Such in important point! Hybrid and remote work helps increase work opportunities and makes the work landscape more equitable.
Importance of Remote Work
Hybrid Employment
Hybrid/remote working enabled me to work during the past 4-5 weeks. Before Covid I’d have taken most of that time off. It also means I’ll return to work earlier after surgery than I would have done pre Covid. Even my boss acknowledged it as a benefit!
On Point
Hari is customarily brilliant and on point is this great op-ed @FortuneMagazine
on flex/hybrid work and disability. Read and learn from a great scholar and writer.
A more inclusive work environment.
Reasonability has been proven for remote access
💯%! Reasonability has been proven for remote access.
I was denied this as a requested accommodation with the excuse that a remote option was unreasonably difficult despite the course being offered remotely during COVID. If this denial had not occurred I would have earned my bachelors degree back in May. Instead I am wasting time trying to find a way to finish elsewhere without major setbacks and unnecessary cost.
Thank you Hari Srinivasan for the work you’re doing in this area!
I was denied this as a requested accommodation with the excuse that a remote option was unreasonably difficult despite the course being offered remotely during COVID. If this denial had not occurred I would have earned my bachelors degree back in May. Instead I am wasting time trying to find a way to finish elsewhere without major setbacks and unnecessary cost.
Thank you Hari Srinivasan for the work you’re doing in this area!
Access to Meaningful Work
Excellent article Hari Srinivasan. This makes sense. Grateful for you and the Frist Center Vanderbilt for promoting access to meaningful work for all.
Important Points
These are important points Hari Srinivasan made in the article. This one included:
"More importantly....."
A better mousetrap is not the solution to communication
NIH came out with this NIOS. I understand this as translating to ton of funding. https://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-DC-23-009.html Lot of excitement but everyone thinks it boils down to making better AAC devices. But they are kind of still missing the point.
In fact at a recent large conf, it was all about lets have more AAC, and we need to standardize AAC - folks all excited. Like, Voila, with better AAC, all the communication issues magic away (lots of sarcasm intended) in the minimal speaking autistics. My other takeaway at that conf was that specific groups want to be the monopoly and authority, power jockey, in a future $$$ app that all school districts will be required to buy and it will be applied willy nilly across the board.
I agree that making better AAC devices is important, current landscape is not user-friendly at all which makes them un-motivating to use. You have all these confusing screens you have to navigate and funny looking icons, or if its text based, phrase completion is a mess and so many other issues etc. etc. So many times, its easier to just not have to navigate it (and communicate) unless you have to. And a $$$ yearly subscription based model feels like someone is holding your tongue hostage for money. I wish the NT population gets to experience what that feels like.
However the bigger point that folks are missing is that just plopping a better mousetrap (better AAC) in front of an autistic with significant movement/ sensory / somatosensory / body schema issues does not make for effective or faster use of AAC (even the most sophisticated one).
Building a better mousetrap is a metaphor that is often used ironically to convey the idea that creating a superior product or solution does not guarantee automatic success
We need to also be looking trying to understand the underlying physiological and sensory issues - what’s going on, and then trying to support it and individualize it, whether its medical or technology. If the body is better put together, it can automatically handle the better AAC so much more efficiently.
You only need to communicate some of your waking hours but you need to be dealing with your crazy body every waking movement (and sometimes during sleeping hours too). A more organized body will help on so many fronts. Communication is just the tip of iceberg for the minimal speaking group.
Flexible Work
The importance of remote and hybrid options.
In the piece, Hari discusses the arguments now being made to roll back remote work options developed during the Covid-19 pandemic, arguing that the reasons given for the roll-back are similar to those made for other accessibility accommodations in the past. Hari points out the irony that remote work was often seen as impossible before the pandemic, but overnight became feasible: "Pre-pandemic, we had been told that it was not possible or not financially viable. Yet these models ironically became "convenient" and "financially viable" overnight when the non-disabled world needed them."
He details the importance of remote work options (including hybrid conferences) for disabled and neurodiverse individuals.
The article, in its entirety, can be found here: https://ow.ly/pXXN50Pnk8l
#Neurodiversity #ASD #Disability #Autism #Access #Hybrid #RemoteWork #Accessibility #Equity #ADA
#Neurodiversity #ASD #Disability #Autism #Access #Hybrid #RemoteWork #Accessibility #Equity #ADA
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