Human Library® at Lehman College | unjudge someone

NAVIGATING LIFE AFTER SPINAL CORD INJURY

5pm - 8pm   

Chapter 1: Navigating from a nursing home or hospital to permanent residence

Chapter 2: Making sure you request all necessary equipment before going home (equipment will vary depending on severity/level of spinal cord injury)

Chapter 3: Connecting with spinal cord injury advocates and organizations

Chapter 4: Having good medical insurance could make the difference whether you might walk again after a spinal cord injury or never walk again.

LIVING WITH EPILEPSY

5pm - 8pm   

What do Cameron Boyce, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Vincent Van Gogh, Dante Alighieri, Lil Wayne, Danny Glover, Theodore Roosevelt, Neil Young, Florence Griffith Joyner, and Prince have in common? They live(d) with epilepsy.

Chapter 1: Adult onset epilepsy

Chapter 2: Types of epilepsy and seizures

Chapter 3: Isolation

Chapter 4: Confronting the stigma

Chapter 5: How I manage my epilepsy - medicine, staying active, healing

FIGHTING TO EXIST

5pm - 8pm   

I was born with a neurology that makes me feel like existence is a daily struggle to be heard, seen, understood, and avoid being judged. Every single day since birth, I've felt like I don't really belong anywhere. After three decades of wondering why I've always felt like this, I finally figured it out; I was very recently diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, hyperlexia, and sensory processing disorder. I am also what professionals label a "twice exceptional (2e)" person - someone who is exceptionally or profoundly intellectually "gifted" but is multiply disabled. My neurology is atypical; I don't know how to "be" in a world in which the majority has a neurology drastically different from mine.

Chapter 1: The "Weird" Child

Chapter 2: Learning To Hide Behind A Mask

Chapter 3: Breaking Free, Falling, Hitting Rock Bottom, and Trying Again

Chapter 4: Embracing the Natural Anti-conformist In Me

Chapter 5: 2019: The Year All Was Made Clear (But Not Any Easier)

Chapter 6: What We Know About Autism is Wrong: Dismantling Our Ableism

STICKS AND STONES MAY BREAK MY BONES AND WORDS HURT TOO!

6pm - 7:40pm

Home was the Bronx, the birthplace of hip hop and break dancing. Growing up in the 60's and 70's, it was also a place of tight knit communities and some didn't welcome outsiders. This is the story of a woman whose educational journey began with being bused from her South Bronx neighborhood and the experiences that shaped her life and career. It is a story about rising above difficult circumstances to be the change we want to see.

MAKING LEMONADE - A STORY OF TRAGEDY TO HOPE

5pm - 7pm

The ingredients of a young male Bronxite entail his parents being murdered and the passing of his grandfather all before middle school. After he was adopted he received case management counseling and extra school services. Upon entering middle school, as one may imagine, he got into fights, suspensions, and poor grades. Yet, despite these ingredients for disaster, his life's recipe was changed and hope was added as a key ingredient.

The Butterfly Effect - Living with Lupus

5pm - 7pm

To many people I look normal like anyone else but inside my body is a war that is so confusing it even confuses my cells. What is it like living with lupus? Going to school, work, and even relationships.

ORTHODOX JEW IN THE CITY: RELIGIOUS PROFESSIONAL AND MOM

12:00 pm-3:00 pm

What makes an ultra-religious person different and not-so different from you.

SURVIVING THE SUICIDE OF A LOVED ONE - SIBLING GRIEF 

1:00 pm-3:00 pm

My younger sister's suicide at age 24 was sudden and devastating. Would the grief ever end? How would my family go on? How would I make sense of a world turned utterly upside down?

MAKING LEMONADE - A STORY OF TRAGEDY TO HOPE

12:00 PM-3:00 PM

The ingredients of a young male Bronxite entail his parents being murdered and the passing of his grandfather all before middle school. After he was adopted he received case management counseling and extra school services. Upon entering middle school, as one may imagine, he got into fights, suspensions, and poor grades. Yet, despite these ingredients for disaster, his life's recipe was changed and hope was added as a key ingredient.

Chapter 1: Dealing with death before middle school.  Chapter 2: Middle School challenges.  Chapter 2: Life, change and hope.

My Bronx Story - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEpefGshRQI

LIVING WITH EPILEPSY

12pm-3pm

What do Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Vincent Van Gogh, Dante Alighieri, Lil Wayne, Danny Glover, Theodore Roosevelt, Neil Young, Florence Griffith Joyner, and Prince have in common? They live(d) with epilepsy.

Chapter 1: Adult onset epilepsy

Chapter 2: Types of epilepsy and seizures

Chapter 3: Isolation

Chapter 4: Confronting the stigma

Chapter 5: How I manage my epilepsy - medicine, staying active, healing

MY FOOT STEPS: HIDDEN DISABILITY

​1:30pm-3pm

I grew up with constant stares and loud whispers. The emotional pain felt way worse than the physical. I hid my deformity with clothing until I gained the confidence to open up like I'm doing now.

Chapter 1: What is Bilateral Clubfoot? Diagnosis prior to birth. Treatment - Ponseti Method - Surgery at 10 months old.

Chapter 2: Two Left Feet. I don't want to do that FUN thing because people will see my feet. Difficulty finding shoes. First relapse at 8 years old. Special orthotic shoes.

Chapter 3: Betrayal. Bullied by close friends. Look what you made me do - "Hidden Disability." Second relapse at 16 years old. Physical therapy.

Chapter 4: New Me, Who's This? I don't need to "fit in". How my feet determined my career. Present.

Making Lemonade - A Story of Tragedy to Hope

The ingredients of a young male Bronxite entail his parents being murdered and the passing of his grandfather all before middle school. After he was adopted he received case management counseling and extra school services. Upon entering middle school, as one may imagine, he got into fights, suspensions, and poor grades. Yet, despite these ingredients for disaster, his life's recipe was changed and hope was added as a key ingredient.

Chapter 1: Dealing with death before middle school.  Chapter 2: Middle School challenges.  Chapter 2: Life, change and hope.

I have survived sexual assault, but still face anxiety from time to time. After going to many colleges, trying to figure out my path, I have finally found my purpose in life in helping others.

Unconventional - Tales of Struggle, Survival, and Triumph in My Journey to Self-Love

The road to self-love and acceptance was extremely difficult and painful for me. It was marked by years of extreme self-criticism and even self-loathing. What I came to realize was that the critical voices I "heard" were really the voices of all the people who judged me for wanting to find my own path in life and not following what was considered normal, or conventional.

Chapter 1: childhood, adolescence - struggles with anxiety, bullying, and no family support.  Chapter 2: college years, young adulthood, 20's - severe depression, dropping out of school, moving to another country at 21, marriage, abusive and strained relationships.  Chapter 3: late 20's to present - going back to college, challenges of raising a child, toxic people, healing, finding my voice and advocating for myself.

Orthodox Jew in the City: Religious Professional and Mom

What makes an ultra-religious person different and not-so different from you.

You Can Do it All: Metal Music Scholar, ComicFan/Gamer & Mom

Talking about what it is like to juggle many hats and break stereotypes.

My Cancer Notebook            

2nd Edition

A 19 year old college student is diagnosed with a rare form of cancer. To survive, he'll have to drop everything for a year and undergo intensive chemotherapy. He was on one path and is now on another. Where will it take him over his next 19 years?

Chapter 1: What did you just say?  Chapter 2: Searching in the wilderness.  Chapter 3: Making peace, finding meaning.

The story about all the barriers and obstacles a young immigrant student had to break in order to accomplish his goal with stereotypes, racism, bullying, illness, scarcity and more.

Chapter 1: Difficult transitions, moving to a different country, different schools, language barriers, parents divorce

Chapter 2: Scarcity of money, food and clothing, job harassment, college obstacles

Chapter 3: Adapting and leadership potential.