Disability is Possibility

Disability is Possibility.
Sweep wide open.
The door of Opportunity.
Recognition, Visibility.
Disability is Possibility.
Disability is Possibility.

Autistic Inertia - I can so relate

 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.631596/full?fbclid=IwAR3deHWSI5E7xDJDgnc86aY5koey3JPu7g_u4YTuMHPAJpEisxxeyVCzN6s


"While autism is now recognized as a neurological condition, there is still a tendency to view autistic behavior as social, emotional and volitional rather than the manifestation of a differently functioning brain. Too often, autistic people are considered non-compliant or unmotivated when they fail to act. It would be easy to attribute their inaction to laziness or lack of motivation; however, several characteristics of autistic inertia distinguish it from voluntary task avoidance. First, while one may procrastinate about doing a chore that is aversive, inertia also affects activities the person enjoys. Second, even for tasks that are difficult or unpleasant, a strong enough motivator can activate an avoidant person. By contrast, participants in our study could not overcome their inertia in order to carry out a task that was important to them, often even those driven by basic needs. Third, our participants experienced as much difficulty stopping as starting, so they were not simply avoiding effort. And finally, rather than enjoying their diversion from an undesirable activity, our participants were often frustrated, annoyed and even physically uncomfortable due to their inability to act. While transient lack of motivation and avoidance of undesirable tasks is a normal part of life, this debilitating level of initiation impairment affecting even simple and enjoyable actions is clearly beyond the typical experience."


Keynote - Youth Leadership Forum - Able SC

 I was keynote at the Youth Leadership Forum by South Carolina Able on 7/26/21


Instagram post by @YLF_SC
YLF 2021 is in full swing! Delegates have spent the morning building their disability pride and hearing from our keynote speaker, @harisri108 , about how small pieces of self-advocacy can lead to big changes for the disability community!

As Hari said, 'I think when you have a disability, some part of you is always in some kind of self doubt about your capabilities'. For the rest of the day, we are continuing to build our disability pride and work on ways to get past that self doubt to become strong advocates for ourselves and others!

[Image: A computer screen showing a presentation. The presentation read, 'Pebbles in the Pond of Change. Small pebbles count and add to the ripple in that pond of change'. A picture shows 5 pebbles creating a ripple effect in a body of water.]



Chat Comments during webinar
08:02:32  What is Ryan?
08:02:45  A text-to-speech program
08:02:47  his aac voice
08:02:59  mine is called tracy 08:03:25 
08:10:32 Well put, Hari. No justice unless there's justice for all!
08:11:25  I completely agree with this video, it's very well put together and nuanced
08:18:28 You've done some really impressive work Hari
08:20:36  thats really cool
08:20:55 Hari just curious why did you make it so someone else is speaking on this slideshow and not you
08:21:13 hari has a speech disability
08:21:23 It's a text to speech program controlled by Hari, so it's still him
08:21:34 he has a speech disability
08:21:53 Ah
08:31:03  Thank you for sharing your story, Hari.
08:31:15 That was awesome Hari
08:31:37 That was amazing hari
08:37:36 i like that
08:38:17 That was very unique Hari
08:38:24 thank you for sharing hari
08:38:47 Great Job Hari!
08:38:54  It's very astute, I was impressed fr
08:41:02 That was amazing harri you did amazing job 👍🏾
08:41:16 I have a question, what do you mean each pebble is our own steps?
08:45:44  Thank you Hari!
08:46:11 Even the tiny things make a difference!




My first book reading

 my first book reading (via zoom) at the Oakland Asian Cultural Center, on 7/22

The last time I was published by Scholastic in an anthology, there were readings in Battery Park,NY and I never went as I thought I would not be able to participate, much to my regret now.
So this was my very first attempt using text to speech to read out the excerpts.. yeah.
Thursday 7/22, Essential Truths has their virtual Oakland Book Launch, hosted by Oakland Asian Cultural Center, from 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. PST!!!!




Chat Comments
19:03:05 From Rachall Lee, she/her (OACC) to Everyone: Today’s Program: 1) Opening & Land Acknowledgement 2) Guest Presentations 3) Open Discussion/Q&A 4) Closing 19:03:55 From Rachall Lee, she/her (OACC) to Everyone: Native Land website: https://native-land.ca/ 19:37:26 From danny ryu (they/them) to Everyone: Go hari!! 19:37:30 From Tria (she/her) to Everyone: So wonderful, Elmaz! And yay Hari!! 19:37:47 From Rachall Lee, she/her (OACC) to Everyone: Hari Srinivasan is currently a student at UC Berkeley and a student journalist at the Daily Californian. Hari is a prolific writer, having won many awards for his writing and poetry. He is also a minimally speaking autistic and passionate about disability justice. His advocacy was mentioned on President Obama’s Instagram campaign on the 30th anniversary of ADA 19:37:56 From Kelechi Ubozoh (she/her) to Everyone: I mourn the loss of the human body 19:38:05 From Diann Leo-Omine (she/her) to Everyone: Zoom the new reality 19:38:13 From danny ryu (they/them) to Everyone: A microscopic virus brought the world to its knees 19:38:32 From Sridevi to Everyone: the irony! 19:38:40 From Diann Leo-Omine (she/her) to Everyone: So true, Hari! 19:38:50 From Elmaz Abinader, She/hers to Everyone: Truth to power 19:38:54 From Lenore Naxon to Everyone: Indeed. 19:38:58 From Akemi Chan-Imai, she/her (OACC) to Everyone: <3 <3 19:39:12 From Kelechi Ubozoh (she/her) to Everyone: when the able bodied demanded it the impossible became possible overnight 19:39:20 From katie aliféris to Everyone: TRUTHS!!! 19:39:21 From Sandra Bass to Everyone: Cal in the house! 19:39:21 From Akemi Chan-Imai, she/her (OACC) to Everyone: yes!! 19:39:34 From Vanessa Cabrera to Everyone: when I was there I wasn’t 19:39:45 From Diann Leo-Omine (she/her) to Everyone: Somehow I was on equal footing 19:39:53 From Faria to Everyone: Zoom as an equalizer 19:39:58 From danny ryu (they/them) to Everyone: I became part of the conversation 19:40:07 From Sandra Bass to Everyone: A part of the conversation rather than an observer of conversations. 19:40:10 From Lenore Naxon to Everyone: He's opened my eyes. 19:40:12 From Christl Perkins to Everyone: became part of the conversation, more than an observer of conversations 19:40:17 From Shirley Huey (she/her) to Everyone: ^^^ 19:40:39 From Christl Perkins to Everyone: definitely a lot of intersectionalities 19:40:44 From danny ryu (they/them) to Everyone: yes. 19:40:45 From Shirley Huey (she/her) to Everyone: yes 19:41:00 From Yeva Johnson to Everyone: Hari, thank you for these lessons on intersectionality! 19:41:03 From Lorraine Bonner to Everyone: Elijah McClain 19:41:16 From katie aliféris to Everyone: yes!!! 19:41:20 From Sandra Bass to Everyone: survival of the kindest! 19:41:21 From Faria to Everyone: Survival of the kindest <3 19:41:21 From Tria (she/her) to Everyone: Yes, Hari! All these truths. 19:41:21 From Akemi Chan-Imai, she/her (OACC) to Everyone: survival of the kindest 19:41:24 From Kelechi Ubozoh (she/her) to Everyone: <3 19:41:24 From danny ryu (they/them) to Everyone: Survival of the KINDEST!! 19:41:28 From Yeva Johnson to Everyone: Survival of the kindest, never heard of that until today! Thank you!!! 19:41:28 From katie aliféris to Everyone: ^^^ 19:41:30 From Yeva Johnson to Everyone: ❤️❤️❤️ 19:41:30 From Shirley Huey (she/her) to Everyone: yes 19:41:37 From Tureeda Mikell to Everyone: Great information, Hari! 19:41:43 From Sridevi to Everyone: Sadly, it's true! worse for those with more intersections 19:41:53 From Sandra Bass to Everyone: Project our goodness into the world through ACTION! 19:41:54 From Tria (she/her) to Everyone: Thank you for this daily nudge <3 <3 19:41:55 From Vanessa Cabrera to Everyone: thank you!!!! 19:41:56 From Elmaz Abinader, She/hers to Everyone: yay 19:41:56 From Sandra Bass to Everyone: Thank you Hari! 19:41:56 From Faria to Everyone: Hari!! Thank you! 19:41:57 From Yeva Johnson to Everyone: Thank you, Hari!!!❤️❤️❤️❤️ 19:41:58 From danny ryu (they/them) to Everyone: Wowwwwww thank you hari 19:42:02 From Kelechi Ubozoh (she/her) to Everyone: HARI SO MOVING! 19:42:02 From Sandra Wassilie to Everyone: Beautiful message, Hari: survival of the kindest. 19:42:05 From Susana Praver-Perez to Everyone: Thank YOU Hari!!! 19:42:07 From Sridevi to Everyone: daily nudge for long term! 19:42:08 From Tureeda Mikell to Everyone: Yes all that’s Good within ourselves! Thank You!!! 19:42:12 From Christl Perkins to Everyone: Wisdom - thank you Hari! 19:42:14 From Nancy Hom to Everyone: Let us reach down into that goodness! 19:42:18 From Shirley Huey (she/her) to Everyone: Thank you Hari! 19:42:27 From Johnny Huy Nguyen to Everyone: Thank you for the real talk and the hopefulness 19:42:31 From Pardis Esmaeili to Everyone: So insightful 19:42:49 From maestro mathmattox to Everyone: 10Q so much hari!






HHS Announcement of IACC Member Appointment


https://iacc.hhs.gov/news/2021/iacc-new-members.shtmlContact: Office of Autism Research Coordination/NIH
Email: IACCPublicInquiries@mail.nih.gov

HHS Announces Appointment of New Members to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee

Wednesday, July 7, 2021

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced the appointments of new and returning members to the Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC), a federal advisory committee reauthorized under the Autism Collaboration, Accountability, Research, Education, and Support (CARES) Act of 2019. The IACC is a federal advisory committee composed of public stakeholders and federal officials that coordinates federal activities concerning autism spectrum disorder and provides advice to the HHS Secretary on issues related to autism. Committee meetings serve as a public forum for the sharing of community perspectives and concerns about autism. The committee uses this input as it formulates advice and recommendations for the HHS Secretary on matters related to autism research, services, and policy. The committee's responsibilities include developing and annually updating the IACC Strategic Plan for Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and preparing an annual Summary of Advances in ASD Research.

After an open call to the public for nominations of individuals to serve on the committee, Secretary of Health and Human Services, Xavier Becerra, J.D., appointed 20 new and two returning public members to the IACC to provide him with advice to advance research, enhance services, and increase opportunities for people on the autism spectrum. The committee also includes 23 new and returning federal officials representing key federal agencies and departments that serve the autism community across a wide variety of areas, including biomedical research, healthcare, education, and social services. Joshua Gordon, M.D., Ph.D., director of the National Institute of Mental Health, will continue to serve as the chair of the committee. The first meeting of the new committee will take place virtually on July 21-22, 2021 and will be open to the public via webcast. A full roster and biosketches of all the new and returning members can be viewed on the IACC website.

IACC Executive Secretary, Susan Daniels, Ph.D., stated, "We are excited to welcome the largest and most diverse IACC to date, with a wider representation of perspectives from across the autism community than ever before."

Public members appointed include autism self-advocates, parents and family members of children and adults on the autism spectrum, clinicians, researchers, and leaders of autism research, services, and advocacy organizations. Many of the appointed individuals serve multiple roles, such as parent and researcher or self-advocate and leader of an advocacy organization. Appointees hail from across the U.S., including states that have not been represented on the committee previously, such as Louisiana, Maine, Texas, Washington, Vermont, and Wisconsin.

Autism and disability organizations represented by new and returning appointees to the IACC include the Autism Science Foundation, Autistic Self Advocacy Network, Autism Speaks, Champions Foundation, Simons Foundation, and Madison House Autism Foundation. Four federal departments newly joining the IACC —the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, U.S. Department of Justice, U.S. Department of Labor, and U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs—will provide additional expertise in the critical areas of housing, employment, interactions with law enforcement, and care for veterans on the autism spectrum.

Public members appointed by the Secretary to serve on the IACC from 2021-2024 are:


  • The IACC is a federal advisory committee that was created by Congress in an effort to accelerate progress in ASD research, services, and policy. The IACC works to improve coordination and communication across the Federal government and works in partnership with the autism community. The documents and recommendations produced by the IACC reflect the views of a federal advisory committee, which is composed of federal officials and public stakeholders, but do not represent the views, official statements, policies or positions of the federal government. For more information on the IACC, please visit: iacc.hhs.gov.
  •