Cover: Blame: Death, Disability, and the Search for Justice for Guy Mitchell by Dustin Galer.

Blame: Death, Disability, and the Search for Justice for Guy Mitchell

Galer, Dustin

$15.99
  • On April 29, 2012, Guy Mitchell — a 38-year-old man with development disabilities — died alone and confused in a dark underground tank on the rural property where he lived.

    When police arrived, they uncovered a disturbing scene: a house of horror. No running water. No heat. Human waste filled the bathrooms and spread across floors and walls. There was no food. The people responsible for Guy’s care had let his living conditions completely collapse.

    Just two days earlier, the agency overseeing the home had approved it.

    Blame reconstructs the events leading to Guy Mitchell’s death, unfolding in flashbacks between the coroner’s inquest and the months before everything went tragically wrong. As each layer of his care network is examined — caregivers, agencies, oversight bodies — a complex web of culpability emerges: warning signs missed, responsibilities deflected, and chances to intervene ignored.

    Written with the urgency of investigative journalism and the tension of a legal thriller, and in consultation with those closest to Guy, Blame exposes how a system designed to protect society’s most vulnerable instead failed them at every level.

    What emerges is a powerful indictment of a broken system, and a reminder that the duty to care for society’s most vulnerable ultimately lies with us all.

    Available July 7, 2026. PRE-ORDER NOW!

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  • Dustin Galer is an award-winning writer, biographer, and historian known for his writing on disability history and labor. He has his doctorate in history from the University of Toronto and is the author of Beryl: The Making of a Disability Activist and Working Towards Equity: Disability Rights Activism and Employment in Late Twentieth-Century Canada. He lives in Hamilton, ON.

  • Published: July 2026

    ISBN: 9781770418479

    Dimensions: 6 x 9 in.

    Pages: 240

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Reviews

“Galey’s indictment of disability care is unmistakable. This is a sobering portrait of a system failing the people it was meant to protect.” — Publishers Weekly