Inclusion begins with Acceptance

 Autism Acceptance is not just acknowledging our differences and wearing a ribbon every April, but also saying I like you just for being you. That I believe and will act in a way that indicates that your life is of worth to me and to the rest of society - Hari Srinivasan  

 

 

 

5th Semester of the Autism DeCal - Spring 2021 Edition

The course officially started on 1/25/21. And we started with a speaker on Day 1 itself. Why? Because I had submitted a syllabus for 13 weeks but realized there were only 12 Mondays this semester (Presidents Day and MLK take up 2 monday holidays). I had planned for 10 speakers. The last 2 classes have no speaker due to group projects. Anyhow it worked out well.

We had Noor Perez who does community outreach at ASAN come and speak on intersectionality in the second hour. Noor just gets better each semester and the class really enjoyed her talk.

For the first hour we had our introductions, our ice breakers, course expectations then our lecture on introduction to Autism.

And Apr 26, the last class, I can't believe we are done already.

Feedback from Students about the Class.

On Hari As Instructor:

• Hari was amazing! He is super inspiring and such a hard worker. He kept it real throughout the entire semester and I learned so much from him
• Hari did an amazing job! I really loved this class and I'm so grateful I took it
• LOVED Hari- he was funny and open and at times hearing how difficult things are for him a little heart breaking but also super hopeful- because I know he has struggled and come so far in a society where I struggle just to get parking. I especially appreciated his discussion of things that are difficult for him- like in the chat today he mentioned smiling is difficult for him as a motor function which is very different than my experience with my kids as for them it’s complicated because they don’t associate emotions with physical reactions on their faces- it’s just weird to them. Having that as background knowledge was much easier for me to understand than a page of potential ways autism can present- his explanation was just so clear. I have spent years reading and trying to understand what my kids go through and so much was just obvious when Hari put context behind it.
• Hari was amazing as facilitator.
• Hari is a fantastic facilitator and spends lots of efforts on preparing course materials
• I really enjoyed Hari as a facilitator and I'm super grateful I got to take a class taught by a student as accomplished as him.
• Hari was amazing as a facilitator. I don't think there are any improvements he needs to make (wifi issues are beyond our control). I loved his perspective and it truly enriched the class
• Great! Love the constant engagement in the Zoom chat
• Hari is Great
• Hari was great, i would hate to ask him to do any more. He did enough and should not be asked to do more because there is already so much pressure on him being the only facilitator on the spetrum and im sure everyone looks to him for information.
• I thought Hari was a great facilitator and he really brought in such a unique perspective because he was able to give his person experiences with so many of the topic
• Hari was a great facilitator and I'm grateful to have taken this course with him as a facilitator and not later
• Hari is great
• I think Hari was great! his explanations were clear
• Hari was a great facilitator! I really enjoyed hearing about his accomplishments and his personal experiences on certain topics. He can definitely share his experiences more

Which lecture(s) / topics(s) was most impactful?

• I enjoyed learning most about common "behaviors" associated with autism, as well vocab because that is helpful background knowledge.
• I found the most impactful lecture in all of class to be law enforcement and autism. This is a huge issue. 
• The most impactful topics for me were 2 (Autism Vocab), 4 (Common "behaviors") , 5 (Law enforcement), 6 (Common Therapies/Interventions), 9 (Tech & Autism), and 14 (Careers in Autism Space). These were super interesting and gave us both the positive and negative realities about having ASD and having to deal with real-life issues.
• 4. Some common behaviors associated with autism - because it really helps you familiarize yourself with these behaviors and understand them. So that you don't treat someone stimming in public differently or you can educate others as well.
• I enjoyed learning about 7 and 14 the most. I didn't realize how many comorbidities that there were and was excited by potential future prospects for autistics
• especially 6! i think discussing ABA pros and cons was very insightful
•  As someone who struggles with mental health, I loved the intersectionality with mental health in 3 and 8. I love learning more about mental health
• I think topics 14 (Careers in Autism Space), 6 (Common Therapies & Interventions), 2 (Autism Vocab), 8 (mental health), and 12 (Adult Issues) were the best ones. I think number 2 is particularly important as it gave us all information on how to use vocab correctly. Plus, I think autism in the workplace and ABA lectures were very impactful and I reflected a lot on them afterwards.
• 5 (seeing the black caretaker shot despite doing everything right was heartbreaking. This was impactful a little because of the social moment we're in with regards to race, but also because it showed that caretakers do care, even if some are not all that great), 12 (Geriatrics), 15 (Covid)
• The most impactful topic is Week 5-Law Enforcement and Autism - how autistics behaviors can be misinterpreted by police as willful noncompliance
  

On guest speakers.

General Comments

• Thank you for facilitating this course. I hope that it will be able to continue, even after Hari graduates,
• This course was impactful! i really learned so much and enjoyed every class.
• Thank you so much for such an incredible semester! I've learned so much!
• I loved this course and thought all the facilitators and guest speakers did a great job
• Thank you all so so much. I learned a great deal from this class and it was a wonderful experience being able to learn so much new information and hearing from amazing guest speakers
• Really appreciate the course! It definitely had a major impact on my understanding and now current view of autism
• This was an amazing course. Thank you.
• Thank you for such a great semester.
• This course was amazing! I will recommend it to my friends and I hope it keeps running. I think something that could improve is coordinating the lectures with the guest speakers so there are no overlaps or repetitive content. Also, lectures could be slower; sometimes they were hard to follow because of the speed
• In general, I think it was really valuable how the class discussed these topics and autism on a larger scale such as disability law and job advocacy alongside getting to hear from individuals such as the adult and parent panels on their unique experiences with autism. The class really did a great job of complementing with lectures, guest speakers, and more in-depth student presentations! It was sad to hear about some of the issues, but it also made me very hopeful to hear about these things being addressed and also courses like this where they are openly discussed and take the first step of making these issues known to those who might not know much about them. They all made me a lot more mindful and gave me a majorly broadened perspective of autism, and not just that, a lot of the discussions made me really want to go out and do more to help! Thank you for facilitating this class, I genuinely enjoyed and appreciated it!
• The way all three of them worked seemed flawless and unlike a lot of my Zoom classes there wasn’t any weird pauses. I really loved this class- it wasn’t stressful with the work load and it let me really focus on the material. I am super appreciative that this class was available. Really- thank you.
• I really enjoyed this class. Thank you!!

CripCamp at the Oscars

 This is such a cool facebook frame.
Can't think of a better candidate for a win at the Oscars.

Youth Today Article

 I'm mentioned in a Youth Today Article

https://youthtoday.org/2021/04/pandemic-forces-autistic-people-to-cope-with-ultimate-uncertainty/

SCREENSHOT OF AUTISM SOCIETY OF AMERICA'S CORONAVIRUS INFORMATION SERIES

Autism Society president Chris Banks (left) interviewed Berkeley student Hari Srinivasan in August about how he was coping with the pandemic.

University of California, Berkeley graduate student Hari Srinivasan had finally begun to immerse himself in campus life last year — no easy feat for an autistic person who is mostly nonspeaking.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, and suddenly the university system moved everything, including classes, online.

“I was enjoying the social aspects of college, building community with student organizations and even attending parties,” Srinivasan said with the help of a text-to-talk device, during an interview with Autism Society President Chris Banks on Aug. 27, 2020. “So this complete lack of face-to-face contact is a huge setback for me on the social gains I was making,”

The pandemic has been disruptive for almost everyone, but its disruptions have been particularly difficult for autistic youths, who thrive on routine.

Srinivasan and others like him have had to spend the past year finding creative ways to cope.

“This pandemic is like collective societal trauma and autism issues just exacerbates its effects,” he said. “… Many of us autistics don’t like too much uncertainty and this pandemic is like the ultimate uncertainty.”

The irony of accessibiliy

What do you do when your instructor assumes that everyone has "handwriting" ability and sends out this announcement? The irony is that this is a Disability Studies class where accessibility plays a prominent role.  My poor fine motor and motor dyspraxia means I have not mastered the art of basic handwriting let alone drawing.

Advocacy Day for Access and Independence

Event by ABLE-South Carolina

Recording at https://youtu.be/O4sd30F_9bk I'm on at 2:16:51 

Event Site: https://unlockingbarriers-sc.org/?fbclid=IwAR19-TeohFuvq2rnxLdCVObxGe1l8l5doQ0WT4s-upGSbSuf1cC-C_hCmb4#:~:text=Save%20the%20date%20for%20April,responsible%20as%20the%20pandemic%20continues

Blast from the Past - Vagaries of English Phraseology

 https://www.dailycal.org/2019/04/07/vagaries-of-english-phraseology-a-personal-essay/?fbclid=IwAR0NVna3qNWZLdQdG6RMm683Qp0ecFik7w3c35I7EZifyCVhAPdGLy4Zj8w

Haas Scholar Reception

A sleepy and groggy me attended the 430am Indian Time (4pm PST) reception for the incoming Haas Scholars. Over zoom of course this year. 83 people logged on alum, faculty, guest, and Bob Haas. In addition to the common programming, we fielded questions about our upcoming research in breakout rooms.

also no picture taken on the event. 

hsp.berkeley.edu/

CAT-Q measure to measure camouflaging in autistic females.

The Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q) was introduced in 2019 by Laura Hull and colleagues. 

What is Camouflaging

 Camouflaging involves modifying one's behaviors, such as suppressing stimming, forcing eye contact, or preparing jokes or phrases in advance, to conform to societal norms or to mask traits that might be socially stigmatized. This behavior is reported to be more common among autistic females and is hypothesized to contribute to the underdiagnosis or late diagnosis of autism in this group. 

What It Measures

The CAT-Q aims to quantify the effort and strategies employed by autistic individuals (particularly focusing on females or those assigned female at birth, AFAB) to camouflage their autistic traits.CAT-Q measures the discrepancy between the individual's natural autistic behaviors and the behaviors they exhibit in social contexts, essentially capturing the social coping strategies that are not naturally aligned with their intrinsic autistic characteristics.

The CAT-Q is a self-report questionnaire, meaning that it relies on individuals' own perceptions and reflections on their behavior. Respondents rate their agreement with various statements about their social strategies and experiences on a Likert scale. This approach allows for the collection of subjective data on camouflaging behaviors, which are inherently internal and personal.

Submeasures: 

The questionnaire is divided into multiple items that assess various dimensions of camouflaging, such as:

• Masking: Efforts to hide autistic characteristics.
• Compensation: Strategies to offset difficulties in social situations (e.g., memorizing social scripts).
• Assimilation: Efforts to fit in with others by copying or mimicking non-autistic behaviors.

References

1. • Hull, L., Petrides, K. V., Allison, C., Smith, P., Baron-Cohen, S., Lai, M. C., & Mandy, W. (2019). Development and validation of the Camouflaging Autistic Traits Questionnaire (CAT-Q). Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(3), 819-833. doi:10.1007/s10803-018-3792-6
   • Hull, L., Lai, M. C., Baron-Cohen, S., Allison, C., Smith, P., Petrides, K. V., & Mandy, W. (2020). Gender differences in self-reported camouflaging in autistic and non-autistic adults. Autism, 24(2), 352-363. doi:10.1177/1362361319864804
2. • Cassidy, S., Bradley, L., Shaw, R., & Baron-Cohen, S. (2018). Risk markers for suicidality in autistic adults. Molecular Autism, 9(1), 42. doi:10.1186/s13229-018-0226-4
• Livingston, L. A., Colvert, E., Social, A., Happé, F., & the EU-AIMS LEAP group. (2019). Good social skills despite poor theory of mind: Exploring compensation in autism spectrum disorder. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 60(1), 102-110. doi:10.1111/jcpp.12886

Related Posts

Masking & Camouflaging.

https://uniquelyhari.blogspot.com/2021/09/cm.html

Triple Bind and Masking in Autistic Females

https://uniquelyhari.blogspot.com/2021/04/triple-bind-masking.html

Masking as an evolutionary advantage

https://uniquelyhari.blogspot.com/2020/04/masking-as-evolutionary-advantage.html

CAT-Q measure to measure camouflaging in autistic females.

https://uniquelyhari.blogspot.com/2021/04/cat-q-measure-to-measure-camouflaging.html

Dont Cant Wont - Masking Camouflaging

https://uniquelyhari.blogspot.com/2021/05/dcw.html

Kollu Paati

 This artwork from the 1920s-1930s, still in its original frame, was made by my Padmasini Kollu-Paati (great grandma) - died 1958. She was quite the entrepreneur, ran her small home based milk business, and has even made speeches to mobilize other women to join the Indian Independence Movement. 

Some of the relatives from that branch of the family run the Gandhi Ashram in Selam, Tamilnadu. Another aunt of my grandpa went off to live and do social work with Harijans in the villages, which is pretty progressive for a femail from a conservative Brahmin family of that era.

Fossil

 My late Raghavan Thatha liked to collect fossils. This is not a piece of wood but actually a fossil and as heavy as a stone. How cool is that. 

Harrapa Artifact

My late Raghavan Thatha (grandpa) worked in archeology for a while. Replica of an artifact - Harappan seal from the Harappa archeology digs from the time of the Indus Valley Civilization. 2600BC-6000BC

Tongan Kava Bowl

My late Raghavan Thatha (grandpa) also spent many years in Tonga. Tonga is one of the last remaining Polynesian monarchies in the world. This is a Tongan Drum and a Tongan Kava Bowl. Thatha & Paati (grandma) have been to many traditional Kava ceremonies.