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disability

I guest hosted Tapestry on CBC and got to talk about my two favourite things

by Christa on August 6, 2018August 7, 2018

“Stumps and Sadness, the Christa Couture story,” I said to producer Michelle Parise and we doubled with laughter.

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That time I went viral — for my pregnancy photos

by Christa on June 27, 2018June 27, 2018

When I posted the photos online, I had no idea how far the pictures would spread.

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A side shot of a pregnant woman, Christa Couture, wearing a prosthetic leg.

The first time on camera with my leg off — and at 8 months pregnant

by Christa on April 11, 2018May 29, 2018

I did a photoshoot near the end of my pregnancy last fall, not just to capture the moment but to try something for the first time — and to hopefully make a dent in poor representation of disabled bodies.

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The Incredible True Story of the Kneeraiser

by Christa on April 17, 2014April 18, 2014
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Things You Can’t Tell By Looking at Her

by Christa on February 17, 2011October 13, 2011
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Christa on Instagram

Reunited with my love and singing little love song Reunited with my love and singing little love songs ❤️
I’m getting excited. And this just in: @falenjo I’m getting excited.

And this just in: @falenjohnson will be hosting the Q&A. 🎉 

I've been a fan of Falen's for a long time, and you may know her from her podcasts Secret Life of Canada and Buffy, or maybe from when she guest hosted Unreserved on CBC for a year, or maybe from her work as a playwright. Basically: she's brilliant.

And so I'm thrilled that she's joining me and other writers and directors from How to Lose Everything this weekend. 

Yes, How to Lose Everything, this new series of short animated films I produced, is launching on Saturday January 28th 2pm EST -- 

ONLINE. 

So you are ALL INVITED!

Tickets are free but you do need to register. Link in bio.

Here's a sneak peek of what the films look like, featuring writers, animators, directors and composers @bekkyoneil @cardboardrealitystudio @terrilcalder @chiefladybird @epingishmook_nenookaasi @meky.ottawa @smokiisumac @mk.monteith @grgritt @cris_derksen @melodymckivermusic @ingethomsonmusic 

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#HowToLoseEverything supported by @torontoartscouncil @ontarioartscouncil @canada.council @indigenousscreen for @cbcarts @cbcgem
This is the biggest project I’ve ever worked on. This is the biggest project I’ve ever worked on.

For the last three years, I’ve been producing a series of five short animated films by a group of incredible Indigenous artists. 

And now, the series is ready to share with you. I’m  so excited!

Join me for a screening of “How to Lose Everything” (all five shorts films) plus a Q&A with the writers and directors, Saturday January 28th 2pm EST. 

Tickets (um…they’re free!) are available at the link in my bio.

A bit about the series: 

From instructions on how to survive tragedy, to parallels between two Scottish and Inuit communities, to meeting a Bear named Jesus, all five stories in How To Lose Everything span nations, languages, and perspectives on heartache.

The Indigenous team of writers, animators, composers, and directors, including @terrilcalder, Archer Pechawis, @chiefladybird, @epingishmook_nenookaasi, @meky.ottawa, @smokiisumac, @mk.monteith, @cris_derksen, @grgritt, @melodymckivermusic, and Taqralik Partridge, represent Cree, Ojibwe, Anishinaabe, Ktunaxa, Inuit, Chippewa, Potawatomi, Atikamekw, and Métis nations. 

Animator @bekkyoneil at @cardboardrealitystudio and composer @ingethomsonmusic are also among our incredible allied artists who helped create these films.

@mosaintj produced this series with me and is the one person has been involved from the start. (THREE. YEARS.)

And yes, How To Lose Everything the series is inspired by my memoir of the same name. The first episode is actually an excerpt from my book (zomg, I can’t wait for you to see it). 

The series was produced with the help of @ontarioartscouncil, @torontoartscouncil, @canada.council and @indigenousscreen for @cbcarts.

(If you’ve been following my work for a while, you know I’ve done many things with CBC over the years. Love my ceeb!)

Here we go <3

#howtoloseeverything

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Oh, 2022! A small bouquet of highlights: 💕 My Oh, 2022! A small bouquet of highlights:

💕 My daughter turned five and filled every day with joy, wonder, and growth. 
🎥 I delivered my most ambitious work yet (which grew from the short film How to Lose Everything: a field guide and I will be telling the world about within weeks)
🎧 My audiobook was released and I understood my own story in a new way.
🕺 I learned to box-step and remembered how dancing makes me smile. 
🏡 I saw spring in my backyard for the first time; this house is so slowly becoming home and experiencing the changes of one full year helped. 
🌊 I climbed the rocks in Cape Breton where the views and the smells and sounds were a balm and a fuel. 
❤️ I fell in love 

Thank you for being part of it ✨

Image description: a carousel of seven images of Christa, a white Cree woman and amputee, with her daughter sitting in her back; a film poster with a watercolour image of two women on a garden; a book on black and white tiles with pink headphones; christa and Ali dancing and laughing; Christa’s shadow with an umbrella and the shape of her prosthetic leg; Christa in the distance walking across red rocks in Nova Scotia; Christa and Ali, a white non binary person, taking a selfie on the Cabot Trail.
If you missed the live, @alieisner and I sharing a If you missed the live, @alieisner and I sharing a bit of warmth on this stormy night.
I will never write a Christmas song. BUT — Now I will never write a Christmas song. BUT —

Now that it’s December, I get to share again the closest that I will ever get to having written a seasonal ditty.

If you’re thinking about what you’re ready to let go of from this year and what you’re ready to hope for in the next, I’VE GOT YOU.

“To Us” is a toast to a sh*t show of loss and challenges; it’s a toast to resilience; it’s a statement of gratitude for making it this far and being in it together; a toast to seeing each other at our best and our worst.

And I mean it: I’m grateful for the ways I get to be together with people through this screen, through music, through words. To us!

You can stream To Us on all the streamy stream things.

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What would it take for an accessible world, really What would it take for an accessible world, really?

Today is International Persons With Disabilities Day. And each year, IDPD has a theme. 

For 2022, it's, "Transformative solutions for inclusive development: the role of innovation in fuelling an accessible and equitable world.“

Catchy ;)

So I'm thinking about accommodation and innovation — namely, how just about everything we use and touch in our daily lives was born of both. 

The couch I'm on is much more supportive for my body than the floor. The mug I'm drinking from is much more effective (and more safe) than trying to hold tea in my hands. 

I'd like equitable access to be as ubiquitous as my tea cup.

And I'm thinking that while innovation can fuel accessibility, from what I can tell, this inaccessible and inequitable world is not due to a lack of innovation or creativity, but a lack of compassion. 

We choose what we care about — and THAT’S where the transformative solutions may truly lie. 

Image description: Christa is a white cree woman in a white button up shirt and short turquoise shorts. She's sitting on a stool at a colourfull bar with vintage light fixtures and old floral wallpaper. The bar is The Wallflower, which used to be in Toronto but is no more. Christa's floral prosthetic leg is right at home in the splendor. And while Christa loved this bar, she didn't love that the bathroom was down a flight of stairs. What were we saying about accessibility?

📸 @jensquiresphotographer 

#idpd #idpd2022 #amputee #disability
Today is my dad’s birthday. Joseph Earnest Alfr Today is my dad’s birthday.

Joseph Earnest Alfred Couture would be 92 if he were still alive (yes, 92! He was almost 50 when I was born…).

I look like him. If I hadn’t started plucking my eyebrows in the ‘00s, I’d have the same delicious caterpillars on my forehead. 

I’m a singer because both my parents are. My dad had a strong, deep voice, heard often in ceremony and heard joining in on the low baritone notes of the Statler Brothers.

He lived so much life before I came along. A goalie scouted by the Boston Bruins in his teens, he went on to join the Catholic seminary. 

After later leaving the priesthood, he became the first Indigenous person in Canada to receive a Ph.D in psychology – the source of the name most people knew his as: Dr. Joe.

His activism and academics made him one of the contributing voices/forces behind the 1970 “Citizens Plus”, also known as the “Red Paper” in Canada and 1972’s “Indian Control of Indian Education.”

During my life, his work began to focus on the corrections system where he transformed prisons for incarcerated Indigenous people, creating access to ceremony and traditional healing.

At the first of his two funerals, there was a line of men who’d met my dad through that work, each shaking my hand solemnly and telling me what a difference he’d made in their lives.

He did so much good work.

He could also be abusive. He hurt his family. When he died in 2007, I was just beginning to voice my anger about those hurts. I wish I’d had more time to talk about it with him. 

On my own, I continue to hold and unfold what my story is of him alongside what the story of his career is; to hold my regret, my disappointment, my pride, my connection, my compassion, my love, my desire for change.

He was my dad. Happy birthday, Joe.

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This stack makes my book-loving heart swell. Twe This stack makes my book-loving heart swell. 

Twelve excellent books by twelve brilliant — and disabled — writers. 

Okay yes, it turns out my book is among them 😚

The also excellent @thecatchpoles put together this list of adult books (pictured) as well as kids & YA, and I’m so honoured they included How to Lose Everything! 💕

Maybe you have some shopping to do for a big holiday coming up? 🎄 

Maybe you’re interested in learning more about disabled experiences from those who live them?

Maybe you just love to read!

Find the link to these books in @thecatchpoles bio. Lucy and James do much great work in the world. 🙌🙏

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  1. To Us Christa Couture
  2. Water to Sail Christa Couture
  3. 04 Rebuild Christa Couture
  4. The Slaughter Christa Couture
  5. Alone in This Christa Couture
  6. That Little Part of My Heart Christa Couture
  7. Good Bayou Christa Couture
  8. Lucky or Lost Christa Couture
  9. Pirate Jenny and the Storm Christa Couture
  10. Parasite Christa Couture
  11. Hopeless Situation Christa Couture