Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Education. Show all posts
Crimson Friday
If Blue is Monday BLUES, then I assign color CRIMSON for Fridays - Fridays are playing a fiery catch up rush, on all that was due this week, not quite making the cut and knowing you are adding to next week's already big pile.
Read more of my poetry on YouTube on on this blog.
OMG I have so much, too much work left to do!!! #gradschoollife
Improving Accessibility
Amazing piece by @PDSoros fellow and @TheOpEdProject fellow @HariSri108 on the importance of flexible work and improving accessibility
My Op-Ed in Fortune on Hybrid as Accommodation
Feedback on this article
Well said! I think you bring up important factor of hybrid work environments. I think that due to the pandemic and the proof that hybrid works and happens. I think a strong argument could be made for hybrid a ‘reasonable’ accommodation.
Hari! Great article highlighting an important issue that is impacting workplaces and activities like conferences nationwide. I will share with colleagues who are working on this issue.
Well done, again!
Wonderful article, Hari! Thank you! I shared it with my husband, who is a business owner and has chosen to keep the company remote post-pandemic. And I shared it with my son, who is a neurodiverse activist who has many friends with a range of neurodiversities. Really appreciate you publishing your perspective.
Hari! Great article highlighting an important issue that is impacting workplaces and activities like conferences nationwide. I will share with colleagues who are working on this issue.
Well done, again!
Wonderful article, Hari! Thank you! I shared it with my husband, who is a business owner and has chosen to keep the company remote post-pandemic. And I shared it with my son, who is a neurodiverse activist who has many friends with a range of neurodiversities. Really appreciate you publishing your perspective.
Love it
This is great Hari! We'll add this to our social media queue.
Congrats on this outstanding, informative op-ed!
Great article, congratulations!
Congrats on this compelling piece of advocacy! I've just tweeted about it.
Fantastic piece, Hari. I love your openness—I learn so much from your writing.
Hi Hari, Great article on an important topic that’s very relevant to all of us nowadays!!
Great Op-Ed Hari! It’s super interesting and compelling!
Congratulations, Hari! -- your piece raises so many important issues
So helpful to reframe return to inperson as part of lost opportunity to consider accommodations for autistic and disabled plus many vulnerable groups (parents!)
Congrats Hari! Great perspective and what a fantastic platform to share it in.
Congrats and great to see this piece published!
Hari, Bravo! What an honest op-ed that not only highlights the hybrid versus remote debate but also voices the predicament that academics/researchers with disabilities experience with travel and dissemination of their work.
This is GREAT. Bravo.
Great article!'
Thanks so much for sharing Hari - an important article
Hi Hari!. Congrats on this compelling piece of advocacy! I've just tweeted about it.
Hi Hari, Congrats on this outstanding, informative op-ed! All the best,
Thanks for sharing this good paper.I love it
Love it
Thanks so much, for sharing this, Hari! Great article highlighting an important issue that is impacting workplaces and activities like conferences nationwide. I will share with colleagues who are working on this issue.
Great article!'
Thanks so much for sharing Hari - an important article
Hi Hari!. Congrats on this compelling piece of advocacy! I've just tweeted about it.
Hi Hari, Congrats on this outstanding, informative op-ed! All the best,
Thanks for sharing this good paper.I love it
Love it
Thanks so much, for sharing this, Hari! Great article highlighting an important issue that is impacting workplaces and activities like conferences nationwide. I will share with colleagues who are working on this issue.
Thank you so much for writing this, Hari
NASEM: Cultivating Accessible Educational Pathways and Spaces
Event by National Academies of Sciences, Engr and Medicine.
Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM:
Cultivating Accessible Educational Pathways and Spaces
THURSDAY, JUNE 15, 2023,
I was on the the panel that runs from 1:35pm ET - 2:15pm ET
Recording link
"This virtual session is a critical element of Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM: Cultivating Accessible Educational Pathways and Spaces, the fourth event in the five-part Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM conversation series. Overall, this event in the series will focus on the important role of education in preparing students with disabilities as they enter the STEM ecosystem. Discussions will focus on the need to challenge assumptions about who can learn and succeed in STEM and the need to make direct changes to policies and practices to facilitate positive educational experiences for students. Examples will include asset based approaches to learning in classrooms, laboratories, online, and in the field.
Got a nice feedback email today.
"My name is ____ and I work at a medical university in a northern town in ___Ontario Canada. I saw your presentation today on cultivating accessible educational pathways and spaces. I was completely blown away by your presentation. What you have accomplished is incredibly impressive. I not only applaud you but the professors who went out of their way to make labs accessible for you. I think as a medical school, we are behind the ball so to speak with regards to accommodating the needs of those with different abilities....... This entire series has been fascinating to me. Thank you for sharing."====
On behalf of the planning committee, I want to thank you for being part of the NASEM Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM discussion series. This event was very well received, and your panel’s discussion was truly fantastic. Thank you for your leadership and for taking time to share your insight and expertise.
It feels like a historic and meaningful inflection point for people with disabilities in STEM, and we are grateful for your role in driving that change.
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On behalf of the planning committee for the Disrupting Ableism and Advancing STEM conversation series and the National Academies staff, I wanted to express my sincere gratitude to each of you for an informative and engaging panel session. We are proud to have brought together such an amazing group of individuals to speak about Lived Experiences: Listening, Learning, and Acting. I am certain that your discussion was greatly appreciated by the over 320 who attended on June 15th to learn about issues related to Cultivating Accessible Educational Pathways and Spaces.
Your expertise and insights were invaluable, and we are so grateful for the time and effort that you put into preparing and delivering your remarks.
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Ed Levels and dx age
I came across an intriguing fact today.
Individuals who get an ADHD diagnosis in childhood tend to attain lower levels of education than individuals who get an ADHD in adulthood (Wymbs & Dawson-2015).
I wonder if there is a parallel in autism too. Do autistics who get dx in childhood have lower ed levels than autistics who get dx in adulthood. (though I could not see much research on this)I would think so - cuz despite the claim that you get better access to childhood autism therapy (most of which does not work by the way), you also end up facing a lot of gatekeeping from an educational system that fundamentally starts off with a view of lower exceptions of anyone with a disability dx, which means you are often kept out of mainstream education, gatekeeped out of opportunities than those without a dx would have access to if they chose to pursue it. We are not even given that option of opportunities as everything and everyone around you indicates over and over that you are incapable of more than just surviving and being pushed up and out of the school system (parallels to the school-prison pipeline in minority communities).
All this constant stigma and discrimination takes a toll on mental health, self-esteem, and motivation. If the ed foundational legs at the basic school level is non-supportive and discouraging, there is no motivation to complete and attempt yet another potentially demotivating/discouraging environment.
Ironically I find that though it's a lot more work/effort (the disability part), ed is actually much more non-judgmental and freeing at college level compared to school, but you have to first navigate the school system; a step many may not be able to cross, to even make it to college.
Grandma at Vandy
Saroja Paati (Grandma) visiting from India
and a visit to Vandy
A proud and beaming grandma at the Frist Center and outside my office space at the LASR Research Lab.
Dear Colleague
https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/dear-colleague-letter-online-accessibility-postsecondary-institutions
On May 19, 2023, the Justice Department and the Department of Education jointly issued a Dear Colleague Letter reminding colleges, universities, and other postsecondary institutions to ensure that their online services, programs, and activities are accessible to people with disabilities.
Letter at chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.justice.gov/crt/case-document/file/1584491/download
Hybrid is an easy accommodation
To give context to the above post, Sascha was one of the students in my Autism DeCal Class at UC Berkeley. I was happy to be able to accommodate her request of attending the class remotely that semester and extending that hybrid option to all the students in the class as well. Hybrid is such a simple and basic accommodation really, especially in a post pandemic world where zoom became a very viable option of attendance.
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And to hark back to another teacher who paved this way for me was Instructor Martha Oral (English 1B) in my community college when I was about to drop my fall semester as I would be unable to attend due to health reasons. Martha on her own initiative talked to the Tech support and organized Cisco Webex on her laptop which one student monitored during her class so that i could attend that class remotely. This was before the pandemic made Zoom an everyday word.
Autism after 21 Day
Does Autism Magic away in adulthood?
Where are there pediatric Autism Clinics in all hospitals but no Adult Autism Clinics?
Why is there a Services Cliff at Age 21, when any services (even if they are inadequate) received during childhood comes to an abrupt end with no replacement or continuation of supports and services.
IDEA protection end, with no equivalent replacements and supports
There is URGENT NEED for translatable solutions and supports for the ever increasing numbers of autistic adults.
End of IDEA protection afforded during the Ed years. The yellow school bus stops coming.
- Approx 1/3 of autistics who got access to mainstream ed are put on a diploma track in high school and have the opportunity to make their way to 2/ 4 college, at age 18. They join the swelling ranks of other late-dx autistics and face challenges and barriers that come with adulthood.
- Almost 2/3 of autistics who are dx in childhood remain in the special education all through their ed years.
- At age 18, they get another 4 years of what is called Post Secondary Program; located either in segregated facilities/schools, in the school district itself or more recently as programs run on university campuses so they happen in the same space as college-aged peers; though the programming may be different. At the end of the programming, they receive a Certification of Completion.
- IDEA protections end at this point. This is also the services cliff where all previous services.
- Their options are a series of adult day programs, upto age 50 and then 50+ years. These day programs again have a range of quality - from real job coaching to mere babysitting but there is far less state oversight of quality. There is a shortage of good programs. And as usual, much like special education itself, programs only want the "easy autistics". So where do the rest go?
- This is a HUGE problem, as families are suddenly handed back their adult child and told to go figure out what to do, from caretaking to daytime programming to housing and staffing, funding to figuring out pretty much everything. Many YA autistics have signifiant medical and other communication needs which can get aggravated with age with no real supports. The onus pretty much falls to the family to figure out what to do.
- The challenges faced compound for autistics who have higher support needs yet had somehow managed to access mainstream education and even make it to college. Its like straddling two world, as they face barriers in both world - neither of which knows how to support you or wants to include you. Its almost assumed you must be in one of the other other. I have to question this assumption. Instead why can we find solutions?
- Some of these barriers and challenges are unique to each space while others are common across the spectrum. The point being that adulthood in autism is not easy and we need to be thinking of solutions that helps each group and across the board.
April 13 is Autism Adolescence Day
Recognizing the transitions that come with adolescence in autism, along with the current inadequacy of needed supports, care and services. Translatable solutions are needed now.
April 13 is Autism Adolescence Day
Because being a teenager isn't hard enough already
Compared to Neurotypical Teens, Autistic teens face greater challenges in
Social Front.
- Social Isolation/Loneliness, Social Difficulties, fewer friendships/social contacts, lesser time spent on social activities (1,2,3)
- Mental health, suicide ideation and NSSI
- Bullying and victimization
- Navigating educational system & workplace due to social and communication difficulties
Health Issues.
- Seizure onset 15% (compared to 0.5 - 1% in general population) (4).
- Higher prevalence of atypical or non-convulsive seizures in autistic teens compared to non-autistic (5).
- Increased prevalence of epilepsy in autistic teens (11.4%) compared to 0.5% in general population (6).
- Sleep disturbance at 50-80%- insomnia, nightmares, and irregular sleep-wake cycles (7).
- Sensory sensitivities at 88% (non-autistic teens 58%) (8).
- GI symptoms in autistic kids compared to non-autistic kids. In a 2014 study (9) figures are 43.5% compared to 18.1%. In a 2010 study (10), figures are 46-85% compared to 9-10%). Which means the prevalence is higher in autistic teens as well. 'Autistic teenagers at increased risk for anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
- Co-occuring condition in 70% of autistics - anxiety disorders 41%, ADHD 31% & mood disorders 16% (11).
- Nuero-inflammatory markers in autistic teens
- Obesity 22.4% (general population 15.6%) (14)
- Asthma 22.2% (general population 12.8%) (15)
- Allergies 23.9% (general population 18.4%) (16)
ASA Press Release
I get quoted in this press release.
The Autism Society of America is taking direct action at a national level on multiple priority issues that impact Autistic individuals. In particular, the organization is highlighting the importance of passing legislation that provides additional funding for home and community-based services (HCBS) and addressing employment disparities. This includes the Better Care Better Jobs Act and the HCBS Access Act.
“The current system of supports and services are set up such that there can be a sudden stop in services for the most absurd of reasons. Such policies need to change,” states Hari Srinivasan, an Autistic student at Vanderbilt, and member of the Autism Society’s Council of Autistic Advisors. “I find myself in this strange situation where the PhD stipend makes me ineligible for SSI, which in turn is linked to all state-funded disability supports and disability health insurance that I have relied on all my life. My significant Autism challenges and required supports, did not magically go away in graduate school. It is like a financial penalty on the disabled person to want to aspire for higher education and the pursuit of the American Dream.”
I want to relate this back to what the late Judy Heumann said in her 2019 interview with me for the Daily Cal [post on unedited longer interview], [Daily Cal article]
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