This week, Alex Hilton from Coventry sees all their hard work come to fruition with the launch of a sensory library for Coventry – primarily aimed at fellow autistic people, but open to all – inside the city’s Central Library.
Items including noise cancelling headphones, weighted lap pads, fidget toys and sensory lights can now be borrowed free of charge by anyone with a library card.
Alex outside Coventry Central Library
Alex hopes the sensory library will help others in a similar situation who are finding autistic sensory processing not typically well catered for, frequently causing overwhelm and distress.
Alex initially brought their idea to Grapevine’s monthly ideas night ‘Collaboration Station’, hosted by our Connecting for Good movement which is building an ecosystem of community-led initiatives combating isolation and marginalisation through community organising in Coventry.
The connections between initiatives proved their worth with Alex joining forces with Coventry Resting Spaces – another Connecting for Good supported project offering free, quiet spaces around the city centre where people who need to rest for whatever reason (autism, stress, anxiety or chronic pain for example) can take some time out from the hustle and bustle in a safe place.
The group, founded by Ashley, opens its fifth space at the Herbert Art Gallery in July.
The Coventry Resting Spaces map of venues across the city centre, available for free for anyone who needs to rest
As Coventry Central Library already hosts a resting space, it made sense to complement their offer with a sensory library in the same venue. Sensory items can be costly and people don’t always know what will help, or not, until after making a purchase.
For Alex, trying to pinpoint exactly what was needed and also having concerns about environmental waste, sparked the idea of a library of sensory items that people could try before they buy.
Alex will take over now…
Alex’s story
How did you come up with the idea of a sensory library?
I’d seen some interesting things online about the idea of a library of things and how sharing things can be better for the environment and people.
At the same time, I was struggling a lot with sensory overload and seeing friends struggle as well. I’d started exploring more sensory supports over the last few years and found some of them helpful. I wanted to do something to help my community and a sensory library seemed like a good option.
Why is it important to you?
It wasn’t until many years after my autism diagnosis that I really understood the effect that sensory needs were having on me.
For example, I now have noise cancelling headphones, which were eventually purchased through access to work, and they’ve made a huge difference to my life. I got these about 15 years after my diagnosis. If I’d had the chance to visit a sensory library at the time of my diagnosis and borrow a pair, I would have realised how much they would help me and been in a better position earlier in my life.
Seeing the difference these made led me to make the choice that I wanted to create an accessible sensory library to support others in my community to access and try out different sensory supports.
I’m also passionate about environmental sustainability. Manufacturing a lot of new stuff takes energy and resources and ultimately leads to more waste sent to landfill. Libraries of stuff are a way of sharing that reduces this environmental impact.
Some of the sensory items on offer to borrow
How did you make your idea a reality?
I wanted to do something collaborative but there is often a model for this which is ‘find people to make a group and run it together’. Managing group dynamics didn’t feel accessible for me but Grapevine were really willing to work with me on this to find a more accessible model.
Coventry Resting Spaces felt the sensory library was in line with their aims and we agreed to work on it together and combine our different skills.
We developed the project together, including holding a second table at Collaboration Station for people to choose the sensory items that they wanted the library to buy.
Library, Advice and Health Information Development Officer, Christine Okure also attended the original Collaboration Station meeting and she offered to support the project. It means the sensory items can be available whenever the library is open, in a city centre location that people already know and use.
Christine helped us with a letter of support for our funding application and coordinated between us and the Central Library to get the project up and running.
Leonie from Grapevine has been very involved with supporting me and the Coventry Resting Spaces group with the project planning, funding application and the meetings with the library, as well as the launch event and promotion.
We were very happy to get funding from Heart of England Community Foundation, through the Coventry, Solihull, and Warwickshire Fund, and supporting grassroots initiatives to change lives locally.
This project wouldn’t have happened without all of us coming together to make it work.
This week’s launch at Coventry Central Library – Alex is seated with Leonie standing behind wearing green. Image courtesy of Coventry City Council
Councillor Dr Kindy Sandhu, Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, said: “What a wonderful new addition to our already well-equipped Central Library. Everyone in the city deserves to have the opportunity to access equipment that is going to help their individual needs. I’m delighted that Alex has joined forces with local communities, charities and the library to make this idea a reality.
“The new initiative is going to be beneficial to so many people in the city and I’d encourage anyone that thinks they could benefit from the sensory library to go ahead and use it. I’m looking forward to having a look myself.”
Find out more
Find the sensory library items on display at Coventry Central Library next to the library’s VR room or by visiting their online catalogue here.
Read more about Alex’s blog about the sensory library here.
Connecting for Good Cov forms part of our Shifting Power work across Coventry and Warwickshire.
Learn more about how we started using community organising as a tool for creating better places by working on the agency, capacity and leadership of the people who live there so they can form solutions, hold others to account and advocate for their needs and aspirations: Grapevine’s story of 30 years of deep social change.
