Sean, 59, from New Zealand, joined the Human Library in 2022. He was first published at a local event in Whangarei. A friend of his organized the event and called him up to hear if he would be interested in becoming a Book, and it did not take much persuasion for him to sign up, “I thought that sounds really cool, and I loved the ‘Unjudge Someone’ approach”. He was published with the topic ADHD and has since joined our online bookshelf as well.

Discovering ADHD

Sean’s journey to discovering his ADHD began with a surprising twist. While he has had ADHD all his life, it remained hidden, even from himself.

“I was actually in denial when it first came up. I was seeing a therapist, and he said, well, maybe there’s a bit of neurodivergence happening here. And I was quite indignant and said: ‘I’m not autistic and I can’t have ADHD because I know where my keys are!’, which is really funny because a little while later, I actually lost my keys for two days and didn’t even notice. He was right though, because all of the problems I was working on with him were actually due to my undiagnosed neurodivergence.”

After a relationship breakup, Sean became quite anxious, so started medication for the anxiety. After a short while, the medication removed the anxiety, but several other things started to happen to him. “All of a sudden, I couldn’t remember anything. It would take me three attempts to send an email, and I was really disorganised, which was very unusual for me. So, I started down this process of understanding what this neurodivergence thing was about and went through a big process of diagnosis. It turns out suppressed anxiety was my main masking method.”

At 58 years old, Sean was diagnosed with ADHD.

Coming to Terms with ADHD

When Sean was first diagnosed with ADHD, he found it hard to digest and struggled to process it. “When I first found out, it was quite a shock to the system. There’s a lot of relief that you finally know what’s going on, but also so much grief for what could have been different. After getting support and understanding, the world started making more sense”.

Sean with his double bass.

He found that medication, therapy and coaching made the difference for him, “Medication is not a magic pill that makes you normal. I’m not normal. But it gives me access to capability. Things that I realise have been hard for me to do all my life are now possible”. Self-care is crucial after a late diagnosis, and he adds, “I’ve also recently started playing double bass in an orchestra. Music is amazing for my brain”. When asked if he still feels like the same Sean from before the medication, he replies, “Yes and no. I am the same Sean. I have the same history. But looking back and understanding how I thought and felt about things, I feel very different now. Who I am is fundamentally the same, but my emotional response is very different.”

Sean also mentions how fortunate he felt after disclosing the diagnosis to his workplace and how supported he felt. “I went to my boss and said, hey, I’ve just had this diagnosis, there are some things happening for me. And his response was to ask what I need and how he can help.” He acknowledges that not everyone has the same experience as him and says about his employer, “It’s really amazing that they are willing to look after their employees.”

“Our job as humans is to be the best human being we can be with whatever we’ve got. Whatever brain you’ve got, whatever circumstance you are in, you turn up as your best person and try to be the best you can be. Managing my ADHD is just part of who I am.”

Challenging Misconceptions

ADHD stands for Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. But for Sean, it’s not a deficit of attention at all, but quite the opposite, “It’s all the attention all the time!”  He also describes the common misconception that hyperactivity doesn’t always show up the same way, “It isn’t all bouncy five-year-old boys”, but it can also be internal hyperactivity, like overthinking.

“People do ask, doesn’t everybody have this? And yes, being distracted, intense or very emotional is fairly common. The difference is that for many neurodivergent people, they are much more extreme. For both neurotypical and neurodivergent people, if something upsetting happens, both will get upset and then calm down again. The neurodivergent person will often get way more upset and take much longer to get back to a normal state of regulation. It’s much harder.”

Being a Part of the Human Library

When the conversation turned to being a part of the Human Library, Sean talked about one of his most memorable readings. “This guy turned up and checked me out as a Book. He told me: ‘I’ve got a young son, he’s so bouncy and uncontrollable. He’s so busy and so hyperactive. I don’t know what to do, and maybe he has ADHD’. I said, ‘I can’t diagnose your son, but here are some places you can go and talk to’. There was a pause, and he then talked about himself, that there are all these things that he knows he should do, but he just can’t do them, and that he feels on his own and can’t talk to his wife about it, and his parents think he’s ridiculous. I knew exactly what he was feeling and just wanted to give him a big hug. It was an incredibly moving moment.”

For those seeking to understand ADHD, Sean advocates visiting the Human Library and engaging with the real experiences of other people. “I think everyone should come along to the Human Library and read some Books and get a perspective from people who are different. It’s just that connection. You sit and talk to a group of people from all sorts of cultures all over the world, with different experiences, and come away with a better understanding. It’s amazing.”

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Read the previous Book of the Month: Disabled and Gay.

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

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.

“An otherwise very competent doctor at Rigshospitalet told me that I shouldn’t expect to ever be walking again. I don’t know whether that was reverse psychology, but it worked because it made me think: ‘Well, that’s not for him to decide.’”

We are sitting inside the Café of Send Flere Krydderier (Send More Spices) – a cosy little haven embraced by the community centre, Union, in the middle of Nørrebro in Copenhagen. The name of this place may seem a tad contradictory, for while we’re sitting there, a sublime scent of curry, garam masala, and coriander is weaved into the smooth notes coming from the Malian singer Rokai Traoré who’s playing on the speakers in the background. But maybe that’s exactly where the Café got its name from – because its food always includes so many lovely spices. 

Filip and I have sat ourselves in one end of the room with a cup of coffee in our hands. We are meeting to discuss his life and his role as a Book in the Human Library. He’s 46 and started publishing as an open Book in 2020 with the title “Amputee” after hearing about the organisation through a friend. He has been a volunteer ever since. As with many Human Library Books, I quickly discovered that you should never judge a book by its cover since Filip’s story entails much more than just his amputated legs. 

At 19 years old he left Jehovah’s Witnesses due to the fact that he is gay, and he started living alone in Copenhagen. What’s more is that he underwent a malignant cancer disease in the first half of 2020, which included momentary death, and eventually resulted in the loss of both his legs. 

“From an early point in life I’ve been used to people questioning who I am. So, ever since I was young, I’ve had to make tough decisions about myself and my life.”

Filip, a man who’s always in possession of a wink and a smile, is interested in talking about everything under the sun. He grew up a Jehovah’s Witness with his family in Jutland, a chapter of his life that’s helped shape him into the person that he is today. Among other things, he uses his upbringing as a reason why he from an early age, was conscious of what he wanted in life. But this was also the reason for his ostracisation from his family, as Jehovah’s Witnesses do not allow homosexuality in their religion.

It was a heavy choice to take, but at the same time, also a choice where he knew the consequences and felt it was a necessary action. It may sound cold and cynical, as Filip says, but in the end, it was a decision about whether he should live someone else’s life or his own, and when putting it like that it wasn’t a difficult decision for him to make. 

“There are many opportunities for people with a disability if you actually do a bit of research. Do you know how many places where I can gain free entrance in Copenhagen? Most, if not all, museums and the Zoo only cost me a penny.” 

At the start of 2020, Filip was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkin lymphoma at the age of 43. From there, things began to escalate quickly. Filip started on an arduous journey with chemotherapy, and his doctor told him that he would either die from the cancer or the chemo. And that is literally what happened. Filip went into cardiac arrest and was in a coma for six weeks. It was while in a coma that he developed gangrene in his feet because his body couldn’t provide enough oxygen. 

On the 13th of August 2020, Filip was officially declared cancer free, but in the process, his legs were amputated from his feet to above his knees. It was one of the toughest chapters of his life, but at the same time, he had a steadfast resolution about being able to live his life to the fullest afterwards – despite having lost his legs. 

Throughout the course of his rehabilitation, that resolution persisted. He believes that his resolve comes from his time as a Jehovah’s Witness. From an early age, he experienced the necessity of taking control of his own life, and this has followed him ever since. 

Today, he’s using prosthetics for his legs, and he is enjoying the many opportunities available for disabled people in Copenhagen. Despite a supportive effort from the local municipality, Filip rarely needed much of their help, and he does view himself lucky as he made it through all the adversity without giving up. 

“I was in a place where I didn’t know whether I would be judged and met with prejudice or not.”

Filip started volunteering as a Book at the Human Library after the cancer treatment because one of his friends was a Book already. Thankfully, it’s a rare occurrence that Filip is met with prejudice in public – most of the time it’s children who point and stare. However, as he explains himself, the worst part after the amputation was the uncertainty that followed him around about what would happen and if he could ever live a normal life again. 

Uncertainty begets insecurity, Filip says. And, perhaps, it’s this uncertainty that many people without a physical disability have. The uncertainty of what life you can lead with a physical disability can quickly turn into an insecurity if you aren’t aware of the many offers and support available from your local municipality and not-for-profit organisations.

Filip states the therapeutic aspect as one of the main instigators as to why he joined the Human Library. Instead of sitting at home and losing touch with reality, he needed to ‘touch grass’ and be able to talk to people – something that also helped him talk about the entire process of his cancer and amputation in its entirety. 

However, today the aspects have changed a bit. Instead of being a therapeutic outlet for himself, he’s discovered how much value his experiences are giving other people as well. People are often very moved by his journey, and, as Filip states, when you’re affected by someone’s life, you start to think. 

My coffee went cold a while ago as a consequence of the intense and emotional talk with Filip, and Rokai Traoré’s mellow song is coming to an end. I thank Filip for his courage and openness, and while we leave the café, I reflect again on my own prejudice around physical disabilities. Turns out Filip’s theory was true – I was affected by his story, and it surely made me think. 

Visit the Human Library Reading Garden in Copenhagen on a Sunday to get a chance to read Filip.

The post Book of the Month – Amputee 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.

Our Human Library Book of the Month is a series of portraits of our books created with the purpose of offering our readers a chance to understand the diversity and variety within our bookshelves around the world. It also provides unique insights into the motivations and values of being a book and volunteering for our organization.

The care system might not be an easy thing to talk about, but Paris almost makes it look like it is. She is such a great speaker – with warmth in her voice, a charming London accent, and obvious experience as a public speaker. Paris’ story, on the surface, is about the care system: how she got into it, what her experience was like, and how it is affecting her to this day. Mostly, however, her story is about making a life for herself despite all that happened and how to get something positive out of what she has experienced in the system. She accomplishes this through her job as a motivational speaker, but also through being a book at the Human Library.

The Care System

Paris went into the foster system when she was six years old. “I was at school, and my teacher at the time said that she wanted to speak to me after school and that some people wanted to meet me. These were people from an organization called NSPCC, the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. They explained that I was not going to go back home and that I needed to come with them.”

Paris was first taken to a hospital: “I was going to school in the middle of summer with long trousers, cardigans on and thick roller necks. The teachers knew that something was not quite right. But they were not sure, so the NSPCC, when they saw me, immediately realized that I was covered in bruises, cuts, burn marks, all sorts of horrible scars, things that had healed over time. They were concerned that there might be some internal damage.”

After two weeks, Paris was released from the hospital and went to an assessment centre. As the youngest child in the centre by far, she was treated well, but the carers lacked knowledge about raising a black child: “They did not have much clue about a black child with afro hair and black skin, so one of my earlier memories is them trying to wash my hair in the kitchen over a bowl of some sort and my hair was just all tangled. They couldn’t brush it and did not know what to do with it, so they just shaved it all off. I was teased and bullied, and that was really hard because I was so young and already so confused and upset about being in care.”

Unfortunately, her bad experiences did not end there. As her mother got sentenced to prison for four years, she went into the care system. She joined her first foster family just before she turned eight years old but soon left the family as she was bullied by one of the other children there. What followed was a slew of breakdowns of families and back and forths of different homes until she finally left the care system and got her own flat right before her 18th birthday. She knew what she wanted to do with her life then: “I was fed up and hurt by so many breakdowns in families, and angry at the world for not having a mom and dad that loved me, but at the same time, I loved school and learning. I had my sights on making my adult life as successful and happy as I could make it, and I was really determined that I would achieve as much as I could in my life.”

Life After the Care System

A question she gets asked a lot is how she has managed to overcome her difficult past. “Some of the knockbacks that I got have made me stronger and even more determined,” she explains.

“I realized in my early 20s that being angry at the world and at my past was not really going to get me anywhere, so wasn’t there a way that I could turn something so negative into something a little more positive? I started focusing on learning and giving back, doing voluntary work and helping people that were less fortunate than me.”

Besides doing voluntary work, Paris also started to make a living from motivational speaking and being a trainer. “I originally started off as a school speaker through a website, so I was speaking at schools and colleges initially. And once that grew a bit more, I became self- employed, and I left my job as a secondary school teacher and a trainer. It’s great, I absolutely love it.”

Finding the Human Library

Her experience in motivational speaking and her passion for equality are what attracted her to the Human Library. She found the website through a friend who is a Book at the Library and was immediately interested: “I was really blown away by what I read, it was a perfect fit for me.”

She applied to be a book mainly to address judgements people have towards those who have been in care. “People instantly discriminate, and unfortunately, some of that discrimination is based on statistical facts: most people that grow up in that care system do end up with very poor outcomes. They end up in prison and/or with mental health problems. I wanted to be a book so I could dispel the myth that that is what all people in care are like, that we’re all damaged goods, and we are someone to stay away from. I wanted people to have the opportunity to see another side and a different outcome,” she explains.

“If there is one thing that I want people to take away from my story, it is that I am positive and happy to be me, and I wouldn’t change anything about my past.”

Dispelling Myths and Challenging Judgements 

Paris with Readers

Fortunately, her experience at the Human Library so far has allowed her to achieve this. From the questions she gets, she senses that discrimination usually comes from ignorance rather than deliberate judgment.

“The Human Library is really important for breaking down barriers, for dispelling myths, for really getting people to unjudge. The caption ‘Unjudge Someone’ is brilliant, and I like it because there is an awareness that we all judge and that judging is an important part of human life. The Human Library gives people the opportunity to really challenge their unconscious biases and question some of the thoughts and stereotypes around all sorts of issues, and meet people they wouldn’t normally meet. Humans gravitate towoards those they feel are similar to themselves, and so they don’t meet a young black female who has been in care and also just happens to not be straight. They don’t have the opportunity, so it’s nice to share that and be part of allowing people to explore our diversity.”

The Human Library gives Paris an opportunity to talk about the care system, but especially her specific story and about “race, colour, sexuality, gender and all of those identity issues that people need to hear about from the people that are experiencing them.”

The Human Library Family

The Human Library also helps her further create more positivity and healing. “I find it’s quite therapeutic to talk about my past because it’s a difficult past. Talking about it isn’t painful because, as a motivational speaker, I talk about it a lot – but it’s therapeutic, it’s still healing.”

As she has done both online and face-to-face readings, she has also found the benefits in both. The virtual readings have given her an opportunity to meet readers from all over the world, while the face-to-face readings have given her a sense of community with the other books. “The books are all so lovely and so diverse. I find it quite exciting to be in a room with someone who describes themselves as a Satanist. I’ve met people in the Human Library that I know I wouldn’t have met in real life. Everyone is just so supportive and caring, we really do look out for one another. The Human Library family is definitely like a family, and to someone like me who has grown up as I did, that’s really important.”

Want to know more about our Books? Read about our last Books of the month, Andy and Bernadette.

The post Book of the Month: Care Experienced Child appeared first on The Human Library Organization.

Andy and Bernadette have been married for more than 23 years. That is longer than the Human Library has been in existence. They are one of very few couples that are also both Books on our bookshelf. If you are lucky you can read them when they are published at our events in the United Kingdom. 

A Book about Deafness

Andy has been deaf all of his life but he does not see himself like that, “it’s just something that I learned to deal with” he says. He is a Book on overcoming obstacles and achieving success in life while dealing with a hearing disability.  

He was the youngest of five children, so safe to say it was a full house which provided him with valuable life skills: “I picked up language quite well, it was a busy house”. 

Parents Resisted Sending Andy to a School for Deaf Children

In the 1970s when he was five years old, the local authorities wanted to send him to a school for children that were deaf, which would entail that he was going to be away from home. 

“My mom and dad were against it because they felt that I was a normally functioning kid”. Andy then had to take an intelligence test to prove he was just like a ‘normal’ child, and to the surprise of the authorities, he turned out to be quite intelligent: “I obviously did OK and ended up going to a normal school”. 

Awarded by Lady Diana and Hired by Heineken

He was the first child with a hearing disability to go to that school, “And I did well” he adds.  “Eventually I went to university and was given an award for ‘Young Deaf Achiever of the year’”.

The award was presented and given to him by the late Lady Diana, a day he will never forget: 

“It was quite a big achievement getting a university degree despite being deaf”. 

Andy later went on to have a 30-year career as a chartered Engineer in the brewing industry and latterly working for Heineken UK and this is where he first learned about the Human Library. He became a reader through work and after that he volunteered to become a book.

“Being deaf has its moments of frustration but for me, it has always been about your ability and not your disability”.

An Open Book about Anxiety and Depression

Bernadette’s story as a Book at the Human Library highlights her experience with anxiety and depression after being subject to bullying, 

“I was bullied at work by someone who was working for me”. 

Bernadette was working in HR and found herself in a difficult position, “so when working in Human Resources, where can you go to if you are being bullied?”. 

The bullying went on for two years and had a severe impact on her mental health. Upon returning after a holiday, she found herself trembling with fear at the thought of getting back into the office: 

“On my drive there my foot was on the brake and I was shaking”. She went into the office anyway but quickly became unwell, “I just said I think I’ve got jetlag, I am going home, I don’t feel well, which was all a lie”, she recalls.

 After coming home, she rang up the doctors and they wanted to see her straight away, “that threw me off because I wasn’t expecting that”, she adds “So, I went to the doctors and cried and got signed off for a month. I was able to get support very quickly and spent 6 months as a day patient where I had therapy sessions”. 

Despite her efforts to return to work, the bullying persisted, this time by a new perpetrator. Bernadette ended up taking a year off, seeking therapy and medication to help with her struggles. 

The Human Library Experience

Before being published as a Book, Andy first became a Reader multiple times: “I work for Heineken and they were quite supportive of the Human Library, so I got to read a number of Books at different events, and I would come home and tell Bernadette all about it and about some of the Books that I read”. 

Bernadette had been doing some work for Stockport Libraries on mental health and her own story with it. Then Stockport Library wanted to host a Human Library and was in need of Books to publish, “so I said come on, Andy, you know this” Bernadette says. 

Publishing Locally

They arrived at the Book training expecting it to be a local version of the Human Library but quickly found that it was the real deal. Andy even recognised a Book that he had the pleasure of reading at one of the events through work.

In total, 8 Books were published at Stockport Library that day. “While we were waiting to be taken out by readers, we were reading each other’s stories and it was just a really joyous, positive and gorgeous day. We loved it, didn’t we?” Bernadette says as she looks at Andy. “Yeah, it was lovely to be in a room full of different storybooks and have the experience of listening to each other’s stories and becoming friends effectively through that”.

We Forgot How to Talk to Each Other

They both agree that the Human Library is an effective tool for challenging stigmas and fostering meaningful conversations.  “It’s amazing how easily it can break down barriers quite quickly because it allows you to have a discussion about something and you also learn how to talk to people. I think we have forgotten how to.” Andy says and Bernadette adds, “I always say the conversations that you should be having are the ones you avoid and what the Human Library does, is that it creates that safe space where you can ask everything and you can make mistakes and that is OK. If you reduce the fear you automatically increase your confidence.”

Sharing Stories

Being married for 23 years has not always been a walk in the library, “we’ve had our struggles but we ploughed on and supported each other through grief, losing our parents and we just try to be open. Sometimes I quite happily want to run away”, Bernadette says with a smile, “but that is what marriage is about, it has its ups and downs, and our Books and topics are who we are. Ultimately, we just talk. When you are bringing up a family and consumed by chores and routine meaningful conversation can be forgotten because you’re so tired and just want to switch off”. 

Being published as a Book has been a unique experience for both of them. Participating in the Human Library event has allowed them to challenge their own stereotypes and judgements of others. They found that the experience of being Books and being published has helped them to connect on a deeper level, both with each other and with other Readers. 

“For me, I think this has allowed us to share a bit more with the family”, Andy says and continues “it makes you think differently and it does make you challenge your stereotypes when you meet someone who whether it is a disability or something hidden that you would not notice, it does challenge your judgement of people”. 

Read our previous Book of the Month article about Daniel who sees his wheelchair as anything but a limitation.

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Daniel Lee, 30, from Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia works with leadership management in sports. He is also currently training to become a wheelchair racer and he serves as an Open Book with the Human Library. His topic within the library is Wheelchair User and he is helping provide his Readers with the perspective of a man, who sees his wheelchair as anything but a limitation.

Stopped walking at 3 years old

Daniel suffers from Osteogenesis Imperfecta which means that his bones break very easily. Children fall, but for Daniel falling meant breaking a bone every single time. Because of the condition, Daniel stopped walking at 3 years old and his mother had to carry him around, as the family couldn’t afford a wheelchair at the time. 

As Daniel couldn’t run around and play like the other children, he felt like he wasn’t a part of his local community. He had to rely on his mother to carry him around, which limited his possibilities for socializing with the other children in the neighborhood. 

Wheelchair brought independence 

By the age of 10, Daniel finally received his wheelchair. From not being able to move on his own for the last 7 years, Daniel finally felt free when receiving his wheelchair, 

“I became more and more independent. And I love being in my wheelchair. I can go places on my own without the help of others,” he says. 

From the perspective of an able-bodied person, being in a wheelchair could seem like a limitation, but for Daniel it is anything but. 

“My wheelchair is a symbol of freedom, not of limitation. My condition is the limitation but my wheelchair helps me break the boundaries of the condition,” he explains. 

This perspective is exactly what Daniel brings into the conversation when publishing at the Human Library. 

Challenging people’s preconceptions

“I really enjoy challenging people’s preconceptions, and the Human Library provides a platform for exactly that and an opportunity to connect. When engaging with the Readers, I can feel a shift in perspective. A lot of people have good intentions but lack an understanding of what disabled people can and can’t do. They don’t expect that we can use public transportation or become leaders. Being out alone in public in a wheelchair is inspirational in Malaysia but good intentions and inspiration is not a way of normalizing the view on the abilities of disabled people”, he continues. 

Therefore Daniel is involved with leadership management in sports, 

“I use disciplines such as Sitting Volleyball and Blind Football as a way of promoting inclusion in sports. I just returned from a conference in the US helping people understand what they should take into consideration for the people in their communities, who have a different way of life than themselves”. 

Sports as a way of impacting communities 

Daniel has always been interested in sports. When he was younger, he competed in the Asian Youth Para Games in Sitting Volleyball, and he is currently training to become a wheelchair racer. Daniel has found a way to combine his passion for sports and his devotion to inclusion,

“I use sports as a way of impacting communities. I share my life experience with students and companies to motivate and inspire others”. 

He wants to empower disabled people as much as he wants society to understand that being in a wheelchair should not limit your possibilities. 

“I wish there would come a day that being out in public is not inspirational, but just normal. If you want to be inspired, be inspired by all the other things that people can do,” he states.

Daniel can be found on loan at Human Library events in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and online.

**Disability and indeed diversity language varies internationally and individually. This interview reflects the book’s own words and views.

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The Human Library has local Book Depots spread out around the world. A few are in South America and one of them is in Lima, Peru. This is where we publish Jonathan, or as you will discover, Samantha. She has been a part of the Human Library since 2017. 

In disguise

Jonathan, also known as Samantha Braxton, publishes as the topic “Transformista” – also equivalent to “Crossdresser”. It all started at Halloween 17 years ago, in 2005, when Samantha first came to life. “I am a big fan of pop music, especially Madonna and Britney”, Samantha says, so she decided to go as Madonna, “Halloween is the perfect moment to be in disguise” she adds. The following years Jonathan repeated the experience, and this was how Samantha was first introduced to the world. 

Soon she was discovered by people in the creative industries and started singing and dancing in clubs, then moved to making social help videos and sharing her story online and quickly found recognition. She then joined the Human Library: “I always knew Samantha was a character that was going to challenge boundaries, inspire, and make people feel good”. 

Joining the Human Library

Samantha joined the Human Library after she participated in an exhibition called “Intolerancia” at a local gallery. One of the Librarians from the Lima Book Depot saw it and reached out to Sam. “I had just come out of a bad relationship with an abusive boyfriend who did not accept Samantha” she says, and then the Human Library invitation came along: “And it was an important time for me to share my story and feel like myself”. 

Even though Samantha is real, you can’t see her every day, “You are not going to see her drinking a cup of coffee or see her dating. She has no life. And that is the magic of Samantha”, Jonathan says and adds, “I am the one giving life to Samantha”. She is created to inspire people and make people feel good: “I feel great about myself every time I tell my story at Human Library events”. 

Helping expand readers perspective

“When I am published I feel like I get to experience how my readers erase the image they had in their mind”, she states. Many of her readers have been gay and lesbian and often they have not been openly out of the closet to their friends and family, and so they have come for advice and for insight into her journey. 

“My friends have always supported me, but at first my parents thought I had a fever when I told them about Samantha”, now Jonathan’s parents are actively helping with Samantha and are big supporters: “That is the best feeling”. 

Samantha is grateful to be a part of the Human Library Lima Depot. One of the things she highlights is that they are a strong group, “Many of the books and librarians have known each other for years now”. She hopes to help inspire readers and open their minds: “I am happy that I get to help educate people”. 

Follow the work of the Human Library Peru for an opportunity to read Samantha.

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Living Nowhere

Being a part of the virtual depot works well for Yoka, who stays in California during the winter and in the Netherlands during the summer. “I don’t really live anywhere,” she says, “I rent a house during the summer in Holland and I rent a house during the winter in California. Mostly, it is because I don’t like the cold. I also have family in Holland and my son is in the Czech Republic so it affords me a chance to visit them.” Yoka suspects that her experiences during the Holocaust also play a part in this. “I think I learned not to get too attached to things from a young age.”

Yoka grew up in a Jewish family in the Netherlands. When she was two and a half, she was split from her parents and placed in a different family by the Dutch Resistance. From then on, she lived in sixteen different places until she was five years old. “If you had a Jewish person in your home you would go to the concentration camps as well, so people were always very scared around me. If there was any suspicion from any of the neighbors, the Resistance would come and bring me somewhere else. I learned at that point that material things weren’t that important.”

Unaware of her Jewish heritage

While the events during her childhood had a strong influence on her, she didn’t know she was a Holocaust survivor until later in life. “No one talked about the war after it was over. As if the war never happened. Most people were too busy just surviving, and Jewish families didn’t want to know anything about it. Because if you told anyone you were Jewish, you might be the first to get caught if there was another war. So, no one told me I had been in the war. I didn’t even know I was Jewish until I was seventeen.”

Despite not knowing that she was Jewish and her dad being anti-Semitic and disapproving of everything related to  the Jewish faith, Yoka always had an interest in Jewish culture and community. “The blood crawls where it cannot go,” she says, referencing a Dutch saying meaning that you cannot hide your true self. “When I was twelve, the boy next door was learning Hebrew. I thought it was really fun, so I started learning Hebrew too. To the dismay of my father, of course.”

“Then, when I was seventeen I worked for a Jewish organization. During a meeting, they asked who wanted to turn on the light on a Saturday*. I put my hand up and told them I could do it. The woman looked at me and told me: ‘No, you can’t, you’re Jewish.’ I was like, ‘I am Jewish?’.”

*On Shabbat, Jewish people are not allowed to turn on the light, so a non-Jewish person is needed to help with this task.

It turned out that her last name is a name that is well-known within Jewish circles as a Jewish-only family. Later the same day she asked her father if they were Jewish and he confirmed their faith to her. He was unwilling to give many details, but this was the moment when she started to realize that she had been in the war. From then on, she slowly began to uncover her own story.

Joining the Human Library

Yoka joined our local book depot in Los Angeles in 2020 after someone had told her about the library and recommended she reach out. For the past forty years she has been sharing her story at schools, so it wasn’t the first time she would open up about her experiences. When the LA book depot manager, Ben, asked if she wanted to try being an international virtual book, she agreed. So far, she is loving it: “At one point I am sitting and I have three people that I’m talking to from a company. One is in Perth, Australia. One is in Singapore, and one is in China. Is that fun or is that fun?”

Besides it being fun, telling her story as a Holocaust survivor is important to Yoka. “I am a member of a fast-dying group,” she says. “When I talk about being a holocaust survivor in the Human Library, I always extend it to discrimination. Because I believe, had there not been discrimination, the Holocaust would never have happened. We, the holocaust survivors, are one of the groups that can most profoundly tell people what happens when discrimination goes unchallenged and runs rampant.”

Fighting against discrimination is something she has done her entire life. “I feel, when you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. And that’s what I’m passionate about: being part of something, however small it is, that may make a change in the world. And I think that’s what the Human Library does.”

Telling your story at The Human Library

While she has shared her story for over forty years, Yoka thinks the Human Library offers a unique environment to engage with people. “Being in a school setting, telling your story for XX minutes and then answering questions, is totally different from the communication that we encourage at the Human Library. It’s not about us books, it’s about readers confronting their own ideas. They try their ideas out on us with their particular questions, and our answers might help qualify their opinions.”

“The Human Library, which has the idea of ‘unjudge someone’, gives people a chance to look at things in a different way. I think that we are all planting seeds, even if they don’t grow the moment that we tell our readers something. The fact that they meet us and get a chance to learn from another persons perspective, will make it possible for them to change their mind at some point.”

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Our Human Library Book of the Month is a series of portraits of our books created with the purpose of offering our readers a chance to understand the diversity and variety within our bookshelves around the world. It also provides unique insights into the motivations and values of being a book and volunteering for our organization.

Two years on the bookshelf has helped our Book of the Month learn as much about himself, as he has about his readers. The journey has not been easy, but it has always been rewarding, says Leonardo Blas Urrutia or Leo as his friends call him. 

He is a young man, full of life, ambition, energy and optimism. A man with a gentle nature and a quiet pleasant presence. He takes time to find his words and you can tell he is very keen to be clear, as one former US president liked to say. Because there has been some misunderstandings for the 22 year old college student from Peru, now living in Californias Bay Area. 

“I joined the Human Library two years ago after I saw an ad on campus for an upcoming event at Foothill College, where I study. The ad made me realise that I had rarely questioned my stance on how other people treated and perceived me. I tried to ignore and normalize experiences like being underlooked for being a community college student, or being called a Mexican despite asserting I’m Peruvian.” 

For Leo the library has been an opportunity to better understand himself and his readers.

“When I learned about the library I felt an impulse I knew I had to follow, and I haven’t stopped. I’ve used the Human Library events as avenues to engage in conversation with myself and my readers, and have scratched the surface of topics I never thought were part of my life. For instance, after opening up during my first event, at Foothill College, I noticed that I had several misconceptions about myself, and that the most rational action I could take was to visit a counselor, which led to a PTSD diagnosis. And during one of my most recent events, hosted by UCLA, telling a Japanese family about my personal struggles while studying led me into counseling again, and an ADHD diagnosis.”

Human Library events take place in high schools, colleges, universities, libraries, community centres but also in work places. One of Leo´s finest moments as an open book happened during a reading for staff from eBay.

“It was my first corporate event and I was published at eBay’s headquarters in San Jose. After opening up to a group of four employees and telling them about the financial and socioeconomic struggles my family faced during our early stages, a lady of african american background empathized and resonated with my story. I saw tears dropping from her eyes as I spoke about the violence and insecurity I faced as a child and how my parents worked hard to pull my family out of that environment. After the reading we approached each other and hugged. It was a very heart-warming experience for me.”

Leo is on loan from the Human Library Bay Area Book Depot and this month among other he will be published online for staff from MASCO Corporation and as part of the collection for Unjudgement Day at the end of June. Helping us mark 20 years of Human Libraries across the world.

More information on Unjudgement Day

Apply to be published as a book in the Human Library.

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