5th Semester of the Autism DeCal - Spring 2021 Edition





The course officially started on 1/25/21. And we started with a speaker on Day 1 itself. Why? Because I had submitted a syllabus for 13 weeks but realized there were only 12 Mondays this semester (Presidents Day and MLK take up 2 monday holidays). I had planned for 10 speakers. The last 2 classes have no speaker due to group projects. Anyhow it worked out well.

We had Noor Perez who does community outreach at ASAN come and speak on intersectionality in the second hour. Noor just gets better each semester and the class really enjoyed her talk.

For the first hour we had our introductions, our ice breakers, course expectations then our lecture on introduction to Autism.

And Apr 26, the last class, I can't believe we are done already.


Feedback from Students about the Class.

On Hari As Instructor:

  • Hari was amazing! He is super inspiring and such a hard worker. He kept it real throughout the entire semester and I learned so much from him
  • Hari did an amazing job! I really loved this class and I'm so grateful I took it
  • LOVED Hari- he was funny and open and at times hearing how difficult things are for him a little heart breaking but also super hopeful- because I know he has struggled and come so far in a society where I struggle just to get parking. I especially appreciated his discussion of things that are difficult for him- like in the chat today he mentioned smiling is difficult for him as a motor function which is very different than my experience with my kids as for them it’s complicated because they don’t associate emotions with physical reactions on their faces- it’s just weird to them. Having that as background knowledge was much easier for me to understand than a page of potential ways autism can present- his explanation was just so clear. I have spent years reading and trying to understand what my kids go through and so much was just obvious when Hari put context behind it.
  • Hari was amazing as facilitator.
  • Hari is a fantastic facilitator and spends lots of efforts on preparing course materials
  • I really enjoyed Hari as a facilitator and I'm super grateful I got to take a class taught by a student as accomplished as him.
  • Hari was amazing as a facilitator. I don't think there are any improvements he needs to make (wifi issues are beyond our control). I loved his perspective and it truly enriched the class
  • Great! Love the constant engagement in the Zoom chat
  • Hari is Great
  • Hari was great, i would hate to ask him to do any more. He did enough and should not be asked to do more because there is already so much pressure on him being the only facilitator on the spetrum and im sure everyone looks to him for information.
  • I thought Hari was a great facilitator and he really brought in such a unique perspective because he was able to give his person experiences with so many of the topic
  • Hari was a great facilitator and I'm grateful to have taken this course with him as a facilitator and not later
  • Hari is great
  • I think Hari was great! his explanations were clear
  • Hari was a great facilitator! I really enjoyed hearing about his accomplishments and his personal experiences on certain topics. He can definitely share his experiences more


Which lecture(s) / topics(s) was most impactful?



  • I enjoyed learning most about common "behaviors" associated with autism, as well vocab because that is helpful background knowledge.
  • I found the most impactful lecture in all of class to be law enforcement and autism. This is a huge issue. 
  • The most impactful topics for me were 2 (Autism Vocab), 4 (Common "behaviors") , 5 (Law enforcement), 6 (Common Therapies/Interventions), 9 (Tech & Autism), and 14 (Careers in Autism Space). These were super interesting and gave us both the positive and negative realities about having ASD and having to deal with real-life issues.
  • 4. Some common behaviors associated with autism - because it really helps you familiarize yourself with these behaviors and understand them. So that you don't treat someone stimming in public differently or you can educate others as well.
  • I enjoyed learning about 7 and 14 the most. I didn't realize how many comorbidities that there were and was excited by potential future prospects for autistics
  • especially 6! i think discussing ABA pros and cons was very insightful
  •  As someone who struggles with mental health, I loved the intersectionality with mental health in 3 and 8. I love learning more about mental health
  • I think topics 14 (Careers in Autism Space), 6 (Common Therapies & Interventions), 2 (Autism Vocab), 8 (mental health), and 12 (Adult Issues) were the best ones. I think number 2 is particularly important as it gave us all information on how to use vocab correctly. Plus, I think autism in the workplace and ABA lectures were very impactful and I reflected a lot on them afterwards.
  • 5 (seeing the black caretaker shot despite doing everything right was heartbreaking. This was impactful a little because of the social moment we're in with regards to race, but also because it showed that caretakers do care, even if some are not all that great), 12 (Geriatrics), 15 (Covid)
  • The most impactful topic is Week 5-Law Enforcement and Autism - how autistics behaviors can be misinterpreted by police as willful noncompliance


On guest speakers.




General Comments

  • Thank you for facilitating this course. I hope that it will be able to continue, even after Hari graduates,
  • This course was impactful! i really learned so much and enjoyed every class.
  • Thank you so much for such an incredible semester! I've learned so much!
  • I loved this course and thought all the facilitators and guest speakers did a great job
  • Thank you all so so much. I learned a great deal from this class and it was a wonderful experience being able to learn so much new information and hearing from amazing guest speakers
  • Really appreciate the course! It definitely had a major impact on my understanding and now current view of autism
  • This was an amazing course. Thank you.
  • Thank you for such a great semester.
  • This course was amazing! I will recommend it to my friends and I hope it keeps running. I think something that could improve is coordinating the lectures with the guest speakers so there are no overlaps or repetitive content. Also, lectures could be slower; sometimes they were hard to follow because of the speed
  • In general, I think it was really valuable how the class discussed these topics and autism on a larger scale such as disability law and job advocacy alongside getting to hear from individuals such as the adult and parent panels on their unique experiences with autism. The class really did a great job of complementing with lectures, guest speakers, and more in-depth student presentations! It was sad to hear about some of the issues, but it also made me very hopeful to hear about these things being addressed and also courses like this where they are openly discussed and take the first step of making these issues known to those who might not know much about them. They all made me a lot more mindful and gave me a majorly broadened perspective of autism, and not just that, a lot of the discussions made me really want to go out and do more to help! Thank you for facilitating this class, I genuinely enjoyed and appreciated it!
  • The way all three of them worked seemed flawless and unlike a lot of my Zoom classes there wasn’t any weird pauses. I really loved this class- it wasn’t stressful with the work load and it let me really focus on the material. I am super appreciative that this class was available. Really- thank you.
  • I really enjoyed this class. Thank you!!














No comments:

Post a Comment