UNESCO is celebrating this International Literacy Day 2024 by highlighting multilingual changemakers on a global scale. Among them is Hari Srinivasan, a trailblazer for disability rights, who is a multilingual American child of immigrants
Growing up, Hari Srinivasan remembers repeatedly learning about St. Patrick’s Day in his special education classroom—a holiday that, while interesting, felt disconnected from his own cultural heritage.
The approach, shaped by clinicians who advised speaking only English to autistic children, paradoxically led to a loss of cultural identity rather than the inclusive exposure that neurotypical children might receive.