Empowerment through Activism

When I discovered feminism, I discovered an identity, a label which suited perfectly how I defined myself, how I wanted to define myself. It helped my self esteem, it helped me recognise that everything I had struggled with had a name - patriarchy. It made me identify with a group of people who thought like me. It made me place the blame outside my person. And placing the blame outside my person was the most empowering thing ever. I grew confident of my opinions, I was proud of my personality, my feminist personality. 

The Personal is Political doctrine of the feminist movement was extremely empowering for me. It helped me talk of my personal experiences to illustrate discrimination and injustice. It empowered me to call out bigotry and sexism with family, friends, acquaintances. It turned my gloom to anger. An anger that was ready to be channelized into activism. Through activism came empowerment. I think I can safely say my confidence came with my feminist identity, it helped me to yell at any guy who harassed me on the streets, to call out guys when I was a witness to harassment or violence against women on the streets. It helped me develop my capacity to say 'No'. This made me fear harassment less.

I believe activism is empowering, I believe being part of a rights movement is empowering. There are so many parallels to be drawn between the various rights movements, feminism, Dalit rights, homosexual rights, autistic rights, disability rights. We are fighting against discrimination because of an identity, we are fighting for equality, we are fighting for our right to public services, we are fighting for representation, we are fighting for our voices to be heard.  

The more I learn about the neurodiversity movement, the more I realise it could bring the same empowerment to autistic people, feminism brought to me. It is important for professionals, parents working with autistic children/adolescents/people to teach self-advocacy, activism, the right to say NO. It is vital to provide them with a communication tool and a language, that they can read, express and understand in order to advocate for themselves and inform themselves. It is important to introduce them to the neurodiversity movement, to other autistic people, talking, writing about their rights.

Read this brilliant article about the right to say 'No' for people with autism by Kassiane Sibley one of the editors of Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

Marriage pour tous - Marriage equality movement in France

Last night we were watching 'Le Grand Journal' this show on the French news channel Canal Plus, which is one of my favourite news channels. They are open, sarcastic, funny, very daring and unapologetically critical of French politics and society. 

For those who understand French and are interested in the marriage for same sex couples movement happening in France must watch link HERE

Last night on this show one of their invitees was the Mayor of the 4th Arrondissement of Paris - Christophe Girard. Christophe Girard is gay and everybody knows it and I imagine that this is brilliant for so many young gay people in France to have a role - model who is openly homosexual, successful and is a representative (an important one at that) of the government (and he is not the only one). In this show Girard talks about how in France being gay for his generation was not particularly difficult or stigmatising. Youngsters could tell their parents, friends and teachers they were gay openly and there was not much homophobic violence in France.

Now, if you have been following the Marriage equality debate in France you'll know there is quite a verbal opposition to this marriage equality bill which has thankfully been passed despite pretty violent demonstrations opposing it, despite threatening letters to the speaker of the National Assembly - Claude Bartolone. 

Marriage Equality movement - Courtesy www.dailykos.com 

Christophe Girard talking on Le grand Journal about these anti-marriage equality demonstrators which include politicians of the UMP party, talks about how this is a step back for sexual equality in France. He expresses how youngsters are going to once again be scared of coming out to their family and friends. During this debate, a gay bar was vandalized by extremists, homosexual persons have been brutally harassed on the street. This kind of targeting of homosexuals and open display of homophobia was uncommon in France before manifestations opposing equal marriage rights came to the streets of France. 

But one thing Christophe Girard points out that I think is an important lesson for India to learn from is that the laws favour equality, the laws favour the rights of homosexual persons in France and this is a loud and clear message to anti marriage equality voices and to homosexual persons - the majority of the parliament wants marriage equality, the majority of the parliament wants human rights for all irrespective of their sexuality, the law protects homosexual persons, the police will protect them. When the message is clear everybody gets it. And NO they are not demanding death penalty for offenders since they have done away with death penalty! They are demonstrating human rights for all and equality.

This is the message a government is supposed to give! The government is supposed to take a stand not be chickened out by opposition parties and manifestations. The government is supposed to stand up to protect human rights for all. What a distant dream this seems for India?!?!

MIHIR

So thrilled that Mihir was excited about doing this and in fact is the person who inspired me to start this series. It's a long story of newspapers and disappointments.

I hope there will be more who follow you Mihir. So glad to have you here :)

Mihir is a youngster with Asperger's Syndrome who writes beautiful poetry. Presenting a short introduction and a poem

     Favorite book and/or celebrity:

-       Books- Enid Blyton stories

-       Celebrity is ‘Puja Gaur’ Pratigya

·      Your favorite movie:

-       Life of the Pi

 

·      Things that make you happy:

         -Things that make me happy are success.

         - When people care about me.

          -When I am loved by every one.

·      Things that make you sad:

-When somebody teases me and gets angry with me or they ignore me.

    People you enjoy talking to:

-       With my school friends and my parents.

            

                                            MOUNTAINS

Mountains – a beautiful thing to climb!!

Nice things to explore!!

Seeing   good creatures from the top of a mountain,

A good valley - that can be seen.

Enjoying a holiday tour on mountains!!!

Footprints seen of a wild animal,

Green grass growing and strange creatures seen moving on the mountains.

Shout at the top of your voice…..

And there is echoing from the other side of the mountain.

Enjoy the sight of a lake or river from the top of a mountain…

Have great fun while climbing the mountain.

Enjoy the beauty of nature’s creation!!!

Autism Awareness to Acceptance - The Neurodiversity movement

I am two days late on the World Autism Day post, but better late than never right!

When I started working on my PhD on Autism and my practice with autistic children and adolescents, I started reading voraciously on the subject. And as I just moved to a big Indian city which brags about 24 hours electricity from Kathmandu (with 4 - 16 hrs power cuts almost throughout the year and poor internet), I rediscovered the magic of internet. I was amazed to be introduced to so many autistic self-advocates talking about neuro-diversity and autism acceptance. It gave me access to a community of people fighting for Autism rights. It completely changed my perspective of Autism.

I have been an advocate for equality in diversity for a long time and celebrate being a feminist. Just like till I started analysing patriarchy, I was silent to a lot of injustices, just like till I became interested in the Dalit movement, I was blind to caste discrimination and prejudices in my society, before reading (and reading some more...) from autistic people about neurodiversity and autistic rights, I was blind to the notion of 'normalizing' autism being discriminatory to autistic persons. Though, I never could accept treatments or therapies that aspire to cure/normalize autism and have always been more of a child-centered/driven therapist, I did not honestly perceive Autism as a diversity to be celebrated like any other.

Let's face it, I live in India and previously in Nepal, the lay man here has never heard about Autism (so many medical professionals haven't a clue what Autism is) and parents panic when they hear the word autism and search the internet. India, being heterogeneous as it is, seems to have more vocal flag holders for treatments to autism than autism acceptance.
There is thankfully now an Indian AAC device called AVAZ that could completely change the way autism is perceived when non-verbal autistic persons are given an AAC device to help in communication. The new generation being more tech-friendly, I am sure our young people with autism today will become activists on the internet and their voices will be part of what Indian parents read when they search about Autism.

Image created by Srinidhi R

When I read my post last year on Autism Awareness, I see several things that I am tempted to change but it marks my transition from Autism the 'disorder' to Autism the difference and I want to keep it as a reminder that talking and reading about Autism acceptance is important for that change to happen.

This transition happened thanks to the blogs I read and the children I got to know. They have taught me time and again to not underestimate them, that just because they don't say it doesn't mean they don't know. They have showered me with love, hugs and kisses, making my perennial depression with the state of the world disappear for just a few moments of 'being in the moment'. Most importantly they have taught me that the Autism Spectrum is diverse and to question my stereotypes about Autism everyday.

So this year I am going to introduce to you Indian Children with Autism. On this blog will feature throughout this month children and adolescents with Autism.

For World Autism Day this year, we wanted a local newspaper to do interviews of different people with Autism and we were looking for autistic adults in the city, but we were unable to find them. Considering Autism Awareness is pretty recent in India, I don't know how many adults even know about their autism. In bigger cities like Delhi and Mumbai, autistic adults are part of the autism rights movement and I have heard them speak at conferences, but internet presence seems small. Here is the one article I found written by self advocate Achyuntal Guha - My Story (who I have heard speaking too) on the Action for Autism website.

Till I find more Indian self-advocates, presenting Shiny Happy children and adolescents who will one day all grow up into Shiny Happy autistic adults.

READ (and follow on twitter) neurodiversity activists:
Thinking People's Guide to Autism @thinkingautism
Autism Women's Network @Autism_Women
Autistic Self Advocacy Network @AutSelfAdvocacy
Squidalicious @shannonrosa
Mama be Good @mamabegood


Find others on the Neurodiversity link list and blog roll on this blog.

Picture Guide to home composting

When I lived in Kathmandu, our house owners had a field in their backyard and a huge composting pit. When I moved to Ahmedabad, I couldn't bear not separating food waste, so I decided after a lot of research and visits to the Daily dump website here to fashion my own composting system inspired by the Daily Dump model that I would have definitely bought if I could have then. They do have an outlet in Ahmedabad now. Do check them out, their composting kits will make your composting life SO Easy!

I have used a combination of systems, I have a three tier composter and I use a leave - it pot for the compost to get done when my three tier system is full.We have a pretty green terrace garden so I also have a lot of garden waste and my composting unit fills up quite fast.

Here is what my composting unit looks like:

Three-Tier system with each pot having a few holes on the sides

Leave-it pot - this is where the half made compost gets transferred to finish its journey

Kitchen waste

A month later - semi-done, sweet smelling compost

Sieving the Fine compost

Home-made compost, feels soft and smells of the first rain

Even though there are times, I have very minimum time to manage it, my composting unit has not failed me. Once I had this horrible worm infestation and the Troubleshoting on the Daily Dump website was a great help in dealing with it.

Hurry up and COMPOST, chances are you will feel the same sense of closeness to nature I do when I sift my compost :)

Versatile Blogger Award

Folks!! Has it been loooooong or what!! So much has happenned since! The last post on this blog was on my return from this beautiful trip to Madagascar which marked the beginning of an important phase in my life - one of writing my PhD. Almost a year later, I have finished writing, I did my Viva and am now a PhD in psychology. YAY!

My post PhD writer's block (or jitters at the idea of writing anything after a 350 page PhD!!) demands to be broken and I use a somewhat easy outlet - A tag :)

Before I took off on my blogging sabatical, two of my favourite bloggers on the Indian Blogosphere nominated me for the 

Yuvika at My Musings and Restless at My World - My Perception

Thanks ladies for providing me this relief to writer's block!

The versatile blogger tag requires that you

• Nominate 15 fellow bloggers.
• Inform the bloggers of their nomination.
• Share 7 random things about yourself.
• Thank the blogger who nominated you.
• Add the Versatile Blog Award picture on your blog post.  

I nominate anybody facing an impossible writer's block and requiring an easy remedy.

Here are 7 random things about myself:

•  I am realising, I am not at all a big city person, though I have lived my whole life in big cities! I would love to work for a small NGO/inclusive school somewhere, surrounded by children of different abilities.
• I am in love with children and adolescents with autism, I learn so much from them trying to keep up with their interests.
• I compost all food waste and religiously recycle all paper, plastic and glass. (My plasticwala is God for me).
• I fantasize about travelling in the North East.
• I love to make chocolate cakes but don't enjoy eating them as much (I prefer fruit tarts).
• Eating the first mango of the season is a grand moment in my life.
• I love Lemon in water, in dal, on my samosa, on my veggies, on my chips, on my Bebinca (Goan Dessert!) and the list goes on and on.

There, I broke my writer's block! I almost feel like writing another post. Can't thank Yuvika and Restless enough! 

Wordless Wednesday - Madagascar

Lemurs - Animals Endemic to the island of Madagascar

Another Species of Lemurs - also endemic to the island

Zaphmanir country - a village in the plateaus of Madagascar

Sun set on the highway RN 7

Paradise - Fort Dauphin

Natural swimming pools - Fort Dauphin

Mayil will not be quiet - Nivedita Subramaniam and Sowmya Rajendran

I have been working with children and adolescents for a while now, but I recently made a new friend a spirited 8 yr old and I had been wanting to shower her with books. So I was looking at Tulika books. I bought her and my other tiny tot friends many Tulika books,

In Bon Bibi s Forest - Sandhya Rao 

Same and Different - Manjula Padmanabhan 

My Mother s Sari - Sandhya Rao 

Eyes On The Peacock s Tail - Vayu Naidu 

Thumb Thumb Thambi and Thangi series

to name a few.

Looking through their website I found 'Mayil will not be quiet' and I loved the title. I bought it and I started reading it the minute I opened the package it was delivered in. My nose stayed in it for the next couple of hours. Yes I have tiny tot friends but I read fast ;-) I loved every minute of the experience and since have read it twice, once me and my partner did it as a read aloud. It was a wonderful shared experience and will make for a great read aloud with younger children.

'Mayilwriter' or maybe 'Mayilpuncher' as she calls herself is a 12 yr old girl with all the charms and contradictions of a teenager. She receives a diary from her father and begins to write down her thoughts and experiences, her successes and challenges, her questions and her answers.  This results in a book that portrays beautifully an adolescent's perspective on her mother and father, her adored Thatha (granpa), her little brother Thammarai, her friends Ki and Jyothi and her life with all of them.
The typical adolescent search for independence and individuality while still seeking support and reassurance from her parents is beautifully portrayed in her confessions to her diary.

As I suspected from the title, the book effectively tears down gender stereotypes in the innocent way a curious adolescent questions everything and reasons it in her head. Smart and witty she analyses her environment asks intelligent questions which are sometimes shrugged off, sometimes answered, by adults around her. But what is important is the questions she asks. The book touches issues of religious, gender and sexual identity, and respecting diversity and equality. It talks unapolegetically, yet simply about sex and menstruation - demystifying it all for a young teenager. There is even reference to conjugal violence, related depression and suicide. 

The illustrations are beautiful and funny and add that periodic visual to the book that makes you take your eyes off the text to appreciate the drawings and have a good laugh.

My favourite chapters in the book are 'Transgender not eunuch' and 'Guess I look ok'. Transsexuality and the complexity of the gender binary is explained so beautifully that I might read from this chapter in my 'Adolescence and Sexuality' workshops. Body image and loving yourself are such important issues for teens today and I loved how Mayil writes about them. (In fact I could read quite a few chapters in my workshops). 

The book touches topics that are close to my heart, gender, childhood and adolescence and identity, and even environment protection. Most things I wish every adolescent knew are in this book. I laughed aloud several times while reading the book and sometimes even went into fits of laughter. This is to say that adults can enjoy it just as much as teens can, and it will bring out the curious, rebellious teen in you. Every child I know is getting a copy of this book at some point in their life and every parent I know will hear me talk about it.

After Mayil I have pure devotion for Tulika Books (even more than before I mean!!). Does that make me your friend Tulika?

World Autism Acceptance Day

April 2nd is World Autism Acceptance Day. I think everybody should know what Autism is, because it is hypothesized that 1 in 100 children and now some say 1 in 88 children are on the Autism Spectrum. This means there are many children/persons with Autism around us and they need our support.

Autism is a complex neurodevelopmental condition that entails impairment in communication and socialisation. Autism is a Spectrum condition which means that children with autism are very different from each other and the symptoms vary greatly. But across the spectrum the impairments in communication and socialisation remain. Many children with Autism also have hypo or hypersensitivity to sensory stimuli (sound, light, touch, smell and taste). In India, while children with greater impairment are more easily recognised, many children on the Autism Spectrum still go without help for most part of their lives. They struggle through childhood with a lot of bullying in adolescence, low self esteem and sometimes depression. Children with Autism are often misdiagnosed as having Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder or Mental Retardation or 'behavioural' problems in India. You can find a lot of information about Autism symptoms and therapies online. Autism awareness in India is growing largely due to parent organisations who have done excellent work to improve awareness, intervention and support services for persons living with Autism:

Action for Autism in Delhi (also check out the events lined up for Autism Awareness Day)

Autism Society of India based in Bangalore

Forum for Autism Awareness in Mumbai

An Inclusive Society:

Children with Autism are often refused into preschools and kindergartens because of delayed speech and difficulty in compliance with classroom rules. They often end up being severely reprimanded in primary, middle and high school for what is termed 'inappropriate' behaviour which may stem from the impairments in processing of sensory information, inability to communicate something or simply a misunderstanding of social stimuli/messages.

Kindergartens and Montessoris today focus intensively on group work and children with autism are often overwhelmed with too much social stimuli. They work efficiently in structured environments with reduced external stimuli. Yes learning to work in a group is important but loving to work individually should be respected too.

Children with Autism have different learning styles and schools and classrooms should accommodate these differences and provide support such as visual schedules and tools to help them understand better. They might need teacher assistants to help them settle and integrate mainstream classrooms and Inclusive education includes this kind of support from the school. Inclusive education means children with all kinds of difficulties learn to work together. It does not however, mean stereotyping and isolating a child because of his difficulties/differences.

Awareness among schools about Autism needs to increase because many children with Autism suffer in school as their difficulties are not identified or addressed. True inclusive education will only be a reality when society - individuals, parents, teachers and policy makers truly believe that all children should learn to work together and understand each others differences.

We as a society must become more open to our differences, our rigidity with what is 'appropriate' and 'inappropriate' stigmatizes so many people. This is why I think everybody who cares about respecting diversity should care about Autism.

Support for persons living with Autism and their parents:

Persons living with Autism are often lonely and so are their parents. Though persons with Autism like and enjoy social relationships they are often misunderstood and/or have difficulty initiating and managing them. Understanding Autism as a condition helps incredibly in understanding people on the spectrum. Learn about it. Be supportive of parents, offer play time with your child, or an outing with your family or simply to baby sit. Remember, they don't want or need pity, they just want to be and live their lives fully. Respect them.

What you can do:

• Learn about Autism in detail, read books about Autism, watch movies, read blogs and articles written by people with Asperger's Syndrome (a form of Autism).
• If you know a person with Autism or are a parent and know a child with Autism ask for details understand the condition, explain it to your child, don't just say 'he has difficulties' or 'he is different', explain the condition and encourage your child to play together and understand each others differences.
• If you are a parent, you can also talk to your child's school about Autism and encourage them to be inclusive.
• If you are a health professional, learn about Autism ASAP and join an awareness/support group in your city.
• Talk about Autism, blog about Autism, spread the word.
• Understand and Advocate that DIFFERENT does not mean LESS!

Resources:

This is one of the sites I like best on Autism as a condition and individuals living with Autism - Thinking Person's Guide to Autism

Autistic Advocacy is an initiative by a group of individuals with Autism - Check them out.

'Thinking in Pictures' by Temple Grandin (Individual with Asperger's) and 'The curious Incident of the dog at the night time' by Mark Haddon (neurotypical as in not on the spectrum) are my favourite books related to the condition. Find Them, Read Them, Recommend Them!

Two amazing Videos explaining Autism Spectrum Disorders to children (and adults. why not?)

Explaining Autism

My little Brother has Autism

Must Watch

A TED video of Temple Grandin talking about Autism 

and

an amazing BBC video of the experience of 4 children living with Autism

HERE is an exhaustive list of resources.

Finally in India, the Autism India yahoo group and the India Developmental disabilities yahoo groups are very resourceful and keep you up to date on Autism info in India.

Happy Autism Acceptance Day everyone!

Karukku by Bama - Book Talk

Tamil Book cover

Karukku is an unconventional autobiography by the Dalit activist and writer Bama. Written originally in Tamil and translated by Lakshmi HolmStrom, it is the first autobiography of a Dalit woman. Bold and touching, it is a glimpse into the complexities of the caste system and its strong presence in contemporary society no matter what popular middle class view is.

Having grown up for a brief period in Chennai myself, it made me go back to my experience as a child and the caste based discrimination that was the norm in school and even in the choice of friends I was 'allowed'. As I read this book the privilege of being from a Hindu Brahmin family felt like a testimony to me being an accomplice in this discrimination.

English Book Cover

The complex inter-sectionality of being a woman, Dalit, economically disadvantaged is the theme of the book blending with it the complexities of religion. Beautifully written in simple language, Karukku narrates Bama's life through childhood to adulthood.
The narration is interesting and unique in that it is not chronological but feels like a web of thoughts that are connected to each other by threads only the author's inner consciousness knows and understands. Navigating through this web of thoughts, I as a reader was drawn into Bama's life moving from her childhood to her life as an adult following her lead. Weeping with her, laughing with her, feeling her pride but also her pain, her guilt, her shame at being treated as a lesser being for no fault of her's.
Discrimination and violence can harm a child emotionally in ways that could be difficult to overcome as an adult. Bama's childhood is filled with such experiences, that she does not understand well as a child but growing up the injustice and cruelty of it dawns on her. This transformation in perception is beautifully portrayed in the book in her experiences and reactions.

This revelation was cathartic for me. It is very similar to my discovery of patriarchy and my disadvantaged position as a woman. It also made me extremely guilty about being/having been indirectly a perpetrator of caste based discrimination just by being part of a privileged socio-economic group. Feminism has helped me be critical of not only my second class citizen status as a woman but also to my position of privilege as an upper caste woman from a Hindu family. I was naive to this disadvantage as well as to the privilege as a child. Just knowing it and questioning it as an adult has been a revelation about the blatant injustices around me.
The understanding of how popular practice of religion in Bama's case Christianity, sanctions patriarchy and even the caste system comes as a revelation to her as an adult much as my experience with the practice of Hinduism.

Critical in her perspective, Bama presents her life as an example of the everyday bigotry that our traditions and customs practice. Deeply moving and poignant, it is a must read and definitely amongst those books that have influenced and touched me the most.

Do read Srinidhi's article following an interview with the amazing Bama here. It is Thanks to her that I am the proud owner of an autographed copy of this book.

This book review is part of the South Asian Challenge 2012.