Spectrum at Cal Fall 2020 Special

For any spectrum event, if you are non-Berkeley student and want to attend, please email spectrumatCal@gmail.com for a link. 

Acceptance Week Events - Nov 2020

Autism Policy Panel

Sam Crane from ASAN and Kim Musheno  from the Autism Society of America 

joined us to discuss Autism Policy. 

Recording at 

https://youtu.be/RpRYUcruTm8

Research Panel

Three Berkeley Professors, Steve Hinshaw (Psychology), Laura Sterphoni (Education) and Feldman (MCB) share their research in the field of autism.

The Acceptance Committee of SpectumAtCal at work planning upcoming events

Log Kya Kahenge: Abelism in the South Asian Community

The event is a collaborative effort between three student groups on the UC Berkeley Campus. the ASUC Disabled Students Union, Spectrum At Cal and the ASUC Senator Ruchi Shah’s office

Even Recording https://youtu.be/ClM3urKLpko

Career Panel 10/29/20

An informative and educational Career Panel from working professionals on the spectrum💻🤩

Black Autistic Lives Matter 10/10/20 

Oct 10. 2020

------

Vocab & Gender 10/23/20

Our virtual meeting exploring vocabulary and gender on the autism spectrum! 

In this meeting you'll get an introduction into important vocabulary to help you understand people on the spectrum. This includes conceptual frameworks, as well as language to consider when interacting with other's who are autistic. Lastly, get informed about how gender is an important dimension of autism and learn how there may be some gender differences

--------------

Peer-to-Peer Program

Spectrum At Cal is collaborating with WeEmbrace to launch the Peer-Peer Program at Cal. 

Intern@Spectrum Opportunity

Spectrum Board is looking for 2 Interns For Marketing and for Community Outreach Teams

Join Spectrum At Cal

Come for our first general Meeting

Board Meeting 9/19/20

Our First Board Meeting today

9/6/2020

It was great meeting with the team, but was nostalgic for the last year's ambience

As we planned the events and activities for the fall sem.

Word Cloud from today's team building Exercise

What does Autism mean to you?

------------------------

Virtual Calpalooza

9/2/2020

Come, meet and chat with us.

Informational chat for students to get to know the org.

-------------------------------------------------

Mental Health Week

An event kicked off even before the semester began. Spectrum At Cal presented on 2 different occasions. 

Why Autistics Belong and How to be Ally to Neurodivergents

Spilling the Cha Podcast - Destigmatizing Autism Podcast

 

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2a5ZwhaOkhgbXCw4GPGlNj?si=U1o7XAMwSVapuDUsNiOrDw&fbclid=IwAR3Akcrj4mTxGbjdJBmnLN-T1ddx4OiQ7agWE_5OrEiSeo8fz4UfDwdL57c

President of Spectrum Autism At Cal

So I'm President of the Spectrum: Autism At Cal,

 Student Org at UC Berkeley, for 2020-21

I had not even tried for the President role to begin with. Though I was offered the role, I was not planning to take it on. In fact, I was helping the outgoing President with our new org structure and interview candidates for all the board positions including the position of President. The experience of interviewing for positions was quite interesting actually as I got to know a lot about the candidates - both in terms of their skills and personality for the tasks required and their general attitude toward autism and what was their driving motivation. I got to witness this additional side of them which you don't see in your day to day interactions and was so impressed by their passion. This was very different from the interviews I do to get student reactions and experiences for Daily Cal articles.

Spectrum: Autism at Cal (SpectrumAtCal.org), had its first autistic President last year - Cole Hasserjian (Cole is also featured in my Daily Cal article on autistic students at UC Berkeley - It Really Is A Spectrum). The org has had neurotypical presidents in the past. So that will make me the second autistic President of Spectrum and the first Non-Speaking President. 

The org has grown quite a bit since the time I've been at Cal.  So much so, that the board org structure was expanded and updated for the coming year. The org has both autistic and neurotypical students and around half of this year's board are on the spectrum. There were also way more more applicants than the number of positions on the board. There will of course be need for even more people for the various committees that we will be forming for the different tasks; recruitment efforts begin in fall. The intern positions will be advertised in the first two weeks in fall as well. What was encouraging about the high number of applicants is that it seems to indicate a higher level of interest and awareness about autism and wanting to do something around it. A bigger org also means a lot more work for the President. In the final analysis and after much discussion with the outgoing President, I found myself in the role of President along with Eli Oh. It will be good to have a "speaking" person as there will be tasks which will be challenging for me to do physically either due to spoken-communication-challenges, sensory-challenges, fine-motor challenges or the oft unexpected vagaries of my particular brand of autism.

I will of course be leading the Autism DeCal class in 2020-21 as well. I absolutely love running this class. The DeCals are student-run, "democratic education", which are faculty sponsored and for academic credit. The Autism DeCal falls under the Psychology Department and is offered for 1 academic unit and runs for 1.5 hours a week for the semester (Psych 98/198 1:54 Autism Spectrum Disorders). Where possible, the Autism DeCal instructors work with the Spectrum Org; students in the class also get a chance for more exposure to Autism by volunteering with Spectrum. As both an autistic and as the Autism DeCal instructor, I have been quite involved with all that Spectrum has been doing since my second semester . 

Hoping to build on the momentum in the next year.  Especially want to see us expand our volunteering given our university actively encourages and is known for volunteerism and activism. Berkeley is an incubator for social justice change-makers. The Covid-19 threw quite a spanner in the works for Spectrum's biggest fundraiser of the year- our Annual 5K Run / 3K Walk in April (Autism Awareness/Acceptance Month). We keep our fingers crossed for fall and will have to course correct to online alternatives where possible if access to campus is still restricted.  

Inaccessible Space Allocations

My first meeting as the President of Spectrum: Autism at Cal at the Space Allocations Orientation Meeting.

Student Orgs on campus - and there are many many of them, can get allocated lockers, storage space or office space on campus. Spectrum  has been allotted a storage space as well.

This was an orientation meeting with agreement forms to be signed and the rules explained.  President + another org member were required to attend and sign the forms - all virtual in our current circumstance of course.  There is also the after hours key card access to set up for the org members

As to the actual locker, I guess we will get to it once we can actually get to campus!! As of now its inaccessible space allocation.

The spaces like people have gotten corona'd

Community Spotlight

https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1324643144411552&set=a.473050316237510

Spectrum: Autism at Cal

[Community Spotlight]

Our next spotlight is on Hari Srinivasan, who is Chair of our Education Committee for Spectrum: Autism at Cal.
Hari is a fierce advocate for autism and has also been the lead student instructor for the semester-long Autism DeCal course and writes about autism and disability for the Daily Cal. Hari is also on the board of the national autism advocacy organization, The Autistic Self Advocacy Network, ASAN. His wealth of knowledge, ideas, and experience has been integral in the growth of our organization.
A special thank you to Hari Srinivasan for his unique perspectives and wide support network; his significant contribution has allowed us to be where we are today

You can follow Hari on FB (Hari Srinivasan at Cal), Twitter (@harisri108), his articles in the Daily Cal (www.dailycal.org/author/haris/) or his blog uniquelyhari.blogspot.com.

“As a non-speaking autistic with significant other challenges that affect my daily life, I don't fit the traditional profile of the more put-together college going autistic. Today, I'm an undergraduate here at UC Berkeley majoring in Psychology and enjoying every moment of my interesting college experience which includes working at top notch research labs. So when I think of myself and about autism, the word that comes to mind is possibility, "Hari-as-possibility!" My road is uncharted for sure but without possibility there can be no opportunity. All of us, abled or disabled, want to be contributing members of society. So I hope to do much more in my life and continue to help others along the way.

This is my third semester as a student instructor for the autism course here at UC Berkeley. It has become an increasingly popular class with the initial class size of under 20 increasing to 25 and now to 30+. While acceptance of autism is still in its infancy, I am just so amazed, awed and encouraged by the students in the class each semester who want to expand their knowledge and perspectives on what autism is. My hope is that this will not only positively impact them in the way they come to view and interact with autistics in their future lives but also make them part of the solutions.

It was inevitable that I would be part of Spectrum:Autism at Cal here on campus, though I found out about the student organization only during my second semester, when I passed by the booth on Sproul Plaza. The experience has been very satisfying as the org has increasingly been working on increasing volunteering and community outreach and supporting local autism organizations in addition to raising campus awareness.”

Brian Liu

Thank you for everything you do Hari, and for being a great friend! You work so hard and have taught us so much

Debarshi Kundu

Thank you for being a fierce advocate for autism and autistic people, Hari!

Spectrum at Cal plans for the Semester

3rd Board Meeting with a guest from another student org

First Board Meeting

Planning for the semester at the Board Meetings of "Spectrum at Cal"

We have a lot of autism activities planned for this semester on campus including the annual Autism Walk/run in April

Movie Night for Spectrum at Cal

Movie night for Spectrum at Cal

Spectrum at Cal, Fall Special

Acceptance Week on Sproul Plaza

Board Meeting 12/3/19

Board Meeting 11/19

Board Meeting 11/12/19

What Parents have to Say

What Parents have to Say

As part of the Autism Awareness week, "Spectrum: Autism at Cal" student org, conducted short interviews with parents of autistics to learn of their experiences.

Here is the first video in this series with Jill Escher, who highlights issues in adulthood, financial security and public benefits. Jill is not just the parent of two non-speaking autistics but also the president of the SF Autism Society, leading efforts to get autism justice.

And a personal friend too. Thank you Jill for the interview

https://www.facebook.com/SpectrumatCal/videos/768055720272059/UzpfSTIxMjE1MzM5NTEyMTcwMjY6MjY2NDcwMjgyMDIzMzQ2Nw/?modal=admin_todo_tour

Here is the second interview in our series with Nate Tilton, a fellow Calbear and the parent of a son with autism. Nate is a veteran and Lab Manager at the Berkeley Disability Lab where I have the opportunity to be an RA this sem. One of the community rules in the Lab is "Stimming is Ok" - isn't that amazing!!

https://www.facebook.com/SpectrumatCal/videos/417217958965943/?q=spectrum%3A%20autism%20at%20cal&epa=SEARCH_BOX

As part of the Autism Awareness week, "Spectrum: Autism at Cal" conducted short interviews with parents of autistics to learn of their experiences.

Here is the final interview in our series with Jerry and Kim Hasserjian, parents of fellow Calbear Cole who is a business major. Cole is doing great work in leading the organization and outreach of the Spectrum student org as its current president.

https://www.facebook.com/SpectrumatCal/videos/908059946243651/?q=spectrum%3A%20autism%20at%20cal&epa=SEARCH_BOX

8th Annual Autism Walk at UC Berkeley

Giving an Intro Speech at the Autism Run

Hi everyone. My name is Hari Srinivasan and I’m a student here at Cal. I also write for the Daily Cal.

Berkeley is the birthplace of the disability rights movement and autism is one of the fastest growing neurodevelopmental disabilities today. Autism in all its forms has a voice and we want to make it heard. Did you know my friend David and I are the first two non-verbal students with autism here at Cal. It goes to show that autism too is a diversity category with the wide range of neuro diverse minds that comes with it. Only with more exposure to individuals on the spectrum, will there be a change in mindsets and greater acceptance. Having students with autism can be a win win for all.


When I turned up for the autism walk last year, I did not even know that there was a spectrum organization here at Cal. Since then, I have been doing a wonderful walk with this student organization and learning about the other interesting activities being done in the community for the autism population. I started off on the autism acceptance committee where I did tabling and flyering for the first time in my life. This semester I am actually teaching a class on autism to 20 neurotypical students.


Autism is like a cocoon that morphs into all sorts of unexpected colorful butterflies. If you notice our new logo is a butterfly. The butterfly effect says a small local change can lead to profound and complex changes around the world. That is what you are all doing here today by participating. You are all part of the butterfly effect that will change the way autism is perceived, understood and accepted.


Thank you for making it here today.

THE AUTISM BOARD AT UC BERKELEY

Autism Run Participants

Prepping Label for runners before the run. Opening safety pins is tough work.

Jordan, my fellow DeCal student teacher

The Autism Board

.

.

.

.

..

..

.