Ashley House
Reporter
Several years ago, the Human Library was founded in Denmark as an attempt to break down barriers and facilitate conversations between people that would likely never happen. The inaugural event was such a success that the concept was recreated all over the world and has since been a popular event for peer group education. The Human Library today has official chapters in more than 70 countries, including several in the United States. This year was the UIUC chapter’s third anniversary, making an appearance at the annual Pygmalion Festival hosted in Urbana.
Made up entirely of volunteers, the Human Library has a staff of a few librarians and a handful of “books” at any given event. These “books,” however, are actually people with experiences that are unique yet relatable in their own ways, and stories that make you challenge your own stereotypes and stigmas. Each book is self titled and offers up a short description available in a plain binder you can flip through before choosing a book to “check out,” truly lending new meaning to not judging a book by its cover. Once checked out, you will be handed a card with suggested questions and a librarian will introduce you to your book, at which point you have up to 15 minutes to ask whatever you’d like to learn the story each book has to tell.
I had the chance to check out a few books at the Human Library last week, the first one being Schizophrenic. With my list of suggested questions in hand, I sat down with Isaac and quickly realized we’d been in a literature class together at Parkland a few years ago. After a few moments of catching up, I asked Isaac if he would be interested in sharing his story specifically for this article, and with his approval we began our “reading” session. Over the course of 12 minutes, Isaac shared with me details of his childhood growing up with symptoms of psychosis – hallucinations, paranoia, and delusions. These symptoms went without a diagnosis until a year and a half ago when he found out he was schizophrenic. Despite this, Isaac says not much of it ever bothered him growing up. “I didn’t realize that people didn’t think the same thing until I was a lot older,” he said. “For a long time, I believed that there were cameras in my house and microphones hidden and that people were spying on me. The most severe [symptom] is that I become very convinced that someone close to me is going to hurt me.”
With an official diagnosis, Isaac is now on anti-psychotic medication, which he says helps him get through his day to day symptoms and allows him to discount delusions and paranoia much more easily. The most important thing he wants to accomplish by sharing his story at events like this is to weaken the stigma against people with schizophrenia, to show that he and people like him are not dangerous – they’re not what Hollywood may make them seem, they’re not stalkers or murderers. “It’s really frustrating to see, and it just hurts to know that this is what people think of people like me.”
Following my conversation with Isaac, I sat down with Military Veteran in Higher Education, a fascinating story about Garrett, an Army veteran who started off at Parkland College many years ago, and with many uncertainties and doubts about his future, joined the Army instead of finishing college right away. During his deployment in Korea in 2001, what is now known as 9/11 happened. Shortly after, Garrett decided it was time to go back to college, finish a degree, and return to the military as a degree holding officer. Unfortunately he really missed the sense of purpose and the regimented lifestyle that came with the military, so he joined a local National Guard unit, and after a year, he was activated and called to join the fight in Iraq. “I was in Iraq for about 6 months before our vehicle was hit with an improvised explosive device,” he said. “During that, my arm was completely severed, my jaw was broken in about 7 spots, and I have a mild traumatic brain injury.”
After nearly a year of recovery, Garrett finally returned home to continue on with his life. “That was probably the hardest part,” he said. “Transitioning from an organized and structured environment, to now I’m living on my own, I’m 29 years old, and I’ve gotta figure out what I want to be when I grow up.” Garrett completed his associates in criminal justice at Parkland, and transferred to Illinois State University to complete his bachelor’s with the hope of becoming a police officer. Instead, Garrett pursued a Master’s degree from the University of Illinois and was one of the first people to be accepted into the Center for Wounded Veterans program, which helped him complete his degree in rehabilitative counseling. He now works at the Center for Wounded Veterans, helping veterans with their tough transition from military life to civilian life.
I feel beyond lucky to have had the opportunity to sit down with such uniquely inspirational people. Despite the adversity they have faced and the struggles they may deal with everyday, each person I spoke with had an infectious positivity about them and a special purpose in sharing their stories. People build up very tall, strong walls going through life, and it’s like we all forget that everyone we see in the halls or pass on the streets is also human and is also struggling, and while their struggle may be different from ours, they may have a light to shed on how to get through it. Though opportunities like these to speak on a very real level with our fellow human beings may be few and far between, each one should be taken full advantage of, as there will never be anything to lose in knowing someone’s story and allowing it to challenge your own stereotypes.
In addition to checking out some fascinating books, I had a chance to speak with the ladies that made it all happen, the librarians. “We’re striving to normalize these types of conversations, and reduce stigmas about mental health or other things people might have an issue talking about,” Sarah Christensen, one of the directors of Human Library, told me. They are striving to expand the horizons of anyone and everyone who is willing, and look to facilitate the unlikely and tough conversations that many people avoid. The Human Library at UIUC is a small chapter of a much larger international movement, and it’s hoping to grow even more in the coming years. They are actively seeking volunteers to be books or librarians. Students with interest in sharing their story or in helping others share their stories should contact Christensen at humanlibrary@library.illinois.edu with questions.
