Welcome to My World
1Q) Please introduce yourselves to our readers.
My name is Asha Sreedhar and I have autism spectrum disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome. I am currently working at SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd. as a quality associate and this will be my 9th year with the company.
2Q) Please share your hobbies and interests/passions with us.
My hobbies are reading, writing, listening to music, playing computer games like Scrabble, and watching movies which help me with relaxing after work. My interests/passions are animals, pets, wildlife, photography, traveling and tourism, volunteer work, reading different novels, writing, and exploring different cuisines on weekends.
3Q) How do you cope when you’re having a bad day?
When I am having a bad day, I cope by listening to soothing music, watch movies, and TV shows.
4Q) What are glimmers in your life? (Glimmers are tiny micro moments of joy - fleeting, everyday moments that elicit a rush of happiness, gratitude, calm, peace, safety, or goodwill)
The glimmers in my life are when people read my autism blogs, stories, posts, and listen to my speeches, panel discussions, and podcast. They provide good feedback mentioning that my speeches are inspirational and provide hope for everyone.
5Q) When did you realise that you are autistic?
I realized that I was autistic when I was 4 years old in a pre-school in Africa when I was outside playing with the farm animals and trying to catch butterflies in the garden and not learning with other children in the classroom. She mentioned to my parents that something was wrong with me but couldn’t find out what was the problem. My parents took me to South Africa to meet with different doctors and specialists but they also couldn’t find out the problem either as autism wasn’t known or famous back then during that time period. They mentioned that it was probably dyslexia and lack of motor skills. When I moved to US at age 9, I received the official diagnosis that I have autism spectrum disorder and Asperger’s Syndrome. The school staff in US provided me with speech therapy sessions and special education services for me until 6th grade. I used to feel that I was completely different from the normal individuals as I displayed different interests and passions, dressed up differently in only what I was comfortable wearing everyday, and didn’t participate in some of the activities.
Education and Workplace Experiences
1Q) What are your experiences in school/college and workplace… What challenges do you face?
In Africa, I attended a British Private School where my experiences were good because the school staff and students were accepting, friendly, helpful, inclusive, encouraging, and supportive of me despite my autism disability. They used to encourage me to participate in a lot of extracurricular activities from sports to arts and compete as well. The challenge which I faced was the education which was very difficult for me.
In US, I attended an American Public School for the rest of my education with normal individuals where it was good and also hard at the same time. The school staff went out of the way to help me with my autism disability by providing me speech therapy sessions and special education services until 6th grade. The teachers were very encouraging and supporting of me. The challenges which I faced were the students who used to bully, tease, taunt, and exclude me from all the activities, difficulty with some of the subjects, and learning to drive a car.
I attended a 2-year local community college near my house in US where my experiences were enjoyable but also difficult at the same time. My professors were very accepting, friendly, helpful, encouraging, and supporting. I got inducted into the honor society due to my good grades and commitment to the college where I participated in a lot of community service volunteer work activities. The challenges I faced were making friends with the students as I was different and difficulty with studying some of the subjects.
In US, after I graduated from the local community college with a 2-year degree and highest honors, I worked a few jobs related to my major but my biggest challenge was sustaining employment as those occupations required intense multi-tasking and customer service interaction.
In India, I attended the Autism at Work Training Program at EnAble India where I was only girl with 10 boys. My challenge in the beginning was not being able to socialize with them as I was very shy and scared of them.
I am now working at SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd. as a quality associate where I am having a very good experience and always enjoy my job. The workplace colleagues are very amiable, accepting, helpful, embracing, inclusive, accommodating, encouraging, and supportive of me. The challenges which I face are heavy workload, tight deadlines, and multi-tasking.
2Q) How do you cope with these challenges?
In Africa, whenever I struggled with the education, my parents and sister used to try and help me their level best by teaching the subjects.
In US, whenever I used to struggle with some of the subjects in school, I used to attend tutoring services with the teachers. For the issue with students in school, I used to ignore them and report them to the principal if the bullying got out of control. For the driving challenge, my parents used to make me practice in the neighborhood and drive around to different places whenever we were going out. After that, I passed my driver’s test and got the licence with confidence. In college, I used to focus on my academics as I wasn’t comfortable mixing with the students and used to make use of the tutoring services with the professors and college staff whenever I struggled with some of the subjects.
In US, one of the managers in the job observed me and discovered my challenges of multi-tasking and customer service interaction. She did some research and persuaded me to pursue a career in the IT Sector.
In India, I managed to cope with my challenges at EnAble India by opening up and communicating with the boys after getting comfortable with them. After joining SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd., the workplace colleagues got educated about my autism disability with the EnAble India staff and then I started communicating with them.
3Q) What accommodations (physical or changes in the mindset of people around you) would help you thrive in this scenario?
The accommodations which would help me thrive in this current scenario where I am at currently would be acceptance, appreciation, embracement, encouragement, support, understanding, helpfulness, accommodation, and creating awareness.
Sensory Challenges
1Q) Please share your sensory world with us.
I am very sensitive to loud sounds (thunder, explosions, loud music, and loud phone ringtones), weather (hot and cold temperatures), terrible odors, spicy food, and bright lights. Interoception works normally for me so I don’t face challenges with it.
2Q) How does it affect your daily life?
My sensory world affects my daily life by helping me to be alert and avoid entering into environments with those things. When I am ordering food at a restaurant, I make sure to check the spiciness level of the food items.
3Q) What accommodations around you would help you thrive?
For loud sounds, I always close my ears until the sound eases down. For terrible odours, I cover my nose with a mask or scarf until I move away from them. When I go out to eat, I inform the staff that the food should not be spicy when ordering and before they start preparing it.
Communication Challenges
1Q) How different is your communication style from the Neurotypicals and how does it affect your daily interactions?
My communication style is that I only speak English with an accent and it affects my daily interactions by opening up whenever I have problems or issues and speaking up whenever I need help or assistance.
2Q) How do you cope with this challenge?
I cope with this challenge by trying to speak slowly and pronounce the words clearly. If the co-workers can’t understand, I spell it out on a paper or ask them to spell it out on the notepad so that they know the word. When others speak fast, I ask them to slow down so that I can understand what they are saying and to repeat the words clearly if pronounced differently.
3Q) What accommodations (physical or changes in the mindset of people around you would help you thrive?
Everyone should be aware, alert, listen, and understand the communication around others when they are trying to communicate or speak.
Relationships
1Q) What do you look for in your relationships? (friends/family/colleagues/partners)
What challenges have you faced in your relationships?
I look for the following characteristics in my relationships with my family/friends/colleagues such as acceptance, accommodation, assistance, embrace, encouragement, support, and understanding.
The challenges which I have faced in my relationships with friends and colleagues are not being able to maintain friendships, displaying different interests/passions from them, and not mixing with them.
2Q) How do you cope with these challenges?
After moving to India, I have developed a lot of relationships with friends and colleagues which makes me feel good and happy to communicate openly with them as they are understanding and accepting.
3Q) What accommodations or changes in the mindset of people around you would help you thrive?
First of all, the family, friends, colleagues, and partners must learn to accept everyone as they are (whether they are disabled or have some other problem) and they must understand them. Secondly, they must support by including and providing assistance whenever they need help. Lastly, they must not tease or hurt anyone’s feelings.
Bullying
1Q) Have you faced bullying in school/college/workplace?
Yes. I have faced bullying in the schools. I didn’t face bullying in the college and workplaces.
2Q) How do you cope with these challenges?
I used to report the students to the principal and teachers if the bullying got out of control or extreme.
3Q) What accommodations or changes in the mindset of people around you, would help you thrive?
If there are strict rules and regulations about bullying with harsh punishments, then everyone would be scared of doing it and it would get reduced with awareness. There must also be awareness and campaigns created to stop bullying.
Masking
1Q) Have you ever had to mask to look neurotypical? Please share your experiences..
Yes. I had to mask to look neurotypical when I was studying in school, college, and working in the workplaces. But some individuals found out that I had some problem because of the way I used to communicate but they didn’t ask any questions. They used to keep silent.
2Q) What challenges have you faced because of masking?
The challenges I faced because of masking were not able to interact with the normal individuals and not being to go out with friends.
3Q) When did you decide to unmask and how was the experience?
I decided to unmask when I joined EnAble India for my Autism at Work Training Program and started working at SAP Labs India Pvt. Ltd. It was a good experience as there were some colleagues who understood what was autism and there were others who didn’t know about it and wanted to learn more about it.
4Q) What accommodations or changes in the mindset of people around you, would help you thrive?
Everyone should unmask their disability or problem now as there is awareness and understanding getting created about it. After it gets unmasked, everyone should learn to accept, accommodate, adjust, include, encourage, and support those type of individuals.
Executive Functioning Challenges
1Q) What executive functioning challenges (adaptable thinking, planning, self-monitoring, self-control, working memory, time management, and organising) have you faced and how does it affect your life?
When I was in school, I got taught planning, time management, organization skills, etc.
It affected my life by teaching me to plan the day with a time chart, note down as much as possible as I used to tend to forget, and keep everything like papers, notes, etc. organized as much as possible.
2Q) How do you cope with these challenges?
I cope with these challenges today by making sure that I check what tasks are being assigned to me and try to finish everything by deadlines.
3Q) What accommodations would help you thrive?
The individuals must observe in school and workplaces on how others study and work and learn from them and try to apply the same skills in order to make life easy and not challenging.
Social life
1Q) What challenges have you faced in your social life?
I was very shy and couldn’t understand other people when they were talking about different topics.
2Q) How do you cope with these challenges?
I managed to cope with the challenge by staying far away from the normal individuals and kept to myself. I only communicated and talked when it was necessary. I used to talk to other individuals with autism who understood me and interacted with me.
3Q) What accommodations or changes in the mindset of people around you would help you thrive?
When there is a social life, everyone should learn to accept, accommodate, adjust, and be considerate and inclusive of other individuals regardless whether they are same or different from others. No one should get left out and excluded.
Comorbidities
1Q) Please write about comorbidities you faced?
I had a few physical health issues but they got taken care of by the hospital.
2Q) How do you cope with these challenges?
I followed instructions from the doctors and took medications to alleviate the problems.
3Q) What accommodations or changes in the mindset of people around you, would help you thrive?
Everyone should be alert and aware of the health problems and see a doctor when they are experiencing problems as it could lead to worse issues. They must express their food restrictions when going out and eating at a restaurant.
Towards a better tomorrow
1Q) Please share your message to parents of autistic children in how they can create a nurturing environment at home.
My message to the parents is that they must accept that their child is autistic. They must spend time researching, reading, and understanding about it. They must show care for the child as they come first in their life and focus on their school life as education is key to the future. They must talk to the children who are outside playing in the daytime or evening hours and ask them to accommodate their child with autism and let them play with them during the playtime. The parents must observe their child all the time and help the child when they are facing problems. They must also support and encourage them.
2Q) Please share your message to therapists on how they can include neurodiversity affirming practices in their approach.
The therapists should first understand how many disabilities the child has, read and learn about those disabilities. They must check whether the disabilities are mild or severe and decide which types of therapies are needed as every child is different and not the same. They must provide the therapies everyday so that the child will improve and until they become better and gain confidence. They must hold the sessions in a comfortable room and take breaks in the middle and talk casually with the child on their favorite topics/interests. They must make the therapy sessions interesting with different styles of learning with different games and activities so that the child will show interest and look forward to attending the sessions everyday.
3Q) Please share your thoughts on how we can work towards an inclusive and neurodiversity friendly society.
The world should develop a positive attitude to learn about neurodiversity as everyone is different. Everyone should accept, accommodate, adjust, embrace, encourage, support, and make the environment inclusive by not leaving anyone out. We must not tease or hurt anyone’s feelings.
I hope reading this interview has been as insightful and uplifting for you as it was for me. God bless you dear Asha, may all your dreams come true!
I would love to carry forward this series as long as possible and share the insightful journeys of Indian speaking autistics. Please reach out if would like to come forward and share your journey and guide parents and therapists. My email - parentingautismindia@gmail.com
DISCLAIMER: The views expressed by the guest in this interview are their own independent opinions and do not necessarily reflect the views of the host and owner of the blog. Readers are advised to exercise their own discretion and seek professional advice where necessary.
