One weekend in September, a couple walking their dog passed by an outdoor event in Redwood City, California. The signs described it as a Human Library event, where people sign up as “books” to tell a story about their personal experience and while others listen and ask questions. Thinking it a novel idea, the woman sat down with a “book” about living with autism. Afterward, she told Redwood City Public Library’s library services supervisor Jenny Barnes about how eye-opening the conversation was: Despite having autistic people in her life, she told Barnes, she’d never had the opportunity to ask questions about their experiences in such a safe and open way before.
Read more at Next City.