ACI Applications now open

 

The Autistic Self Advocacy Network is now accepting applications for the 2023 Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI) Leadership Academy! ACI helps autistic students learn to make their college campuses better for people with disabilities. ACI participants learn about making student groups, understanding disability policy, and talking to people in power. After ACI, students get help from ASAN to meet their advocacy goals at their college. ACI 2023 will be held from July 10th through 19th, 2023.

We hope to hold this year’s ACI program in-person. If it isn’t safe to do so, we will hold the program virtually. Due to the pandemic, we held ACI virtually in 2020, 2021, and 2022. If it is safe to hold ACI in-person, we will take numerous safety and health precautions.

To apply for Autism Campus Inclusion (ACI), you must:

• Be autistic. You do not have to have an official autism diagnosis to apply.

• Be a student at a college or university with at least one year left before you graduate.  Students in TPSID programs (Transition and Postsecondary Programs for Students with Intellectual Disabilities), 2-year community colleges, 4-year colleges, and graduate school are eligible to apply.

• Live in the United States or Canada. This includes all 50 states, all US territories, and all provinces and territories of Canada. (Please note: the policy sections of our program will focus on the United States) You do not have to be a citizen of either the US or Canada.

We especially encourage students of color, LGBT students, low-income students, students with intellectual disabilities, AAC users, and students from other marginalized communities to apply.

To apply, please submit a completed application by Sunday, March 5th, 2023 to Dean Strauss, dstrauss@autisticadvocacy.org.

If you need assistance or accommodations at any stage, or have any questions about ACI, please contact Dean Strauss, dstrauss@autisticadvocacy.org.

In a world full of hate, be the light that shines with kindness

Tornado and Thunderstorms

Today it's both in Nashville. Tornado Watch as well as Flood Advisory due to severe thunderstorms. We escaped the tornado but I still remember the last one. 

The sky grows dark and ominous

As storm clouds gather near

The air is thick with tension

As we brace ourselves in fear

The lightning flashes brightly

As the thunder starts to roll

The wind begins to howl

As the rain starts to pour

But it's the tornado to fear most

A swirling, deadly force

That tears across the landscape

Leaving destruction in its course

We huddle in our shelters

As the winds rage outside

Praying for the storm to pass

As we try to hide

But when it's over and we emerge

We see the damage that's been done

The twisted metal and broken homes

Lives forever undone

Yet even as we mourn

And pick up the pieces of our lives

We know that we'll face the storm again

For it's a part of nature's strife.

Joy is the spark that ignites our soul

Contemplation, one line a day #Mental Health

 

Vaikunta Ekadasi.

What are Hindu festivals like all about and why are there so many - almost one a month. In this busy, maddening, materialistic-chasing lives of ours which often is the hallmark of our progress, they serve as a reminder for us to really pause, contemplate and take stock our of spiritual pulse and progress. You could think of them as a mindfulness monthly check in. Images, rituals and the sounds involved are tools that facilitate this mindset. Its multisensory integration and balance for the body. For instance just reciting our Sanskrit slokas generate innumerable beneficial vibrations in the body and activate the significant chakras in the body. Images help with visual focus. The practical advice of regular fasting on the bi-monthly Ekadasi day from ancient times, is rediscovered and now marketed as a healthcare gut-cleanse. 

It's really amazing how Spirituality (the unexplained) of yesterday becomes the Science (the explained) of today. All the answers were always there, we just have to decode and understand them. In the modern era, we formulate explanations using the lens of science and evidence based research. Essentially, we are trying to reconstruct that old deciphering code, by asking the right questions, along with new technology; all of which kind of got lost/mangled over the centuries. Science is the process of "re-discovering" explanations. 

Today is Vaikunta Ekadasi, celebrated on the eleventh day of the waxing moon in the Tamil month of Margazhi (December-January). It is also called Mukkoti Ekadashi. In our Puranas, it's the day the ocean (kshira sagara) was churned by both the devas and asuras for the nectar of immortality (amrit) during the Kurma Avatar era of Lord Vishnu;  the spiritual significance being churning your own heart for goodness and purity and ridding it of falsehood, ego and conceit. 

Vaikunta Ekadasi is also called Guruvar, the day our beloved Krishna imparted the knowledge of the Bhagawad Gita to Arjuna. The Gita is about inner spiritual practices in the form of the different types of Yogas, that not just help you in physical wellbeing  and spiritual progress personally, but the resultant flow of unselfish thoughts results in service to society. After all, as Krishna tells us, the greatest seva (service) is service to society. 

Vaikunta Ekadasi is a multiple-blessings day.  It's the day the doors of Vaikunta, the abode of Vishnu open; the spiritual significance being an invitation for self-examination in our journey from the untruth to truth. On another note, it is believed that if you die on the day of Vaikunta Ekadasi, you bypass the rest of your karmic cycle of death-rebirths and attain Moksha, or liberation at the feet of God.  Kind of like an escape card. Of course we don't get to choose when we die, but I sure hope that when my time comes, it's on Vaikunta Ekadasi day. The essence of Karma is action and equal reaction, cause and equal consequence, which Newton "re-discovered" with a lens of science. Your actions in the present  (positive or negative) will have equal consequences in this lifetime or a future lifetime and our goal in every lifetime should be to cancel out all the negative accumulated karmic debt. Your atma (soul) has a much longer timespan that your mortal body in its journey to liberation. Rebirth makes total sense in modern lingo; we call it recycling now, instead of use-once and dispose off the old which just accumulates in polluting landfills. 

 

The greatest gift of optimism is the belief that tomorrow can be better than today.

Hope for 2023

Hope for an awesome 2023

I wonder what 2023 will bring?
In the Possibility of Me.

Dare I hope from others
....Surrounded by folks who are patient, encouraging & empathic towards my disability
... Make kind friends outside the classroom


Slow purposeful strides, an elephant I want to be.
... Relish learning and knowledge coupled with endless curiosity
... Use Advocacy & Research to add more pebbles that widen ripples in the pond of change.
... Giant leaps on the journey to emotional equanimity (mood continues to be tough nut)
... Learn to better manage & cope with the vagaries of my unpredictable disability.

Wishes for 2023

 

Equanimity is the stillness that allows us to find our inner voice

Towards a more humane society. #MentalHealth. Contemplation, one line a day.

 

Joy is the simple pleasure of being alive and experiencing the world around me

Contemplation, one line a day #Mental Health

 

Reflection Questions

Great advice from my friend. 10 questions as you reflect on 2022?

1. What were the biggest accomplishments or successes you achieved in 2022?2. What were the biggest challenges or difficulties you faced in 2022?
3. How did your relationships with others change or evolve in 2022?
4. How did you contribute to your community or make a positive impact in 2022?
5. What changes or shifts did you notice in your priorities or values in 2022?
6. How did you take care of your physical, mental, and emotional health in 2022?
7. How did you expand your knowledge base in 2022 through coursework, conferences, or other academic experiences?
8. How did you develop your critical thinking and analytical skills in 2022?
9. How do you envision your trajectory in the future, and what steps will you take in 2023 to work towards your goals?
10. What did you learn about yourself in 2022?

An Awesome Year

An Awesome Year

A sobering reality: I continue to have a ton of autism challenges and have not made much headway on those year after frustrating year much to my sorrow. They do consume a good part of my day; almost 95% of my life. I do wish that we as a society find solutions to those - both on the non-medical and medical front. However I also want to focus on the positives in this post because those give meaning for me to keep going even as I hope and search for solutions on other fronts. So here's the 5% awesome part even as they are tempered by the other 95%.

Awesome 2022

2022 was an awesome year.
An awesome year it was.
Like the tortoise (in Hare & Tortoise), I took slow strides.
Each autistic step - a belief in the Possibility of Me.
#redefine_the_table, #Hari_as_possibility
From Possibility comes Opportunity

Meeting the President and the Vice-President

2022 was the year I got to go to DC. Twice.
First time to meet with VP Kamala Harris at the Naval Observatory.
A second time I went to the White House where I got to shake President Biden's hand.
What an incredible incredible honor.

Who could have imagined stuff like this for me.

Getting an invite to the White House.

Meeting the President of the US

Just how awesome is that!!

I graduate from UC Berkeley

I'm a college graduate in year 2022. It feels so good. This was a kid that was not even expected to get a high school diploma. My lot was to be in special education and not aspire for much more. Education was the candy in the candy store with me firmly told to be outside.


This was a degree ++ with dollops of unexpected extra bonuses. I absolutely am relishing it.

How awesome is this?

I am just so darn proud of that yearned for degree

Young man, you must be doing some stuff right.

Cuz. along with degree there was even more

Additional appreciation in the most unexpected forms.

University Medal Finalist, I sit on Commencement stage with Chancellor & a Nobel Laureate

Departmental Citation, I give the Department Commencement Speech

Highest Distinction (other universities call this Summa Cum Laude)

Phi Beta Kappa, Psi Chi and 4.0 GPA

Awesome icing on a Berkeley degree

Undergraduate Research

As a Haas Scholar I not only got funding and mentoring for a year long research but I got to be part of a sagacious community, amongst aspiring change makers in myriad fields. The research was so varied and interesting and I listened in awe as students presented on topics from illegal trash dumping in Oakland to Prison Reform to circular RNA and the spread of dengue virus.

A special shout out to Leah Carroll who runs and is the glue that holds the Haas Scholars program together. She kept us to timelines and managed resources to help us get our resource done. And there was a lot of resource management logistics involved, like getting those participant gift cards out through Bear Buy.

I presented my research at 2 Academic Colloquia (Jan & April), and a SPSS (Society for Personality and Social Psychology) Poster Presentation in Feb. And I continue to work with Prof Keltner to get 2 papers (on awe and empathy) to publication.

I had a wonderful an encouraging mentor for my research in Prof Dacher Keltner.

How awesome is it...

...to research awe in autistics

....be mentored by an expert in the science of awe. 

Just how awesome is that?

Senior Honors Thesis

This research was also part of my Senior Honors Thesis. Every week I sat with my fellow students in the Honors class lead by Prof Linda Wilbrecht. I learned about what my fellow psychology students researched. I was surrounded by fellow researchers both within and outside the field of psychology.

I submitted my thesis on awe to the department in April - all 66 pages of it.

This was a faculty comment about my thesis

- This is truly an excellent honors thesis! The research topic is incredibly important and interesting, and it is unique to probe the autistic experience of awe in comparison with that of neurotypical individuals. The results are very cool, interesting, and complex. Although this is brand new research and more empirical data are needed, the preliminary results, which argue against the emotion deficit view of autistic individuals, are potentially groundbreaking. I hope you will pursue this work further and I hope we will see the work published in a psychology journal in the near future.

How awesome is that?

I think back to when early educators did not want me in their classrooms and every evaluation report and IEPs were a litany of my "lack of accomplishments," or "lack of progress." In fact during my first special ed kindergarten placement, the teacher sent home a note which essentially said that she was concerned at my lack of progress in the first 6 weeks in her classroom. This was to be a repeated story in the all the multiple special ed classrooms I was shuffled around in. 

Think, just how awesome it is for me now, to get comments from educators that rate me as excellent. I'm so so relishing it. 

Autism Decal

Spring semester was my 7th and final semester of Autism Decal. Creation of this impactful class at Berkeley is one of my proudest accomplishments during my undergrad. Just how awesome is it to hear that material from this class was influencing a grad student in Europe in her research. A class that grew from 17 to 50. It even was honored with mention on a US President (President Obama's) Instagram. Just too Awesome. 

The Daily Californian

I wrote my last column for the Daily Cal and waxed nostalgic (understandably).

What a wonderful experience Berkeley has been for me. It was my Golden Bear Song.

PD Soros Fellowship.

I got the call on Jan 7 from Daisy Soros - I'm a PD Soros Fellow. This is a very prestigious fellowship and the chances of getting in were slim. So to get through was rather surreal. 
The news was only to be released in April when 30 scholars graced a full page of the New York Times.

The fellows met at a 4 day conference extravaganza in New York in October.
Daisy Soros sure is a powerhouse at 94 - I am in awe!!
We fellows chatted, met with famous alum, toured New York and more - the Met, a Broadway musical, a Jazz club and a formal cocktail hosted by Daisy Soros. The conference sure was a lifetime experience and what an amazing cohort to be in.

Getting into Grad School

I'd applied to grad school last fall.

Results in early spring.

Decision deadline Apr 15.

Headed to Vanderbilt for a PhD in Neuroscience in Fall.

Can you believe this guy from grade 8 special ed now actually headed to grad school?

Media Coverage

There was a ton of media coverage around the PD Soros fellowship, my Berkeley graduation and Vanderbilt grad school admission.

I got multiple mentions in various UC Berkeley sites. Daily Cal covered me (a turnaround as I usually write the articles). I even made it to an article in Forbes. There was coverage in many Indian American newspapers and at Vanderbilt too.

All the coverage felt a little overwhelming yet I am totally grateful for all this acknowledgment of my accomplishments. (It helps counter the years and years of trauma build up with the reports of, will never amount to anything, claims)

From California to Tennessee. 

Grad School has meant a move across the country from Berkeley CA to Nashville TN.
It is a new place to adjust too! Transition and autism are not the best of bedfellows. 

I miss the extracurriculars and friends back home. I miss the view of the Bay and Golden Gate Bridge from my California bedroom window. 

It's pretty hot here in summer, a little too hot. But it's also green and lush with lots of rain. The grass is green even in winter due to the rain. Rain-starved California sure could use some of this rain (just not this week as I hear there are Bay Area mudslides due to heavy rains!!). 

I'm not missing the annual wildfire smoke of California. One year the sky turned orange from the smoke and the entire town of Paradise was burnt down. And looks like I narrowly missed some recent big earthquakes in the Bay Area. 

But there are other natural disasters to content with here - like my first tornado spent anxiously in the basement. What if you are traveling on an open road?

Winter is wet and cold with some snow. I'm not so sure I like this level of cold. I experienced my first snow and was housebound for 4-5 days over the winter break till the slick black ice on roads melted away. Being housebound for even a few days was a little scary but of course it's nothing compared to the plight of folks caught in the Buffalo snow blizzard.

Nature is lovely here - a walk in the nearby Percy-Warner park under the shade of the massive trees reminded me of the tall redwoods in Yosemite. The best part is the daily wildlife show. People travel to see such shows. Turkey and deer grace my backyard, with the occasional fox. I watched baby deer frolic around and grow into adults. Myriad birds perch and practice birdsong on the woody vines that hangs from the tall trees. Wildlife with a backdrop of tall lush trees in summer, changing leaf colors in fall and the snow clad barren trees of winter are awesome sights to see.

Nashville is Music City and I hope to get to experience some of that music soon.....

Grad School @Vanderbilt from Fall 

• Grad School orientation
• A Lab Coat Ceremony with my own Personalized Lab Coat
• A Neuroscience Retreat
• Lab Rotation at SENSE (Social Emotional Neuroscience Endocrinology) Lab
• Participate in the SENSE Theatre workshop. 
• An own office space at the research lab with my name on the door. 
• NISE Fellow at the Frist Center for Autism and Innovation at Vanderbilt.
• Did well on the academic front (Synesthesia, Multisensory Integration)

 
Survived first semester.....

A huge change, transitions that quite make the head spin.
Still adjusting, lots of figuring out left to do... a work in progress the next few years.
Fingers crossed that my unpredictable autism challenges let me travel this journey well.
And make useful contributions along the way.


But really, just how awesome has this year been?

Vacations

Got to visit Italy; Florence and Venice & Tuscany countryside over Spring Break. 

India over the summer for my cousin Ved's Poonal ceremony

Memphis over Thanksgiving break. 

And the 2 DC Trips and the NY Trip. 

Hope for an (equally) awesome 2023

I wonder what 2023 will bring?
In the Possibility of Me?

Dare I hope from others
....Surrounded by folks who are patient, encouraging & empathic of my disability
... Make kind friends outside the classroom


Slow purposeful strides, an elephant I want to be.
... Relish learning and knowledge coupled with endless curiosity
... Use Advocacy & Research to add more pebbles that widen ripples in the pond of change.
... Giant leaps on the journey to emotional equanimity (mood continues to be tough nut)
... Learn to better manage & cope with the vagaries of my unpredictable disability which can feel like a leaky boat. 

Wishing everyone an 

AWESOME 2023 full of POSSIBILITY

UC Berkeley Top Stories 2022

I get featured on UC Berkeley Top Stories 2022 - shaking hands with the Chancellor during commencement.

https://youtu.be/NQOtSiiUx-M

Print Version — for April.

https://news.berkeley.edu/2022/12/13/top-stories-from-2022/?fbclid=IwAR0DO68OKM1pzG-n6F-w3-3Aiufj-saJ7MKp_11LgJm6mEraagZcJbWalGc

#redefine_the_table #berkeley #pdsoros