The Human Library: Sharing Our Stories, Shaping the Future

The Human Library

As a person living with dementia, I know that the most valuable thing I can still offer is my experience. Not the kind you get from a textbook or a training course, but the kind that comes from living each day with the condition, navigating its challenges, and discovering new ways to adapt, cope, and thrive.

That's why I love the idea of a "Human Library"—a place where people like me are the books, and others, such as researchers, designers, students, or professionals, can "borrow" our time and insights. It's not about being studied or tested. It's about being heard.

What is a Human Library?

In a traditional library, you borrow a book to learn about a subject. In a Human Library, you borrow a person for a conversation. You might speak to someone living with dementia, a carer, or a professional who works in the field.

Each person brings their own story, perspective, and wisdom, and ideally, they will have a background or knowledge of the research topic through their working life before diagnosis.

These "living books" help others understand what life is really like—beyond the leaflets, research papers, and awareness campaigns. It's a simple but powerful idea: real lives as learning resources.

The View from the Lender's Side

As someone who could be a "book" in this Human Library, I see so many benefits.

First, it gives me a voice. Too often, people with dementia are spoken about, not with. This kind of project flips that around. Instead of being seen as patients, we become consultants—sharing ideas that shape products, research, and services.

It also gives me a sense of purpose. Dementia can sometimes make you feel invisible or undervalued. But when someone sits down to listen, takes notes, and says, "That's a great idea, I hadn't thought of it that way," it's incredibly empowering. You feel useful again. You feel respected.

And the best part? Every conversation can spark change. A designer might rethink how they make packaging easier to open. A researcher might consider how to include people with dementia in their studies. Small changes add up to significant differences in how society treats us.

The Benefits for the Borrowers

For the "borrowers"—the researchers, designers, and professionals—there's enormous value too.

Reading about dementia is one thing. Hearing how it affects daily life is something else entirely. It makes the issues real, personal, and human.

A researcher might discover that the questions in their study don't quite fit real life. A tech designer might see that their clever new gadget is too complicated when someone's memory or focus changes. A policymaker might realise that dignity and independence matter just as much as medical care.

Talking to people who live with dementia can save time, money, and mistakes. Instead of designing for us, people can create with us - right from the start. That's genuine co-production.

A Two-Way Exchange

The Human Library isn't charity, and it isn't therapy. It's a partnership.

Each side learns from the other. The borrowers get insights they can't find anywhere else. The lenders get the satisfaction of knowing they're shaping the future of dementia care, products, and understanding.

It builds empathy, challenges stereotypes, and breaks down barriers. When you talk to someone face-to-face, dementia stops being a scary word and becomes a shared human experience.

Building a Better Future, One Conversation at a Time

I believe a Human Library of lived experience could transform the way society approaches dementia. Imagine every university, design agency, and research centre having access to a panel of "human books", people who can be consulted, not out of pity, but because they have valuable expertise.

People like me have spent a lifetime developing skills, solving problems, and adapting to change. Dementia doesn't erase that knowledge; it just changes the way we share it.

So, let's put that experience back on the shelf, ready to be borrowed, listened to, and valued.

Final Thought

We, the so-called "lenders," are not broken stories. We are open books, full of wisdom, humour, and hard-won insights.

The Human Library gives us a way to be heard and to make a difference. And for those who come to borrow our stories, it's a chance to learn directly from the experts: the people living with dementia themselves.

After all, the best research doesn't start in a lab; it starts with a conversation.