Matthew, from Ottawa, ON, Canada, joined the Human Library in September 2020 after an acquaintance had posted about the organization on social media. The slogan, unjudge someone, spoke to Matthew, who already loves public speaking and believes in showing people that everybody has something they’ve struggled with. “I thought, this is so everything that I’m about, and the more I learned about it, the more I thought, OK, I want to do this too.”

He regularly publishes online with two different topics – Disabled and gay.

Matthew’s Journey

Joining in the Covid year of 2020, the online version of the Human Library fit perfectly into Matthew’s life. “
I’m housebound at the moment, so I haven’t gone anywhere in a couple of years.” he says, “That’s one of the biggest things that drew me to the Human Library, that you could do it at home.
 But I hope to someday do an in-person event.”

It is Matthew’s mixture of physical and neurodevelopmental disabilities that keep him at home in Ottawa, something he often talks about when publishing his “Disabled” book.

“I’m autistic, and I have some learning disabilities. I also have really extreme sensory overload and a lot of anxiety, so that’s why I have a hard time going out. 
And then I also have a chronic condition called polycythemia, which is where my body makes too much haemoglobin and too many red blood cells.” Matthew explains during our hour-long video call interview. Polycythemia is a chronic blood disease, requiring weekly draining of the blood and replacing it with IV fluids – Something Matthew has had to learn to do on his own at home. “Unless I want to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars a week, nobody in Canada can come to my house and do it. 
And the scary thing is that you die of a giant blood clot in your body without that treatment.”

Matthew’s readers have the opportunity to learn how the intersection between neurodevelopmental differences and physical disabilities creates serious roadblocks in receiving treatment for either. “I’m intensively trying to develop the ability to go out and do things, but it’s very slow-moving. I’d be making more progress with the sensory issues and the nervousness about going out
if I had a more stable foundation to work from, I think it would make a huge difference.”

Coming out, Family and Unforeseen Acceptance

His other topic, gay, is also frequently published online and naturally leads to some very different questions. “It’s a lot of questions about my family. Were they accepting or supportive? What were they like? 
I had a tough childhood, but none of it had to do with my family. My home life was better than anybody else that I know to be totally honest. 
But my school life and everything else was the hard part.” he shares. 

While his parents and siblings were unsurprised by Matthew coming out at age 16, he often shares a story of his grandmother during readings. “No one wanted to tell my grandmother because she was French Canadian, from a small town in New Brunswick, where she wasn’t even allowed to talk to anybody who wasn’t Catholic,” he says, explaining how his grandmother once told Matthew’s mother that there was a nice girl for him at her bingo nights. “And my mom said, I don’t think he wants to meet a nice girl from the bingo. And then my grandmother said, oh, does he want to meet a nice boy from the bingo? And my mom said, yeah, I think he’d much rather do that instead.”

His grandmother’s reaction was strong – but unexpected – “My grandmother lost her mind and started yelling at my mom. 
But she was yelling, ‘you better love him’, ‘that’s the way God made him’, ‘if you won’t accept him, he can come be gay at my house and live with me’. She was just amazing, and nobody saw that coming.”

Discovering Acceptance and Community in the Human Library

Acceptance, support and community are some of the things that Matthew has found within the Human Library. He tells a story of the first time he came to this realization, triggered by going into an event on a tough day. “I was having a really bad, overwhelming sensory overload day, and I thought, I just need to look OK. And then this thought popped into my head
that was like, no, you don’t. You’re here to be yourself. If you freak out, it’s gonna be all right. These are the kind of people you can be like this around.
 I just started feeling like I’m going to bawl my eyes out because of this feeling of not having to pretend to have it all together or to be OK.”

He smiles brightly through the video call, obviously touched by retelling this realization, which was followed up one year later when Matthew experienced going into a panic attack during a reading. “I remember making it through the end of that, going into the break room and expecting the librarians to say, you’ve got to do it anyway because that’s what my life has always been. 
But they said, do you want to leave? Can we get you anything? 
Do you want to talk to the therapist? 
Is there anything we can do?” he shares, “I just needed a minute to calm down, then went and did the second reading. Afterwards, three of the session organizers wrote me to make sure I was OK, and that was probably the most amazing feeling ever, it was just this real acceptance.”

“To get to experience that level of acceptance in a really hard moment and at an internal level within the Human Library was amazing because it showed that actually, this model and this slogan, it comes from the core and radiates out”, Matthew says.

We are looking for more Books to join our Bookshelf! Apply to become an open Book.

Dwelve into the story of our previous Book of the Month: Amputee.

The post Book of the Month: Disabled and Gay appeared first on The Human Library Organization.

Linda from Copenhagen, Denmark, has one of the more unique titles on the Human Library bookshelf; Psychic healer. In 2018, she came across a Facebook post about The Human Library Organization, which sparked a desire to join once she had the time and mental capacity. Linda has now been a part of the Copenhagen book depot since June 2022.

Never Alone

Since childhood, Linda has lived with a sense of people being around her; “When I would ask them something, I got an answer. It was not just a feeling of yes or no. It was long and complicated sentences. Answers that I couldn’t have thought of, unpredictable answers. I have always felt that they were on my side.”

A Sixth Sense

Linda’s abilities are called Extra Sensory Perception, shortened as ESP, or popularly called a sixth sense. “It’s when your senses exceed the physical ones. We all live with the five senses that we know, but with extra sensory, I can see memories that are not my own, for example.”, Linda explains. “If you asked me about something from your childhood, I can close my eyes, tune in, and see the situation you’re talking about. A situation you’ve never told me about that no one could know without having been there.”

Bullied by her Bosses

Linda’s readers have the opportunity to learn about her abilities and her job as a healer, but for Linda, it is equally important to touch upon what it has been like to live as an outsider. “Because I’m a psychic, I have been bullied to the point of having to see a therapist. I’ve had to leave four different jobs because my co-workers were bullying me. At two of those places the boss was also part of the bullying.”

“Since I was a teenager, I’ve talked about clairvoyance and being psychic, and I have met a lot of resistance. It definitely has not been fun, and there have been times where I’ve thought, ‘Maybe I should just shut up about it’.” Linda says when asked about her reasons for wanting to become an open Book. 

“I’ve also had to deal with depression regularly because I have felt like there was no room for me in society. So it was actually a way to fight back.”

Challenging the Stigmas and Stereotypes

The fight Linda talks about is not only about her own experiences but also those of her colleagues within the alternative treatment community and their clients: “There is this stigma about psychics, which is what I represent, and other alternative treatment providers, that we’re crazy, that we’re naive, and we’ll believe anything. There are so many prejudices about what we are and who the people that come to see us are.”

Lockdown Changed Attitudes

But this attitude has recently started to change; Linda herself believes that the lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic have led many more to research alternative medicine, healing and clairvoyance while in self-isolation.

“I think many people have been watching Netflix and YouTube at home on the couch and come across alternative documentaries, of which there are some amazing ones, and started thinking, ‘maybe there is something to it’,” Linda says. “Now, when I tell people that I’m psychic, people say, ‘Wow, that’s exciting; tell me more’. It used to be, ‘Oh, so you’re someone I’m allowed to bully’.”

“It’s a completely new society that I’ve returned to.” She laughs. “It used to be a discussion about whether clairvoyance is real. Now, it’s more of a dialogue about how it is possible, whether I’ve always had these experiences, and how it feels. They are curious about what is going on within the psychic. I really like talking about that.”

Read Linda in Copenhagen

One way to get the opportunity to read Linda is if you drop by the Human Library Reading Garden in Copenhagen. We are open to the public every Sunday from noon to 4 pm, and as always, the services of the Human Library are free to our readers.

Want to know more about our Books? Read about our last Book of the Month, Paris.

The post Book of the Month: Psychic Healer appeared first on The Human Library Organization.

Fall in the Reading Garden

It’s a cold day in October when books and librarians meet up in the Reading Garden for the last time in 2022. The trees have started wearing their orange and brown colored coats, while dark grey blankets and cushions are being laid out on the garden’s benches.

“The end of the season is wistful, but comes with a huge sense of pride, both for the volunteers, but also for me.”, says Fanny Timmermann, who has been the lead coordinator for the Reading Garden this season. “For me as the Reading Garden coordinator, every other Sunday has been a day that I looked forward to, especially the diverse conversations with the books, but also with readers.”

Librarians Fanny Timmerman and Azlina Azmeir

The Human Library’s books have been loaned 562 times this season. That number is beyond all expectations and has made a big impression. “This season in the Reading Garden has been impressive and educational. The amount of readers has been impressive for me personally, but also for our books and librarians.” says Fanny Timmermann, “There have been so many things that made an impression on me, for example, the fact that there have been repeat readers throughout the season, who knew who they had read before, and who they wanted to read on the day.”

The bells of Saint Johannes Church across the street chime at 12 pm, and the first few readers start showing up at the counter. There are nine titles to choose from today, including schizophrenia, victim of incest, homeless, post-partum depression, psychic healer, and immigrant. It is soon evident that it is not just Danish readers who have shown up today. “It’s been remarkable how many different nationalities and languages the Reading Garden has seen this year.” the coordinator says, “But mostly, it’s been great to hear the books listing off countries from every continent when they’ve told us about their readings.”

Despite the Danish autumn weather, readers show up at the counter throughout the afternoon; They’ve heard that this is their last chance. “Several of the readers already want to know when we are opening up next season.” tells one of the librarians.

The Reading Garden is set to reopen in the spring of 2023, where there will be ample opportunity for loaning Human Books – Next season, the Garden will be open every Sunday.

And Fanny Timmermann has a piece of advice for next season’s readers: “Some titles can seem tough, and maybe too tough, but if there is just a little bit of curiosity, then pick that book. And if you think you already know everything about a topic, then pick that book anyway – They will most likely tell you something you didn’t know before.”

See when the next Human Library is.

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In august, The Human Library won the award as Groundbreaker of the year, at the nordic-wide Blaze Inclusion Awards in Oslo.

Project manager Sif Hjelm Jensen attended the gala and accepted the award, on behalf of The Human Library. “It was a pleasure to participate in celebrating all of these other actors in DIEB. And taking home the award made it extra special.”

The Blaze Awards are founded and organized by the Norwegian non-profit organization Diversify. It is awarded to people, organizations, corporations, etc., who excel within the DIEB-factors – Diversity, inclusion, equity and belonging.

“It was an uplifting and inspiring experience to share the space with so many amazing initiatives all working to bring about a more inclusive world”, says Sif Hjelm Jensen.

The Blaze Awards are distributed to winners in six different categories. You can read about the other recipients here. The Human Library wants to congratulate all who were nominated for an award.

The post The Human Library wins diversity award appeared first on The Human Library Organization.