Pondering the Imponderable
The answer exists. But
what is the question? That
really is the question
lurks the imponderable
conjectures and observations
waiting to be unraveled
Mind propelled, uncommon reality
flashes of insight, chasm fused tight
pondering the imponderable
A Walk on the Braille Side
A Walk on the Braille Side
The ability to be "Change-Makers" is in all of us. Most take the access-ramp to volunteering for granted, available to them if they choose to volunteer. Being differently-abled puts a whole new light on this access. Most volunteering opportunities require social interaction skills and the ability to handle oneself without too much assistance. There are many nuances to this - you may have to travel somewhere, meet people, explain, physically assist and have decent fine motor skills. It is no wonder that people with disabilities are, more often than not, excluded from the arena of volunteering.
All of us want to feel productive.
All of us want to contribute.
All of us have bright minds that think.
I’m a high school junior and have had a diagnosis of Autism since age 3. In fact, I only learned to communicate via typing at around age 13. I have many of the issues that keep me from volunteering in the classical sense – social anxiety, motor issues, and limited speech. Making sandwiches for the homeless was as challenging a coordination task, as was the social aspect of volunteering with the children at the shelter. My sensory system would be overwhelmed and disorganized at, “clean the park” type of volunteering. I was not being productive and mere physical presence at such events was a far cry from being a satisfactory volunteering experience.
Last year, I was invited to be a part of the team at AccessBraille (formerly Inclusive Volunteers), a new non-profit (www.inclusivevolunteers.org / accessbraille.org). Its founder, Nikhil Dilip is a high-schooler at Harker School in San Jose, CA. He had a disabled uncle who had not been permitted to volunteer at various organizations because he did not have the skills necessary to participate. Nikhil wanted to create an organization that would provide volunteer opportunities for ALL, irrespective of perceived abilities. It was a radical concept as everyone deserved to help out their community if they wished to do so. Inclusive Volunteers works with other non-profits to identify volunteer opportunities. Nikhil’s hope is that Inclusive Volunteers can eventually recruit people from all over the country and hopefully around the world. “If we can become a truly international organization, we will be able to do further volunteer work and help out the organizations that seek our help. In the near future, I hope that we can create a network of volunteers helping out organizations in need of volunteers and rather than we contacting organizations for work to do, we can build up enough trust in these organizations that they can recruit us”
Many of the opportunities would be virtual, which would suit not only suit the disabled but make it very convenient for the abled too. My generation is no stranger to the possibilities of “virtual!” Nikhil’s mother, Viji Dilip, already works for other non-profit, Benetech and Bookshare (bookshare.org) that is involved in a lot of free educational and technology programs around the world. According to Viji Dilip, “Thanks to the internet it is now possible for many people to volunteer from their home. Crowdsourcing has become an acceptable method for organizations to get their work done. This is a win-win situation both for organizations and for volunteers.”
A list of volunteer opportunities is available on the website. For example the Image-Description Activity (bookshare.org) is looking for high school volunteers. The task entails describing images in textbooks. These will later be audio recorded for the visually challenged / blind readers. In the past, images had always been left out of audio recordings. Essentially while you study Biology/History at school, you can volunteer by describing the images in a Biology/History textbook. Students can in essence turn studying itself into an act of volunteering. Currently there is a critical need for volunteers to describe images in Science and History Textbooks.
The volunteer activity closest to my heart, is putting together the periodical Braille Magazine. The Braille Access Project (brailleaccess.org) delivers mobile blind school kits to remote villages in Africa and Asia. Volunteers in those areas travel by van to remote villages and teach the visually challenged and their families to read Braille. Some areas are so remote, such as the mountainous regions of Nepal, that they are not van-accessible. So volunteers actually deliver the Braille Access Kits on donkeys.
Wouldn’t it be useful if, in addition, they had something interesting to read in Braille? That was the thought behind starting the free Braille Magazine. The Braille magazine, put together by the Inclusive Volunteers team, would accompany the Braille Access kits. Finally, my writing skills could be used to make a difference with my social and physical challenges no longer a hindrance.
We type the words with our fingers.
They will read our words with their fingers.
Reach out…. Our fingers touch theirs.
Imagination flows between the fingertips.
Unlock possibilities!
The magazine was appropriately named, “The Reading Finger.” The short articles were on a wide variety of topics - from poems to personal narratives to humor to travelogues. The authors have ranged from elementary to high school ages. Most significant of all, the articles came from both abled and disabled youth. It was truly “Inclusive!” You can help out by contributing short articles for upcoming issues of the Braille Magazine.
The articles are written in English, compiled and sent to a braille printer for printing in Braille. A page in English could well translate to as many as 3-4 pages in Braille font. Finished magazines in Braille, accompany the Braille Access Kits to their respective destination. Audio versions of the magazine are recorded, again thanks to volunteers, and are distributed. Every step of the process is done through the help of volunteers.
The very first issue of the ‘Reading Finger,’ last year, reached mobile (and non-mobile) schools in Liberia, Ghana, India and even the mountainous areas of Himalayan Nepal. Braille had reached, “The Top of the World,” - literally! The last issue this year carried a sports theme in honor of the Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The team is at work on the next magazine as we speak.
If you haven’t volunteered before, I urge you all to do so. Volunteering comes in all shapes and forms. The opportunity to make a difference can be just a mere keyboard away!
====
And this was one my writing pieces that won an award.
La lengua español ,es bonita
Poem written during Spanish1 of High School
=====
Yo termine todos mis lecciones este año. Yo mucho enjoyed aprender español (no tanta le parte de gramatica)
La lengua español ,es bonita
Lenguaje, es bonito (Language - it's beautiful)
Las palabras fluyen como un rio (The words flow like a river)
pero las lecciones de gramatica (but the grammar lessons)
.. un dolor (a pain)
...muchas reglas (lots of rules)
...muchas excepciones a las reglas (lots of exceptions to the rules)
...Muy confusa! (too confusing!)
Pero... (But)
la lengua español ,es bonita! (the Spanish Language - its beautiful)
P
Summer Ennui
Summer Ennui
School is out... Now what?
Summer Ennui!
Days of heat stretch
incessantly. Neurons slump and
stagnate. Tedium of monotonous
maze. Malaise of
inactivity. Yawns drown in infinite
apathy
School is out... now what?
Summer Ennui
A Fait Accompli
School is out... Now what?
Summer Ennui!
Days of heat stretch
incessantly. Neurons slump and
stagnate. Tedium of monotonous
maze. Malaise of
inactivity. Yawns drown in infinite
apathy
School is out... now what?
Summer Ennui
A Fait Accompli
A Hyphenated American in the nth Dimension
I am an “Indian-American;” a hyphenated-American in a land of millions of other hyphenated-Americans. Even the original inhabitants, the “Native-Americans,” have not escaped the hyphen. Over the years the hyphen has become a proud celebration of the American in us and cultural heritage that we add to its salad mix.
A Whale of a Tail 5/7
Hawaii Travelogues - Part 5 of 7
A Whale of a Tail
The North Pacific Humpback whales migrate almost 3500 miles from Alaska to Hawaiian waters during the winter months. They begin their migration from the Gulf of Alaska in early fall and go to Japan, Baja and Hawaii. Whale watching season in Maui starts Dec 15th but sea creatures don’t follow man made calendars. This year the kohala (whale) showed up more than 2 weeks early, which was good news for us as we got to see them during our visit. Gina, our guide on the whale watching raft from the Pacific Whale Foundation, was super excited about their early migration this year.
The 4 islands of Maui County (Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe) form a shallow ocean basin on the west coast of Maui. It is only around 300 ft deep vs the 1-3 mile deep Pacific beyond this area. Whales come to mate, give birth and nurture their young in the warm Hawaiian waters (around 75 deg), till they are strong enough to go back to Alaska in summer. The humpback whale is so huge that one would think that it can have no predators. But orcas apprantely have a hankering for humpback meat, and will attack the weak and baby humpbacks. Scientists have noticed orca bite marks on juevenile whales that come to Maui. Maui waters provide a predator free environment for the baby whales. However, unlike Alaskan waters, Maui waters are not a good food source (krill or phytoplankton), so the new moms lose almost a quarter of their body weight while nurturing its young. They must go back to Alaska to regain their blubber weight. The calves spend almost almost a year with their moms learning survival skills.
We were on a small 30 man raft, with just 7 passengers, so there was great viewing angles for all on board. The guides look for the whales by the telltale blowholes they make and its vapor residue. They try not to go too close to the whales so as to not disturb them. They whales are so huge that if they decide to jump, you can’t really miss seeing them. Another way they try to spot whales is to see if other boats have stopped. Sure enough, the ferry to Lanai was standing perfectly still, so our raft headed there. In a few minutes, there was the telltale blowhole - the pirate of old would say “Thar She Blows!”. People on board started getting excited (including moi).
Whales don’t really like physical interaction ie: they don’t really hang about together or socialize and are pretty much loners. When 2 whales hang out, its because it just happened - kind of like by association. We saw 2 such whales jumping out of the water. One did a full breech jump. That was a cool sight. Then they disappeared under the water for nearly 15 minutes. Then another sighting, this time a tail. Each whale has unique markings on its tale and that’s how scientists track them. Its really a Whale of a Tail. The two were gone again for another 14-15 minutes. These guys sure can hold their breath for a long time. The guide told us that the longest recorded time is 45 minutes. We saw them jump a couple more times. They kind of wandered off after that.
Whales do have a nifty way of communicating over enormous distances with their cool whale songs. Kind of like having friends on facebook - remote social interaction without the social anxiety of physical interaction. Scientists are still trying to figure out the patterns in their singing behaviors. Its only the males that sings but it does not always seem to mating related. Sometimes all males will sing the same song and it keeps changing as the season progresses. Gina put a underwater mike into the water so that we could hear the sounds they were making. Whales don’t really have vocal cords so they produce sounds by pushing air through valves in their respiratory system. The song is somewhat eerie yet interesting in its singsong quality - its like pieces of a symphony put together. It would be fascinating to learn more about the makeup of their communication system.
The next 2 whales we saw were a mom and baby - Gina kept saying that someone brought their whale karma with them on the boat, to get to see a baby this early in the season. Maybe that's my whale karma! Baby whales can hold their breath only for around 2 minutes so it was bound to come up more often, which really worked to our advantage. The mom is very protective of her baby - hangs around just underneath even though she does not need to come up. A couple of times both jumped up together with the baby on our side, so that we could see both. Too cool! The mother whale kind of likes to tuck the baby whale protectively under its fin when swimming. A baby whale is some 15-20 feet long so is easily visible to the naked eye.
Overall a very satisfying whale watching experience for a first timer like me.
Thar She Blows!
Fountain at Sea
Thar She Blows!
Blowhole, a Whale beneath
Humpbacks in Maui Seas
Migrate from Alaska
to warm Hawaiian Seas
Mate and breed calves
Frolic on the beach (not really!)
Mom and baby
Learn survival skills
Others hang about
Singing their symphony
Hawaii Travelogue 2012
Part 1 - Aloha Maui
Part 2 - I Survived the Road to Hana
Part 3 - West Maui
Part 4 - North Beaches and Watermen
Part 5 - Whale of a Tail
Part 6 - Humuhunukunukuapua'a and the Coral Reef
Part 7 - Living Aloha
A Whale of a Tail
The North Pacific Humpback whales migrate almost 3500 miles from Alaska to Hawaiian waters during the winter months. They begin their migration from the Gulf of Alaska in early fall and go to Japan, Baja and Hawaii. Whale watching season in Maui starts Dec 15th but sea creatures don’t follow man made calendars. This year the kohala (whale) showed up more than 2 weeks early, which was good news for us as we got to see them during our visit. Gina, our guide on the whale watching raft from the Pacific Whale Foundation, was super excited about their early migration this year.
The 4 islands of Maui County (Maui, Lanai, Molokai and Kahoolawe) form a shallow ocean basin on the west coast of Maui. It is only around 300 ft deep vs the 1-3 mile deep Pacific beyond this area. Whales come to mate, give birth and nurture their young in the warm Hawaiian waters (around 75 deg), till they are strong enough to go back to Alaska in summer. The humpback whale is so huge that one would think that it can have no predators. But orcas apprantely have a hankering for humpback meat, and will attack the weak and baby humpbacks. Scientists have noticed orca bite marks on juevenile whales that come to Maui. Maui waters provide a predator free environment for the baby whales. However, unlike Alaskan waters, Maui waters are not a good food source (krill or phytoplankton), so the new moms lose almost a quarter of their body weight while nurturing its young. They must go back to Alaska to regain their blubber weight. The calves spend almost almost a year with their moms learning survival skills.
We were on a small 30 man raft, with just 7 passengers, so there was great viewing angles for all on board. The guides look for the whales by the telltale blowholes they make and its vapor residue. They try not to go too close to the whales so as to not disturb them. They whales are so huge that if they decide to jump, you can’t really miss seeing them. Another way they try to spot whales is to see if other boats have stopped. Sure enough, the ferry to Lanai was standing perfectly still, so our raft headed there. In a few minutes, there was the telltale blowhole - the pirate of old would say “Thar She Blows!”. People on board started getting excited (including moi).
Whales don’t really like physical interaction ie: they don’t really hang about together or socialize and are pretty much loners. When 2 whales hang out, its because it just happened - kind of like by association. We saw 2 such whales jumping out of the water. One did a full breech jump. That was a cool sight. Then they disappeared under the water for nearly 15 minutes. Then another sighting, this time a tail. Each whale has unique markings on its tale and that’s how scientists track them. Its really a Whale of a Tail. The two were gone again for another 14-15 minutes. These guys sure can hold their breath for a long time. The guide told us that the longest recorded time is 45 minutes. We saw them jump a couple more times. They kind of wandered off after that.
Whales do have a nifty way of communicating over enormous distances with their cool whale songs. Kind of like having friends on facebook - remote social interaction without the social anxiety of physical interaction. Scientists are still trying to figure out the patterns in their singing behaviors. Its only the males that sings but it does not always seem to mating related. Sometimes all males will sing the same song and it keeps changing as the season progresses. Gina put a underwater mike into the water so that we could hear the sounds they were making. Whales don’t really have vocal cords so they produce sounds by pushing air through valves in their respiratory system. The song is somewhat eerie yet interesting in its singsong quality - its like pieces of a symphony put together. It would be fascinating to learn more about the makeup of their communication system.
The next 2 whales we saw were a mom and baby - Gina kept saying that someone brought their whale karma with them on the boat, to get to see a baby this early in the season. Maybe that's my whale karma! Baby whales can hold their breath only for around 2 minutes so it was bound to come up more often, which really worked to our advantage. The mom is very protective of her baby - hangs around just underneath even though she does not need to come up. A couple of times both jumped up together with the baby on our side, so that we could see both. Too cool! The mother whale kind of likes to tuck the baby whale protectively under its fin when swimming. A baby whale is some 15-20 feet long so is easily visible to the naked eye.
Overall a very satisfying whale watching experience for a first timer like me.
Thar She Blows!
Fountain at Sea
Thar She Blows!
Blowhole, a Whale beneath
Humpbacks in Maui Seas
Migrate from Alaska
to warm Hawaiian Seas
Mate and breed calves
Frolic on the beach (not really!)
Mom and baby
Learn survival skills
Others hang about
Singing their symphony
Hawaii Travelogue 2012
Part 1 - Aloha Maui
Part 2 - I Survived the Road to Hana
Part 3 - West Maui
Part 4 - North Beaches and Watermen
Part 5 - Whale of a Tail
Part 6 - Humuhunukunukuapua'a and the Coral Reef
Part 7 - Living Aloha
The Future of Math in Silicon Valley
Journalism Assignment for High school . I had to choose a beat (education) and interview 2 people for this article. A big thanks to both the interviewees!
The Future of Math in Silicon Valley
The Silicon Valley is noted for its expertise in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM). This helps it maintain its competitive-edge at a world level. Yet this area faces a severe shortage of Math teachers, as does the rest of California. An understanding of Math fundamentals and its applications is a skill that crosses many career paths and life skills. Laying this foundation and interest in Math, is often shaped by these very teachers.
Love Math, Hate Math! Math can be the easiest of subjects and it can be the hardest of the subjects. Teachers face students from across the spectrum. I interviewed 2 High School Math teachers, Sita Murugan of Independence High School in San Jose and Sushma Bana of Monta Vista High School in Cupertino, to get their perspectives.
Sita Murugan comes across both students who excel in math to ones who are unable to show the steps. Others lack basic math skills like adding, subtracting, multiplying, dividing, negative numbers, fractions, decimals, using distributive property etc. Monta Vista High School, on the other hand, is a high performing school, and some of the issues are very different. It is 75% Asian and it is presumed that all Asians are good in Math. Sushma Bana often comes across students who are pressured (parental and peer pressure) into taking higher-level math courses, even if interested in other areas. “In our school it is considered cool if you are a good student in math and science. Parents are very involved in their kids' education, which is a good thing for the most part. But sometimes they force their kids to take classes which are very challenging for them.” This reflects the wide underlying diversity of needs amongst students in Silicon Valley, which is presumed to be STEM-savvy.
The teachers take different approaches in tackling the issues. Sita Murugan makes use of differentiated instruction with software like Accelerated Math or Apangea, to help her students with their math challenges. Classroom instruction, in addition to computer/web-based solutions, plus on-line tutoring by credentialed instructors can help “ensure that students can learn math anytime, anywhere.” For her students, Sushma Bana feels that teacher recommendations should be taken seriously, when deciding on a math placement and that parents need to let their kids make informed choices.
While there is a fundamental shortage of math teachers, the issue is also a shortage of “good math teachers,” in Silicon Valley. The area has a very high cost of living, and qualified candidates with STEM degrees, often choose better paying careers. Attracting qualified talent loses out in the face of the cost of living. It is a critical problem, given the wide array of needs of students that live here and for Silicon Valley to maintain its competitive edge in the future.
What can be done to reduce the issues of good teacher shortage, and quality Math education? One obvious solution is to make the salaries competitive for highly qualified candidates with STEM backgrounds. Sushma Bana suggests offering incentives such as subsidized housing to motivate teachers to live in the area. The current teacher pay scales are based on years of experience rather than their effectiveness. As with the tech industry, pay scales needs to be on merit-based, rather than seniority-based. Sita Murugan suggests that the credential course for Math be made less rigorous. They could for instance split the level: Lower level for teaching (Algebra1/ Geometry) and Higher level (Algebra2 and beyond)
Other local districts have tried different methods to dramatically improve their “student to valuable human time ratio.” The Los Altos School District recently overhauled the Math curriculum for their 5th and 7th grades by using software from The Khan Academy. This was outlined by Salman Khan, founder of The Khan Academy, in his speech at the TED conference talks on Mar 9, 2011. In effect, “by using technology, they were humanizing the classroom.” In this way, they were able to motive students with a wide range of needs, keep them on a continual learning curve, and yet work with the limited teacher resources. Bill Gates, who introduced Sal Khan at the TED conference, stated that this could well be the future of education in the US.
Tablet Education - the iPad Experience
I am from Cupertino in California, the home of Apple Computers and its late CEO, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs grew up in this very town and started off his company in his garage with Steve Wozniak. Wozniak was the engineering end while Jobs was its dynamic creative packaging end. From there grew the company that revolutionized computers in many ways and more so the area of hand held devices.
I got my first iMac at age 6. It was a transparent box with a single power outlet, a keyboard and mouse - very futuristic looking and clutter free. I spent endless hours on it going though digitized versions of my favorite books - Dr Suess and Aesop Fables. The message that the slow and steady Tortoise could win over the fast Hare sunk into my mind with surety (from the digitized Aesop Fable, "The Tortoise and the Hare"). The Apple computer took a background for a few years till the advent of the iPod. Suddenly I had hours of music in my pocket, a relaxant and my companion on long plane journeys. The noise of my surroundings could be drowned out by a device that was but a few square inches. The iTouch was the next, it was exciting as I could now play games and it even had a small keyboard that I could type on. And I still had access to all my music. Along came the iPhone, and with it the power of reaching out and talking to others.
The finale was the iPad - a computer you held in your hands - an electronic tablet. It didn't require a lot of booting time, and it was simple to use. You could do most things on it that you could do on a regular computer. A touch screen meant that you did not need a mouse or a keyboard. You could type documents and browse the internet. There was an app for everything. Games were the first and they took on new level with touch-screen technology. Best of all it opened up a world for communication for those who desperately needed an avenue. There were text-to-speech apps, which gave the voiceless a voice. There were sentence and icon apps which helped bridge communication for those who lacked it. The world was potentially at our very fingertips. We could learn anything - there were no limits to educational and other possibilities. What a great equalizer for the world that is usually divided by access and abilities.
In the end, the camera and other fancy add-ones that a gadget provides are secondary. The fact that it starts to make a difference in the lives of many, and gives them new direction and hope, is what makes it remarkable.
Steve Jobs recently died of Pancreatic Cancer. We will miss you, Steve Jobs, Cupertino's own son. You put this little city, which was once just orchards, on the world wide map. Most of all, your products truly made a difference in the lives of many including me.
Unseen Faces in the South Asian Community
Journalism Assignment - I had to do actual interviews and write an article based on the interviews. It was ... a new experience.. a bit of a challenge too, but it worked out in the end. It was a different kind of interview(s) - mostly over email and one of the respondents gave their responses over the phone. I was able to get a number of people and thereby different perspectives of the issue... A big thanks to all my interviewees. Overall it was a good experience.
Unseen Faces in the South Asian Community
Cultural isolation is not a new phenomenon amongst immigrant families but what if it is accompanied with the added stresses of managing a disability? This was the case with many families of South Asian origin here in the Bay Area.
Rajni Madan, who lost a daughter to a childhood disability, noticed the bewilderment of such parents and decided to set up a support group that would engage families. That gave birth to “Jeena,” in 2000. Jeena in Hindi means life, and Rajni wanted families to have hope even as they coped with their sudden onset of challenges. It started with 7 families who reached out to each other, but the group has grown to over 500 families today. The disabilities range from the ever-growing Autism to Cerebral Palsy to chromosomal and metabolic disorders.
Jeena’s role has evolved over the years and is driven by the needs of the participating families. Founder Rajni Madan made a conscious decision not to ask for state funding for Jeena’s activities to allow for flexibility in its evolving needs. State funding entails a formal organizational structure and Jeena is entirely parent-run with the help of volunteers. Jeena relies on funding through donations (individuals and corporations) and through corporate grants that cover specific needs. According to Rajni Madan, the number of adults with disabilities is a small minority at Jeena, so most activities at the Milpitas center currently target the needs of the younger children. There are activities such as playgroups, group outings, bowling, picnics, music and dance classes, which focus on the social and pragmatic needs. Recently Jeena won a grant from the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce for community outings to encourage social appropriateness and independent living skills for teens.
Jeena also has a small funding program for families who are monolingual and are struggling to find resources for their children, which is not available through generic sources like insurance companies or school districts. They also have small project in Mangalore India, where they have helped fund the multi-purpose building of a new adult residential facility.
What types of challenges do these families face? I interviewed five Jeena families to find out. Some were parents of older children while others were parents of younger children. For Abhoyjit Bhown, father of a 19 year old, “The disability affects not just the individual but everyone in the family. There's often a constant demand of time and energy to ensure the disabled individual can function in various situations - at home, at school, in the community, etc. This time and energy means that parents and caregivers often give up various aspects of their lives such as work, rest, social activities, and sometimes even sleep. For other members of the family, they often give up their social activities, have fewer friendships, and often cannot engage in things that their peers normally do.”
Rajni Madan, who lost a daughter to a childhood disability, noticed the bewilderment of such parents and decided to set up a support group that would engage families. That gave birth to “Jeena,” in 2000. Jeena in Hindi means life, and Rajni wanted families to have hope even as they coped with their sudden onset of challenges. It started with 7 families who reached out to each other, but the group has grown to over 500 families today. The disabilities range from the ever-growing Autism to Cerebral Palsy to chromosomal and metabolic disorders.
Jeena’s role has evolved over the years and is driven by the needs of the participating families. Founder Rajni Madan made a conscious decision not to ask for state funding for Jeena’s activities to allow for flexibility in its evolving needs. State funding entails a formal organizational structure and Jeena is entirely parent-run with the help of volunteers. Jeena relies on funding through donations (individuals and corporations) and through corporate grants that cover specific needs. According to Rajni Madan, the number of adults with disabilities is a small minority at Jeena, so most activities at the Milpitas center currently target the needs of the younger children. There are activities such as playgroups, group outings, bowling, picnics, music and dance classes, which focus on the social and pragmatic needs. Recently Jeena won a grant from the Cupertino Chamber of Commerce for community outings to encourage social appropriateness and independent living skills for teens.
Jeena also has a small funding program for families who are monolingual and are struggling to find resources for their children, which is not available through generic sources like insurance companies or school districts. They also have small project in Mangalore India, where they have helped fund the multi-purpose building of a new adult residential facility.
What types of challenges do these families face? I interviewed five Jeena families to find out. Some were parents of older children while others were parents of younger children. For Abhoyjit Bhown, father of a 19 year old, “The disability affects not just the individual but everyone in the family. There's often a constant demand of time and energy to ensure the disabled individual can function in various situations - at home, at school, in the community, etc. This time and energy means that parents and caregivers often give up various aspects of their lives such as work, rest, social activities, and sometimes even sleep. For other members of the family, they often give up their social activities, have fewer friendships, and often cannot engage in things that their peers normally do.”
The other primary focus is on educational and emotional support for the parents via workshops, trainings, and social interaction opportunities. These workshops focus on learning specific techniques such as safety issues or methodologies and therapies. Parents network via a yahoo group and an online forum which makes physical location a non-factor.
Other families too spoke of similar challenges. A small change in schedule could result in sensory overloads, emotional turmoil and melt-downs. Imbibing independence in their children was a big hurdle. Even attempting to explain their children’s (dis)abilities to other families and relatives can be taxing. It is a non-stop commitment of time and effort and this paradoxically leads to social isolation from other families who don’t face or understand such challenges.
Ironically the social aspect, which is an important component in improving the quality of life for all involved, is often the first to suffer. All the while, the families are actively engaged in researching ways (be it educational, medical, therapeutic, social or functional needs) to help the affected individuals as there are no clear cut solutions. The needs of the individuals too change each year as they grew, and fresh challenges arose.
Ironically the social aspect, which is an important component in improving the quality of life for all involved, is often the first to suffer. All the while, the families are actively engaged in researching ways (be it educational, medical, therapeutic, social or functional needs) to help the affected individuals as there are no clear cut solutions. The needs of the individuals too change each year as they grew, and fresh challenges arose.
For the parents of the younger kids with disabilities, support groups such as Jeena have provided tremendous emotional and informational support to help them cope and deal with the shock of dealing with the diagnosis. Radha Kannan, parent of a now 10 year old, says, “Jeena helped guide parents to the right type of resources since it is too confusing to navigate the maze and decide where go first.” For Ahmed Hasan, parent of a now 8 year old, “Initially, the caring support from other Jeena parents was a huge emotional support; we felt that we were not alone.”
For parents of many of the older individuals, Jeena has provided wonderful social and emotional support and an environment accepting of their child’s challenges. However, for these parents, the added worry is the long term care and needs of their children – post-school, college, post-college, vocation, housing, finance, and emotional needs. For them, support groups provided help in some, but not all areas. They also felt that support from the community for the families lessened as the child grew. It was important that a support system be in place all their lives, such that they lead meaningful lives. How this was to be achieved, is still unchartered territory. In the meantime, these families were glad to receive whatever support they could get. The role of support groups such as Jeena essentially need to keep evolving, a thought echoed by its founder, to support the needs of its older children, now starting to reach adulthood.
Jeena may be a parent-run organization but often these parents are the same people who are over-stressed and over-stretched for time and resources themselves. Founder Rajni Madan feels that the biggest challenge Jeena faces is the ability for parents to participate on a regular basis. “A lot of times, the community is there to support, but for whatever reasons, the family is not able to participate.” Families too shared this frustration. Parents like Sumathy Narayanan, want to reach out and help or participate but often are limited by the demands of their own special family member.
A number of volunteers have come forth over the years to help Jeena and their support has been invaluable in various ways. I spoke to two such people, to get their perspectives - Prabha Venkat and Sanjana Anand. Prabha Venkat’s entire family, including her two sons, volunteer at Jeena. She started by babysitting while parents attended workshops and helping organize events. Her initial aim was to help in any way, even if it be another listening ear. She started to tutor 2 of the kids and this led to her sons being involved, and they started the Jeena Music Band. She is now an integral part of many of the activities at Jeena. Sanjana Anand is a teacher at Pt. Habib Khan’s School of Hindustani Music and their organization has been teaching Indian Classical Music to a group of Jeena children for over 2 years now. Her love for teaching music initially brought her to Jeena. It turned into wanting to understand the children and how best to teach them in a way that would make a difference. Such volunteers have essentially understood that rather than a disability, it should be regarded as, ‘different ability’. They both acknowledge the importance and role of support groups like Jeena in the lives of the families, especially the emotional and information component. Prabha Venkat also reiterated the need for immigrant families to think about the next steps - “What is the place for such individuals 20 years from now?”
I asked all the interviewees if it was a question of awareness in the community and what could be done to raise awareness. For Suman Kumar, parent of a 16 year old, “More parents of typical kids need to be part of Jeena to create positive interactions and create awareness.” Rajni Madan felt that awareness was far more than it was 11 years ago, but it was also about understanding the abilities of a person. Disability does not mean an inability to lead a normal and productive life. What was needed was a shift in how disabilities were perceived as was acceptance and tolerance on the part of the community at large.
Sanjana Anand felt that there was still a lot of stigma associated with disability in the South Asian community and hence the reluctance of the mainstream community to face issues that were different from their comfort zone – a kind of fear of the unknown. The unpredictability of the edges could be dissolved only through education. When the mainstream audience sees Jeena Kids perform at their public concerts, “It brings about a moment of pause, from their regular lives to understand the importance of organizations like Jeena.” For Prabha Venkat awareness was a function of exposure. The information age was there to help. “Heartstrings have to be tugged , an emotion has to be kindled…then comes maybe curiosity, then interest and before long you have an advocate, a fan and acceptance.”
The need for volunteers is ever-present and growing at support groups such as Jeena. According to Rajni Madan, the bottleneck has often been matching the time availability of volunteers with the needs of families. Prabha Venkat illustrated this mismatch with an interesting analogy - it was easier to run for “a cause,” than to actually interact with the special needs population. Not that the former is not a worthy cause, but running as an activity is predictable while physical interaction is unpredictable. For most, the unfamiliar territory is difficult to venture into. Her advice to all my fellow typical teens is to get involved and become part of this society because you all have a lot to give even as you learn in return.
(Information about the support group and how to volunteer is available at their website www.jeena.org)
Dios, ¿qué te llamo
Dios, ¿qué te llamo (God, what do I call you?)
usted o tu (formal you or informal you?)
Usted es mi padre (You are my father)
pero (but)
tú eres mi mejor amigo demasiado! (You are my best friend too!)
Hola Mundo
Hola mundo, Hola amigos!
(Hello World. Hello friends)
Hola mis compañeros estudiantes
(Hello my fellow learners!)
My foray into español starts this year.
Its sophomore in High School and the volume builds up.
A new language is thrown into the mix.
Vocabulario, Eso es puro
(Vocabulary. That’s neat)
Gramática….hmmmm… pero, así y así
(Grammar…hmmmm… just so and so)
Las sentencias, el flujo de pensamientos comienza
(Sentences, the flow of thoughts begins)
My teacher is Mrs Saunders (Maestra “S”)
and the software is Powerspeak – the world of virtual learning.
Wisdom Headed My Way
I enter my sophomore year in a few days time. Am I really that wise??
Sophos has a Greek origin, meaning "wise." Early Greek teachers, philosophers and imparters of knowledge were called Sophists. The novice, ignorant 'freshman' puts a foot into the world of wisdom. Then comes the 'junior' class of wisdom (sophos) and the 'senior' class. The suffix of sophomore was eventually dropped from the 'junior' and 'senior'. Today we are left with Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Seniors. This college terminology then percolated its way down to the four years of High School.
So is there lots of Wisdom headed my way?
If so,
I hold my arms out wide.
The greek "moros" means foolish! Oh the disappointment! Are sophomores (sophos+ moros) then mere "wise fools?" Isn't that an oxymoron as well, like the mournful optimist? I don't know about college years, but I can say that this definition pretty much sums up the quintessential high school teen!
The quintessential High School Teen
Neural activity at its peak
Yet...
illogical and logical simultaneously
This year I will have American Literature, Algebra II, Biology, World History, Spanish 1, Journalism and P.E. Waiting till next Monday!! My freshman year flew by in the blink of an eye. Oh, and I made it to the Dean's High Honor List in my Freshman Year!
Donner Lake
Donner Lake
Big blue, bluer and azure! Donner lake, blue gold by sunlight, turns silver by moonlight. A treat lay in store for the youth attending the DS USA event. Promises of chances to experience this magnificent lake at close hand. The 3 mile long lake lies on the edge of the Sierra Nevada Range near the town of Truckee.
The experience was just way way beyond expectations. Ie: I was in seventh heaven cubed. My favorite had to be the Jet Ski ride, which I did 5 times around the lake!! The Jet Ski just cleanly slices through the shimmering wavy sheet-like water and sends out streams of spray on either side. Houses on the other side of the lake - 3/4 mile away - are visible - mere toys to the eye. Little toy people stand on piers and grow lifelike as you get closer to the other shore. The steep turns and the tilts of the Jet Ski provide extra bonus thrills. I first tried Jet Sking during my vacation to the Bahamas laat year with Mom and Dad. The volunteers go faster than Mom and Dad, so this was more fun.
I would love to be able to drive a Jet Ski on my own!
I also tried tubing for the first time. It was fun to be dragged around the lake on the tube, but it was somewhat bumpy, compared to the Jet Ski. But still, not an activity to be missed - so went not once but three times. And of course a leisurely canoe ride was sandwiched there, somewhere in between.
We had spent the night at the Donner Village Resort. From the floating pier in front of our hotel, we watched others out on lake and the changing color of the alpine waters and the surrounding trees as the sun set. It was just delicious to the senses. (Kind of really over stimulating too!)
What a lovely mini-vacation!
Summer 2011 Vacation Travelouges
(A Mini Vacation 7/31/11)
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