Fall River's Infinity Library 'a sanctuary' made by and for people with autism. See inside

FALL RIVER — In a world that can feel overwhelming, Sam Freitas has built a sanctuary.

Inside People Incorporated offices in the Clover Leaf Mill on Father DeValles Boulevard, he created the Infinity Library.

Like other libraries, it’s a calm space filled with books and warm lighting freely open to the public, but the Infinity Library was specially created by and for people who are neurodivergent.

"It’s not just some library ... but a safe space for them," Freitas said. “We want to be able to really stick up for the people that we serve and know that they can make progress in a society that has traditionally been stacked against them.”

Early learning at People Inc.: A decade in the making, Fall River's new $13.5 million early education center breaks ground

A library built for and by people with autism

People Incorporated is a nonprofit that provides a variety of social services. Freitas, who is on the autism spectrum, has been connected to the group since 2018 as part of the Day Trip Squad, which participates in community outings. He’s worked for the group since 2022.

The library, he said, “was originally conceived as sort of a job training ground for autistic and other people in the so-called neurodivergent community that are in the People Incorporated umbrella.”

Under his direction, it became a haven filled with books, comfortable seating and stimulatory objects. It still serves its educational purpose but also provides a place where people with autism, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and other neurodivergent conditions can be welcome and comfortable.

“We’re not going to shut them up because they’re making stimulatory noises," said Freitas. “I as a person on the autism spectrum know full well what stimming, stimulatory noises, are, and what that means to our psychological well-being. So I want to be able to have that sanctuary for them.”

On one bookshelf is a basket of sensory objects of all kinds, which visitors can use however they like to regulate themselves. Freitas said he often needs to roll a pencil between his hands.

"It’s just a sense of cosmic balance, because I’m incorporating my sensual-emotional dichotomy with the world around me," he said.

Freitas designed the library himself, down to the decor, and naming it as a metaphor for the infinite variety of people welcome within its walls.

It was important to him that the Infinity Library be a product of someone in the neurodivergent community. One plaque uses the letters in “autism” to say “Always Unique, Totally Interesting, Sometimes Mysterious.” Freitas taped over the last two words and changed them to “Simply Marvelous,” noting correctly that being described as “mysterious” is outsider language.

“I wanted it to feel more like from the point of view of a person on the spectrum than from an outsider," he said.

Taking a trip: Somerset travel agent certified in autism travel wants all families to go on vacations

It's a library like any other, but like no other

The Infinity Library operates much like any other library. Books of all kinds are available — novels, young adult books, children’s books, nonfiction, research materials, emulating “the melody of a library,” Freitas said. People can borrow books for free for two weeks.

Like other public libraries, it even has free wifi and computer access.

“The idea seems to be coming along pretty nicely so far," Freitas said. “We’ve seen some pretty healthy engagement with our learning resources, and by engaging people in a variety of different disciplines, like music, business, and so on and so forth. We’re reflecting the nuance and raw fiber of an actual mainstream library.”

It’s been open since January, built by the People Incorporated facilities team, its Family Support Center staff and a $5,000 grant from the fall 2023 Matouk Company Fund of the SouthCoast Community Foundation.

The library is at 1 Father DeValles Blvd., Suite 401. It's open Wednesdays from 9 a.m. to noon and Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., though Freitas said he’s working on expanding those hours.

Though it’s designed with the neurodivergent community in mind, it’s open to the general public.

“We are only as human as the rest of you,” Freitas said. “We’re just simply figuring out this universe in our own way.”

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River social services agency builds autism-friendly library