the development of Canada’s federal system and his dealings with issues of race and racism deserve attention today. Recounted here by Canadian historian Gerald Friesen, Norquay’s life story ignites contemporary conversations around the nature of empire and Canada’s own imperial past. Drawing extensively on recently opened letters and financial papers that offer new insights into his business, family, and political life, Friesen reveals Norquay to be a thoughtful statesman and generous patriarch. This masterful biography of the Premier from Red River sheds welcome light on a neglected historical figure and a tumultuous time for Canada and Manitoba.By Jo Bailey-Merritt. 2016
When Sam Bailey-Merritt was just two years old, almost overnight he lost the ability to communicate or function. His mother,…
Jo, was at a loss as to what to do as she saw her son grow increasingly isolated and begin to suffer from uncontrollable meltdowns. Eventually, Sam was diagnosed with autism.Sam's condition continued to worsen and, just when Jo had all but given up hope of being able to help him, the family went on a day trip to a nearby miniature pig farm. Sam immediately bonded with a tiny ginger piglet called Chester, who stood sad and alone, apart from the rest of the litter. The connection between the boy and the animal was immediate and their unusual friendship blossomed from the moment the family brought Chester home. The tiny pig refused to leave Sam's side - it was as if he knew that Sam needed a friend. And, for the first time in five years, Jo saw her son really laugh.While Sam's confidence grew, Chester grew in a different way: the micro pig that was supposed to become the size of a Cocker Spaniel in fact ballooned to three times that size - with hilarious consequences for the family! Chester has turned Sam's life around. He now has the ability to communicate his feelings, make friends and is caring and kind towards others.Sam and Chester is the heart-warming story of how a teacup-sized ginger pig helped to transform the life of a boy with autism. It is the emotional story of a mother's fight to win back her son.From the disability rights advocate and creator of the #DisabledAndCute viral campaign, a thoughtful, inspiring, and charming collection of essays…
exploring what it means to be black and disabled in a mostly able-bodied white America. Keah Brown loves herself, but that hadn&’t always been the case. Born with cerebral palsy, her greatest desire used to be normalcy and refuge from the steady stream of self-hate society strengthened inside her. But after years of introspection and reaching out to others in her community, she has reclaimed herself and changed her perspective.In The Pretty One, Brown gives a contemporary and relatable voice to the disabled—so often portrayed as mute, weak, or isolated. With clear, fresh, and light-hearted prose, these essays explore everything from her relationship with her able-bodied identical twin (called &“the pretty one&” by friends) to navigating romance; her deep affinity for all things pop culture—and her disappointment with the media&’s distorted view of disability; and her declaration of self-love with the viral hashtag #DisabledAndCute.By &“smashing stigmas, empowering her community, and celebrating herself&” (Teen Vogue), Brown and The Pretty One aims to expand the conversation about disability and inspire self-love for people of all backgrounds.By Peter McFarlane, Doreen Manuel. 2020
Charged with fresh material and new perspectives, this updated edition of the groundbreaking biography Brotherhood to Nationhood brings George Manuel and…
his fighting tradition into the present. George Manuel (1920–1989) was the strategist and visionary behind the modern Indigenous movement in Canada. A three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee, he laid the groundwork for what would become the Assembly of First Nations and was the founding president of the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. Authors Peter McFarlane and Doreen Manuel follow him on a riveting journey from his childhood on a Shuswap reserve through three decades of fierce and dedicated activism. In these pages, an all-new foreword by celebrated Mi'kmaq lawyer and activist Pam Palmater is joined by an afterword from Manuel’s granddaughter, land defender Kanahus Manuel. This edition features new photos and previously untold stories of the pivotal roles that the women of the Manuel family played – and continue to play – in the battle for Indigenous rights.By Dustin Galer. 2023
Beryl Potter was a reserved working-class mother of three living a decent life, or so it seemed, when a harmless…
slip and fall marked the unravelling of everything that she had known about herself and the world around her. Over the course of six years, she endured unimaginable pain. As doctors raced to save her life, her limbs and eyesight were taken from her one by one. In the span of a few years, she lost nearly half her body, her financial security, her home, her husband, and any semblance of a recognizable future. A survivor of more than one hundred surgeries, a dangerous opioid addiction, and multiple suicide attempts, Beryl Potter devoted herself to bettering the lives of other people with disabilities and made a tremendous contribution to disability awareness from the 1970s to 1990s. In this unparalleled biography, Dustin Galer demonstrates how Beryl Potter seemed to crack the code of the social system that oppressed her. By wading into the weeds of her complicated life before and after her accident, Galer leaves readers with a complex portrait of a woman who defied and challenged gender and disability norms of her time, paving the way for disability justice.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 Magdalena Newman. 2019
A moving and “inspiring” memoir from the mother of a child with Treacher Collins syndrome, with a foreword by R.J.…
Palacio, author of Wonder (Publishers Weekly, starred review).For Magda Newman, normal was a goal—she wanted her son Nathaniel to be able to play on the playground, swim at the beach, enjoy the moments of childhood that are often taken for granted. But Nathaniel’s severe Treacher Collins syndrome—a craniofacial condition—meant that other concerns came first. Could he eat without the aid of a gastrointestinal tube? Could he hear? Would he ever be able to breathe effortlessly? In this moving memoir, Newman, with the help of her son, tells the story of raising Nathaniel, from the shock she and her husband faced when he was born, to the inspiration of Nathaniel’s own strength and quirky humor. All this while also facing both non-Hodgkins and Hodgkins lymphoma diagnoses of her own. This uplifting story of a family tackling complex and terrifying circumstances with love and resilience is a true testament to Magda and her family, and to families everywhere who quietly but courageously persist.By Emmett De Monterey. 2023
AN EXTRAORDINARILY MOVING AND ORIGINAL MEMOIR OF GROWING UP GAY AND DISABLED IN 1980s LONDONSHORTLISTED FOR THE SLIGHTLY FOXED BEST…
BIOGRAPHY PRIZE 2023 When Emmett de Monterey is eighteen months old, a doctor diagnoses him with cerebral palsy. Words too heavy for his twenty-five-year-old artist parents and their happy, smiling baby.Growing up in south-east London in the 1980s, Emmett is spat at on the street and prayed over at church. At his mainstream school, teachers refuse to schedule his classes on the ground floor, and he loses a stone from the effort of getting up the stairs. At his sixth form college for disabled students, he's told he will be expelled if the rumours are true, if he's gay.And then Emmett is chosen for a first-of-its-kind surgery in America which he hopes will 'cure' him, enable him to walk unaided. He hopes for a miracle: to walk, to dance, to be able to leave the house when it rains. To have a body that's everyday beautiful, to hold hands in the street. To not be gay, which feels like another word for loneliness. But the 'miracle' doesn't occur, and Emmett must reckon with a world which views disabled people as invisible, unworthy of desire. He must fight to be seen.'Vivid, engaging... this insightful memoir sheds light on the author's life as a disabled gay man who is often rendered invisible' Andrew McMillan, Guardian Book of the Day'A frank and intimate memoir written with an incredible clear-eyed intensity' Claire FullerBy Christoph Keller. 2019
'Fascinating ... compelling ... very funny' Sunday Times'A defiant call to arms ... affecting ... lingers long in the memory…
after its final page' Morning Star'A skilful act of literary witness, sharp, moving and funny' Joanne Limburg 'Christoph Keller ... ranks among the great Swiss writers' Neue Zürcher ZeitungMost stories of disability follow a familiar pattern: Life Before Accident. Life After Accident. For Christoph Keller, it was different: his childhood diagnosis with a form of Spinal Muscular Atrophy only revealed what had been with him since birth. SMA III, the 'kindest one', allows those who have it to live a long life, and it progresses slowly. There is no cure. By the age of 25, he had to use a wheelchair some of the time. 'There were two of me: Walking Me. Rolling Me.' By 32, he could still walk into a restaurant with a cane or on somebody's arm. At 45, 'Rolling Me' took over altogether.Intimate, absurdist and winningly frank, Every Cripple a Superhero is at once a memoir of life with a progressive disorder, and a profound exploration of the challenges of loving, being loved, and living a public life - navigating restaurants, aeroplanes, museums and artists' retreats - in a world not designed for you. Threaded throughout are Keller's own photographs of the unexpected beauty found in puddle-filled 'curb cuts', the pavement ramps that, left to disintegrate, form part of the urban obstacle course. Those puddles become portals into a different, truer city; and, as they do, so this book - told with humour and immense grace - begins to uncover a truer world: one where the 'normal' is not normal, where disability is far more widespread than we might think, and where there always exist, just alongside our own, the lives of everyday superheroes.By Georgina Louise Hambleton. 2007
Christy Brown was severely disabled with cerebral palsy, unable to use any part of his body other than his left…
foot. Doctors said he was a 'mental defective' and that he would never be able to lead any kind of normal life; Christy proved them wrong.His mother taught him to write using chalk on the worn floor of their small home, and Christy grew into a talented artist and writer. His 1954 memoir My Left Foot was made into an Oscar-winning film starring Daniel Day-Lewis, while his bestselling novel Down All the Days was described by the Irish Times as 'the most important novel since Ulysses'.Using previously unpublished letters and poems, this first authorised biography marks Christy Brown's importance as a writer and celebrates his indomitable spirit. His story proves that, with hope and determination, almost impossible odds can be overcome.By Oscar Pistorius. 2012
Blade Runner is the inspirational memoir of Oscar Pistorius. Discover his incredible, emotional journey from disabled toddler to international sports…
phenomenon.At eleven months old, Oscar Pistorius had both his legs amputated below the knee. His mother wrote a letter to be read by Oscar when he was grown up: 'A loser is not one who runs last in the race. It is the one who sits and watches, and has never tried to run.' On discovering that their son had been born with no fibulae, Oscar's parents made the difficult decision to have both his legs amputated, giving him the best possible chance of a normal life. Oscar received his first pair of prosthetic legs at just seventeen months, made specifically for him. From then on he became invincible: running, climbing and, with the encouragement of his older brother, getting into any mischief he could. Throughout the course of his life, Oscar has battled to overcome extraordinary difficulties to prove that, with the right attitude, anything is possible. Blade Runner charts the extraordinary development of one of the most gifted sportsmen and inspirational figures on the planet - from immobilised child to world-class sprinter.By Kate Fullagar. 2023
The first joint biography of Bennelong and Governor Arthur Phillip, two pivotal figures in Australian history – the colonised and…
coloniser – and a bold and innovative new portrait of both.Australian Book Review Books of the Year 2023Sydney Morning Herald Best Reads of the Year for 2023 Bennelong and Phillip were leaders of their two sides in the first encounters between Britain and Indigenous Australians, Phillip the colony&’s first governor, and Bennelong the Yiyura leader. The pair have come to represent the conflict that flared and has never settled. Fullagar&’s account is also the first full biography of Bennelong of any kind and it challenges many misconceptions, among them that he became alienated from his people and that Phillip was a paragon of Enlightenment benevolence. It tells the story of the men&’s marriages, including Bennelong&’s best-known wife, Barangaroo, and Phillip&’s unusual domestic arrangements, and places the period in the context of the Aboriginal world and the demands of empire. To present this history afresh, Bennelong & Phillip relates events in reverse, moving beyond the limitations of typical Western ways of writing about the past, which have long privileged the coloniser over the colonised. Bennelong&’s world was hardly linear at all, and in Fullagar&’s approach his and Phillip&’s histories now share an equally unfamiliar framing.By Fletcher Wortmann. 2012
***AS FEATURED ON NPR'S TALK OF THE NATION***Imagine the worst thing in the world. Picture it. Construct it, carefully and…
deliberately in your mind. Be careful not to omit anything. Imagine it happening to you, to the people you love. Imagine the worst thing in the world. Now try not to think about it. This is what it is like for Fletcher Wortmann. In his brilliant memoir, the author takes us on an intimate journey across the psychological landscape of OCD, known as the "doubting disorder," as populated by God, girls, and apocalyptic nightmares. Wortmann unflinchingly reveals the elaborate series of psychological rituals he constructs as "preventative measures" to ward off the end times, as well as his learning to cope with intrusive thoughts through Clockwork Orange-like "trigger" therapy.But even more than this, the author emerges as a preternatural talent as he unfolds a kaleidoscope of culture high and low ranging from his obsessions with David Bowie, X-Men, and Pokemon, to an eclectic education shaped by Shakespeare, Kierkegaard, Catholic mysticism, Christian comic books, and the collegiate dating scene at the "People's Republic of Swarthmore." Triggered is a pitch-perfect memoir; a touching, triumphantly funny, compulsively readable, and ultimately uplifting coming-of-age tale for Generation Anxiety.Fletcher Wortmann on OCD and sex:"If a girl accepts an invitation to help count the tiles on your bedroom ceiling, then she will probably be disappointed when she realizes you were speaking literally."…on OCD and religion:"I have found Catholicism and obsessive compulsive disorder to be deeply sympathetic to one another. One is a repressive construct founded in existential terror, barely restrained by complex, arbitrary ritual behaviors; the other is an anxiety disorder."…on OCD humor:"By the sink, I noticed a perfunctory sign warning readers to wash their hands. It was scrawled with graffiti: NO YOU CAN'T GERMS ARE UNPREVENTABLE AND INESCAPABLE."…on the seductiveness of OCD:"Every so often, everything will work, and you will somehow convince yourself that you are safe, and the disorder will claim credit. I had struck a bargain with the OCD. The transaction was complete. In that moment I became subservient to it."By Paige Layle. 2024
In But Everyone Feels This Way, Autism acceptance activist and multi-million-follower TikTok influencer Paige Layle shares her deeply personal journey…
to diagnosis and living life autistically. It all started out pretty normal: Paige lived in the countryside with her parents and brother Graham. She went to school, hung out with friends, and all the while everything seemed so much harder than it needed to be. A break in routine threw off the whole day. If her teacher couldn't answer 'why?' in class, she dissolved into tears, unable to articulate her own confusion or explain her lack of control. But Paige was normal. She smiled in photos, picked her feet up when her mum needed to vacuum instead of fleeing the room, and did well at school. She was popular and well-liked. And until she had a full mental breakdown, no one believed her when she claimed that she was not okay.Women are frequently diagnosed with autism much later than men, often in their late teens or early twenties. Armed with her new diagnosis, Paige set out to learn how to live her authentic, autistic life, and discovered how autism could be a source of strength. She challenges stigmas, taboos, and stereotypes so that everyone can see themselves authentically. Along the way, her online activism has spread awareness, acceptance, and self-recognition in millions of others.By Paige Layle. 2024
In But Everyone Feels This Way, Autism acceptance activist and multi-million-follower TikTok influencer Paige Layle shares her deeply personal journey…
to diagnosis and living life autistically. It all started out pretty normal: Paige lived in the countryside with her parents and brother Graham. She went to school, hung out with friends, and all the while everything seemed so much harder than it needed to be. A break in routine threw off the whole day. If her teacher couldn't answer 'why?' in class, she dissolved into tears, unable to articulate her own confusion or explain her lack of control. But Paige was normal. She smiled in photos, picked her feet up when her mum needed to vacuum instead of fleeing the room, and did well at school. She was popular and well-liked. And until she had a full mental breakdown, no one believed her when she claimed that she was not okay.Women are frequently diagnosed with autism much later than men, often in their late teens or early twenties. Armed with her new diagnosis, Paige set out to learn how to live her authentic, autistic life, and discovered how autism could be a source of strength. She challenges stigmas, taboos, and stereotypes so that everyone can see themselves authentically. Along the way, her online activism has spread awareness, acceptance, and self-recognition in millions of others.By Robert M. Utley. 2020
The definitive, award-winning biography of the legendary chief and his dramatic role in the history of westward expansionReviled by the…
United States government as a troublemaker and a coward, revered by his people as a great warrior chief, Sitting Bull has long been one of the most fascinating and misunderstood figures in American history. Distinguished historian Robert M. Utley has forged a compelling portrait of Sitting Bull, presenting the Lakota perspective for the first time and rendering the most unbiased, historically accurate, and vivid portrait of the man to date.The Sitting Bull who emerges in this fast-paced narrative is a complex, towering figure: a great warrior whose skill and bravery in battle were unparalleled; the spiritual leader of his people; a dignified but ultimately tragically stubborn defender of the traditional ways against the steadfast and unwelcome encroachment of the white man.By Joseph Kapacziewski, Charles W. Sasser. 2013
The inspiring and thrilling combat memoir of the only Army Ranger serving in direct combat operations with a prosthetic limb.On…
October 3, 2005, Kapacziewski and his soldiers were coming to the end of their tour in Northern Iraq when their convoy was attacked by enemy fighters. A grenade fell through the gunner's hatch and exploded, shattering Kapacziewski's right leg below the knee, damaging his right hip, and severing a nerve and artery in his right arm.He endured more than forty surgeries, but his right leg still wasn't healing as he had hoped, so in March 2007, Kapacziewski chose to have it amputated with one goal in mind: to return to the line and serve alongside his fellow Rangers. One year after his surgery, Kapacziewski accomplished his goal: he was put back on the line, as a squad leader of his Army Ranger Regiment.On April 19, 2010, during his ninth combat deployment (and fifth after losing his leg), Kapacziewski's patrol ran into an ambush outside a village in eastern Afghanistan. After a fellow Ranger fell to withering enemy fire, shot through the belly, Sergeant Kap and another soldier dragged him seventy-five yards to safety and administered first aid that saved his life while heavy machineguns tried to kill them. His actions earned him an Army Commendation Medal with "V" for Valor. He had previously been awarded a Bronze Star for Valor—and a total of three Purple Hearts for combat wounds.Back in the Fight is an inspiring and thrilling tale readers will never forget.By Maria Tallchief, Larry Kaplan. 1997
Read the story of the legendary ballerina who now adorns a $1 coin and a US quarter!A fascinating self-portrait of…
the fairy-tale life of a woman who understood that a committed talent could transform the world around her."Maria Tallchief and American ballet came of age in the same moment.... Her story will always be the story of ballet conquering America. It was and is an American romance."-Arlene Croce, The New YorkerBy Harriet McBryde Johnson. 2005
With a voice as disarmingly bold, funny, and unsentimental as its author, a thoroughly unconventional memoir that shatters the myth…
of the tragic disabled lifeHarriet McBryde Johnson isn't sure, but she thinks one of her earliest memories was learning that she will die. The message came from a maudlin TV commercial for the Muscular Dystrophy Association that featured a boy who looked a lot like her. Then as now, Johnson tended to draw her own conclusions. In secret, she carried the knowledge of her mortality with her and tried to sort out what it meant. By the time she realized she wasn't a dying child, she was living a grown-up life, intensely engaged with people, politics, work, struggle, and community.Due to a congenital neuromuscular disease, Johnson has never been able to walk, dress, or bathe without assistance. With help, however, she manages to take on the world. From the streets of Havana, where she covers an international disability rights conference, to the floor of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, to an auditorium at Princeton, where she defends her right to live against philosopher Peter Singer, she lives a life on her own terms. And along the way, she defies and debunks every popular assumption about disability. This unconventional memoir opens with a lyrical meditation on death and ends with a surprising sermon on pleasure. In between, we get the tales Johnson most enjoys telling from her own life. This is not a book "about disability" but it will surprise anyone who has ever imagined that life with a severe disability is inherently worse than another kind of life.