Berkeley News on the late Judy Heumann
Showing posts with label Media Mention. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Media Mention. Show all posts
UC Berkeley Top Stories 2022
I get featured on UC Berkeley Top Stories 2022 - shaking hands with the Chancellor during commencement.
Print Version — for April.
#redefine_the_table #berkeley #pdsoros
2022 UC Berkeley News Recap
I got a mention for the month of April in the 2022 UC Berkeley News Recap
https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/12/13/top-stories-from-2022/
Media Mention
"In the book, I talk about this where I said that I'm more of a fan of the term high support needs and low support needs, because I tend to think that functioning labels really flatten the experience. Because if you call someone low functioning, what it does is it gives a lot of incentive to almost patronize them or to say they're not going to amount to much, so we don't need to invest that much in them. Whereas I think that if you call people high functioning, it almost kind of erases the very legitimate needs that they have. That binary doesn't do anybody good, I don't think. A perfect example that I used when I was writing this book is that I profile a woman by the name of Aria. That's a pseudonym.
She's married, she has kids, all that, but she had trouble graduating college and she had trouble finding work. Whereas there's this young man I profiled, his name is Hari Srinivasan. He is non-speaking. He just graduated from Berkeley a few months ago. He's now started graduate school at Vanderbilt University. At that point, when you think about those things, you have to ask yourself, "Okay, by those standards, who's the high functioning and who's the low functioning one?" You realize that that binary just is... It doesn't work."
WorkDay Presentation
Presented to employees at Workday today.
Was told audience enjoyed it and had some excellent takeaways.
Words from audience.
I keep nodding my head, “Yes,” “Agree,”, “Amen”, “Right on!”
I couldnt agree more
Thank you!
That was great!
Wow, thank you for sharing!
Thank you! What a fabulous program!
Awesome Hari!!
Wow! Thank you so much.
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you, inspirational!
Thank you for sharing your story!
Thank you 
Wow - such an impressive Young Man - thank you for sharing your story.
Thank you, Hari! Your story brings hope to us as parents with an autistic child.
Hari, you give me so much more hope, thank you!
Developmentally all over the place!!!!
Developmentally All Over the Place has so much truth!
So inspiring brings tears of joy to my eyes
Thank you so much, Hari!
Thank you, Hari!
Thank you everyone for joining
Thank you Hari and you are an inspiration!! Giving so much hope
Thank you Hari!
Thank you, Hard! I can’t wait to see the research you will do at Vanderbilt!
Thank you Hari!
thank you Hari
Thank you so much Hari!
Thank you, Hari!
Thank you so much. Amazing
Thank you Hari!
Thank you for your inspiration!
*Hari
Thank you, Hari!
Thank you, Hari!
Thank you so much Hari !
You've accomplished so much already!
Thank you!
Great presentation - thank you!
@harisri108 #Redefine_the_Table #autism #belonging
DREDF Spotlight
This month is Disability Rights. Thrilled to be on the same board with the likes of living disability legends like Judy Heumann. What an honor to be invited.
https://mailchi.mp/dredf/dredf-monthly-august-22
Hari Srinivasan joins the DREDF Board of Directors.
Hari Srinivasan just moved from Berkeley to Nashville, but we're lucky that he's staying connected to Berkeley by joining DREDF's Board of Directors. Hari has autism and ADHD with very limited speech ability, and primarily uses Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) to communicate. He is a Ph.D. Neuroscience student at Vanderbilt University, a PD Soros Fellow, and a Fellow at the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation. Hari graduated from UC Berkeley in 2022 as a University Medal Finalist, along with a Departmental Citation Award, Highest Honors, Phi Beta Kappa, and Psi Chi. As an undergraduate Haas Scholar, he carried out a year-long independent funded research on awe and empathy in autism. He also served as student president of the Berkeley campus organization Autism: Spectrum at Cal, stressing the idea of autism needing to go beyond mere Awareness, Acceptance, and Inclusion and towards Belonging. Hari's other affiliations include serving on the board of the Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, and as a Non Federal Committee member of the Interagency Coordinating Committee (IACC). He is also a member of the Council of Autistic Advisors for the Autism Society of America and sits on the Community Advisory Board for The Brain Foundation.
Media Mention
Media Mention...
Grad School News - Student Spotlight
https://wp0.vanderbilt.edu/gradschool-blog/2022/05/17/may-2022-student-spotlights/
Hari Srinivasan; an incoming Ph.D. student in neuroscience– , has been named to the 2022 cohort of the Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship Program for New Americans. This merit-based graduate award for immigrants and children of immigrants provides 30 fellows annually with up to $90,000 in funding to support their graduate studies. The 2022 cohort was chosen from a pool of more than 1,800 applicants on the basis of their potential to make significant contributions to the United States. Congratulations Hari!
University Medal Finalist
Another piece of good news. I'm a university medal finalist; in the graduating class of 11,000 students across all disciplines. Berkeley has been good to me.
https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/05/09/in-times-of-crisis-2022-university-medal-finalists-summoned-resilience-hope/
What character or experience sets the Class of 2022 apart?
“Resilience in readjusting back to a world of many new normals and new possibilities. For instance, it has been a bit harder to sit in a physical classroom now; it’s like many social skills built up over the years got lost in the void of a two-year lockdown. My motor system is in an uncertain state, at best, so there is a bit of a relearning curve involved for many like me. There are, however, many positives in our new normal, such as the possibility for remote or hybrid employment and education, which will benefit so many disabled folks like me.”
What has been a challenge you faced at Berkeley and how did you address it? “I loved that at Berkeley I was surrounded by non-judgmental peers who were open to inclusion, except they often didn’t know how to include, a major reason being they have not been exposed to many spoken communication-challenged autistics like me at the college level. My navigating Cal meant thinking of solutions from two ends — for me, personally, and strategies as to how others in that group could go about including me. An example is that I took on the introduction part in the debate team in professor David Presti’s introduction to neuroscience class instead of attempting the later rounds, which required more rapid responses. So I was part of the team, contributing, instead of just existing on the sidelines. This has obviously been easier in structured academic situations than in social settings.
I got covered by Berkeley Grad Diversity
I got covered by Grad Diversity
Full article: https://grad.berkeley.edu/news/announcements/a-thirst-for-education-and-autism-advocacy/
“Though it was a sense of duty that initially drew me to participate in GiGS as a mentor, it has been my absolute privilege to know Hari and be a small support in his journey to graduate school. I am positive he will accomplish wonderful things at Vanderbilt and beyond.” Lindsey Burnside. Hari's GiGs mentor
...
Hari is very clear about what drives his passion for higher education. “A college degree and above is what gets you a seat at the table, where you get to be part of the conversion about who gets access to spaces, funding, and resources. If we want to see change, belonging, acceptance, and other solutions for autistics, we need to see more autistics in higher ed. And we need to see all profiles of autistics, including the most marginalized autistics, for this change to be meaningful.”But for Hari, just having a seat at the table is not enough. “I want to be able to redefine the table itself, whether it’s academically or in advocacy. A fair and inclusive world does not just have to be a myth. We need to work actively to make the possibility a reality. Everyone deserves the same opportunity of education, inclusion, and belonging.”
Daily Cal covers me
In an about turn, I'm being written about by someone else at the Daily Cal.
Daily Californian: UC Berkeley wins Soros Fellowship to pursue PhD.
Full article: https://www.dailycal.org/2022/04/25/uc-berkeley-senior-hari-srinivasan-wins-soros-fellowship-to-pursue-ph-d/
At Berkeley, Srinivasan has already been conducting undergraduate research in the area of autism as a Haas scholar, according to Haas Scholars program manager and advisor Leah Caroll. Caroll said Srinivasan has looked specifically at how those with autism process emotions differently from non-autistics. In doing so, he has broken down common stereotypes about those with the disability, she added.
“It’s interesting that his scholarship is in itself a form of activism,” Caroll said.
In addition to writing more than 50 articles for The Daily Californian, Srinivasan is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and Psi Chi, leads a DeCal dedicated to educating peers about autism and serves as a national activist for policy reform surrounding disabilities, according to Caroll.
Caroll added that despite his commitments, Srinivasan goes out of his way to help his peers in the Haas Scholars program.
“He’s been extraordinarily generous with his time and expertise,” Caroll said. “He’s taught everyone about different ways of communicating.”
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https://flipboard.com/@thedailycal/news-0brl6vv8z/uc-berkeley-senior-hari-srinivasan-wins-soros-fellowship-to-pursue-ph-d/a-A5xuoZcdTBi5nARLAlHynw%3Aa%3A2444082641-b8f0e80a36%2Fdailycal.org
PD Soros in NYT announcement
Holding up a copy of the New York Times with the full page of the PD Soros Cohort.
Alphabetical order, so my pic on on the bottom row. 2022 has been an amazing year of good news for me.
Nothing to say, an afterthought puzzling oddity.
Nothing to say, an afterthought puzzling oddity.
Last week I won a prestigious fellowship for grad school with an alum that boasts students from elite schools across the US. It is a honor indeed to be recognized and selected and I am so over the top.
In the cohort of 30 fellows, four Indian-American students won the fellowship which was mentioned in a few Indian newspapers as well.
What I want to highlight is one specific Indian newspaper (not mentioning names here). There was plenty to say on the accomplishments of the other 3 non-disabled Indian-American students who are indeed quite accomplished. I am in deep admiration of their accomplishments.
However, when it came down to talking about me, it was like they were puzzled as to what to say around what my accomplishments were (if any). Other than Berkeley, graduating, disabled. I don't fit into their standard stereotype of the newsworthy nondisabled Indian-American student that makes it into a top school and probably has a dozen inventions or patents along the way. If I had been a nondisabled student helping the "usual objects of pity" disabled community with some invention, well that would have been newsworthy. It was like they were were struggling to write about this puzzling oddity of a disabled Indian student, who did not quite belong in their column, but would look bad for them if they left out altogether.
The sad sad irony in all this is that this is a Bay Area paper. I was born and have lived in the Bay Area all my life.
The point here is not my wanting more lines of mention around any accomplishment in an Indian newspaper. It's the feeling of being placed in the "other" group, of feeling that I don't "belong" in my own ethnic community. I felt quite sad.
Should I be surprised? After all, growing up, I've pretty much been ignored and not included by the nondisabled Indian kids who lived on my street in a South Bay neighborhood dominated by Indian and Chinese kids. We lived on the same street but in different Marvel multiverses. I simply did not exist in their world. They did grace my doorstep exactly once a year, at Halloween, arms outstretched for their share of candy. Understandably, Halloween is my least favorite holiday as it is a painful reminder of non-inclusion.
And lets not forget, in the not so distant past of 2015, the Gopal family in Sunnyvale had been sued by their neighbors and forced to move - one of the reasons being an autistic kid on the street reduced property values in the high priced Silicon Valley neighborhood.
Of course I cannot generalize my entire community - There are exceptions and I am so appreciative of those "gems" who crossed paths with me.
The point again of this whole piece- media representation matters. Else the stigma around disability will just continue from one generation to the next.
Think about it. Given that autism is the fastest growing neuro-developmental disability of today, it is highly likely that a near and dear one of yours will have autism sometime in the near future. Is stigma and exclusion really what you want for that person you care about?
Inclusion and reduction of stigma does not have to be an unattainable illusion.
It can be a reality. Let's start on that today.
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