Case Closure Investigation: Autistic Adults in California

Autistic adults in California: Did you apply to get help from a State/Federal Program or a Non Profit organization that advertises employment supports for DD/ID or Neurodivergent people? 

If you are Neurodivergent and you experienced a case closure, where a generic social worker /case worker/ service coordinator/ nurse… terminated your support, we’d like to hear from you.

Kehinde Wiley, Equestrian Portrait of Prince Tommaso of Savoy-Carignan (detail), 2015. Oil on canvas.

Who we are: 

Our research is conducted in affiliation with the Doogri Institute, a non-profit founded by autistic people in service of autistic people. We specifically investigate consumer data to find patterns of abuse, neglect, and racketeering. If you have been disadvantaged with a case closure, we want to know what the ‘excuse’ was.

Overall, we have currently found that “noncompliance” is the top reason, “inappropriate language” or “grooming” as secondary, and the third most cited excuse in a case closure is a failure of the consumer to submit paperwork in accordance with program rules. 

Yes, I want to participate! 

CLICK TO LAUNCH THE FORM

  1. To participate in this California-based study, we will require an email from you that shares your case closure report. No worries — this form will send us an email with your upload. 
  2. We will extract the ‘excuse’ in our reply to your email. 
  3. Then, you will confirm that this is the data that you are submitting for our study. 
  4. Only then will your data be de-identified, and included in a database that blinds your information from the investigator(s) reviewing the database. 

Please begin by uploading your confidential case closure report, and await a reply from  info@doogri.org. Thank you for your help in cracking down on systemic failures of publicly funded programs. There is no compensation for your participation. 

Privacy Statement

As experienced researchers, we owe you complete privacy of your information submitted through our secure portal. If you have any questions or concerns, please email Dr. Henny Kupferstein at henny@hennyk.com

Free tax prep help for autistic people

Are you autistic? Let’s do the numbers with/for your. We have autistic tax ninjas waiting to help.

We created a free spreadsheet that automates your tax preparation for the previous tax filing year. If you are an autistic person who started a small company, and/or manages a non-profit, we want to help.

Financial stress may up migraine risk | Lifestyle News,The Indian Express

Accountants in California have stopped taking calls, as they are overwhelmed with the Franchise Tax Board having no staff, and therefore nobody in the State is processing our filings. Nevertheless, with this free tool, we can help you get ahead of this by prepping for the accountant, and proving a P&L and other necessary documents for them to complete the filing.

How it works:

Please write to us to express interest in this mentorship, and put “2022 taxes” in your subject line.

  • You will need to download all the transactions from your bank from 01/01/2022 through 12/31/2022 and save it as a CSV or excel format. Once you have all your transactions from all your banks (including credit cards, paypal, etc)
  • we will paste it into our worksheet, and share it with you for your review.
  • We will schedule a zoom call to go through the accounting part so you can learn how to reconcile from this past year, and independently in the future.
  • Captions are provided.
  • (requires a gmail address for google workspace)

Example balance sheet

Executive/Personal Assistant to the CEO

THE ROLE: Executive/Personal Assistant

LOCATION: San Diego, CA

WORKSPACE: This role is focused on support for our CEO, Dr. Henny Kupferstein, who works mostly from her home in San Diego, California. The successful candidate for this role will be comfortable working alongside Dr. Henny in her home environment, and sometimes running errands in the local area. Deaf assistants and/or American Sign Language preferred. 

To Apply: email info@doogri.org with your resume and expertise, and availability for the next 3 weeks.

THE NON-PROFIT:

The Doogri Institute conducts research, provides professional training, and directs services through creative and expressive arts to individuals who are disadvantaged both by disability and inequity. Our research and advocacy team consists of scholars and leading experts in their field. All research, professional training, and direct services are augmented by lived experiences. The program creates a bridge for previously oppressed individuals in their quest to immerse themselves in mainstream culture and higher education. This systemic empowerment may lead to self actualization. The Doogri Method includes proprietary wellbeing markers to assure that our work also addresses self image, identity development, and self determination toward actualization, with a specialized focus on Auxiliary aid or service necessary to ensure effective communication.

We generate job opportunities and provide professional experience that we want our team members to provide for others. We call this our “karma Clause” in our mission statement. Our peer mentorship model is tested and re-tested to validate our core foundation of gainful AND meaningful opportunities within our board meetings. We provide them the experience that we want them to provide for others “karma clause”  Our ethical hiring policy for the opportunities we generate include the teachers we train, the musicians we license, and the autistic adults who are trained to teach our students. 

WORKING AT DOOGRI:

We love weekdays! Some things you should know about what it’s like to be on the Doogri team. 

  • We value ADA and what it means for us as a team entitled to these civil liberties. AAC users, deaf staff, autistic collaborators, and all communication support is welcome and prioritized. 
  • We are a team of collaborative, creative, authentic, and highly effective people. Together we are launching the #AGPmodel and the #banABA initiative!
  • We get big things done at an extraordinary pace, while making space for joy, friendship, and fun.
  • The culture is alive and kicking — we move forward boldly. We believe in making public to people a big opportunity that they love, and empowering them to lead and own the area they’re responsible for.
  • We thrive in a working culture where collaboration is accessible. It’s important to us that each team member’s voice is heard and valued. We solve problems creatively as a team, and celebrate each other’s impact.

ROLE OVERVIEW:

The Executive/Personal Assistant will be responsible for providing seamless professional and personal assistance to our lead researcher, Dr. Henny, as well as general coordination support for the full Executive Team. The successful incumbent in this role will be a seasoned executive assistant who is passionate about proactively smoothing out the edges of a CEO’s day-to-day life, optimizing her productivity and her ability to contribute her best strengths to the company. In addition, the EA will support the operation of Doogri’s Executive Team, by creating and maintaining processes to support our leaders’ meetings, projects, and reporting activities.

The Executive Assistant to the CEO will be supremely organized, excellent at prioritizing tasks and getting things done, while building and maintaining warm professional relationships with internal team members and external partners. This person will thrive in a very fast-paced, dynamic, fun growth environment – they will always be two steps ahead of what needs to get done, and will solve problems and add value at every turn. Our CEO and Founder’s life is a beautiful, seamless blend of private needs and social media personality – her Executive/Personal Assistant will be comfortable jumping right into that environment. This role will involve everything from: preparing polished professional writing, correspondence, and reporting packages; to dropping off samples for shipping; to booking travel; to completing personal/family support tasks; to playing a key role in challenging business projects.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

  • Ensure the smooth flow of the CEO’s activities and be a key liaison to our leaders across the organization
  • Expand the CEO’s strategic capacity, ensuring her time is being spent on the highest priority needs. Understand the organization, its goals, and its teams — ensure that commitments are fulfilled, relationships are strong and healthy, and great work is done with ease
  • Support the operation of Doogri’s Executive Team, coordinating and supporting meetings, tracking project actions, and overseeing internal and external reporting activities.
  • With a high level of confidentiality, manage email correspondence, flagging important and actionable items, and drafting professional correspondence
  • Manage the CEO’s calendar, scheduling events and acting as the key point of contact for internal and external meeting requests. Assumes full ownership and maintenance of the calendar, accounting for both professional and personal commitments.
  • Manage and coordinate key meetings: set up, prepare agenda, briefing notes, reporting packages, and presentations. Take meeting notes, and track the completion of action items.
  • Travel management: arrange domestic and international travel, both business and personal, researching and coordinating all travel related activities.
  • Performing personal errands as required
  • Event and project management: coordinate with other team members to plan internal and external events, and contribute to key operational projects
  • Expenses and finance: file and track expense reports, and provide administrative support to financial activities as required

QUALIFICATIONS:

  • Demonstrated experience providing support to a senior executive or executives, preferably in a high-growth environment
  • Experience combining your business expertise and impeccable communication skills with an egoless willingness to dig in and take on tasks of all shapes and sizes
  • Deadline-driven, with the ability to flexibly adapt to rapidly shifting priorities with grace
  • The ability to thrive while working independently, following through on the completion of tasks without being prompted, leveraging resourcefulness and superior organization skills
  • Extremely keen attention to detail, and highly accurate data management
  • Social media savvy and able to navigate related platforms with ease
  • Highly proficient user of the Microsoft Office Suite (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
  • Experience and/or interest in fashion, apparel, retail, or e-commerce preferred
  • Adept at dealing with confidential information requiring the utmost discretion
  • A team player, who loves to build and nurture relationships with internal and external stakeholders

If this role is calling your name, we look forward to meeting you! 

  • PHASE I INTERVIEWS are conducted via Zoom with closed captioning available. Lipreading is required to please be prepared to show your face.
  • PHASE II meet n greet in San Diego’s home office of Doogri to complete your hiring process.

Doogri Institute warmly welcomes applications from people of all backgrounds and groups. We are committed to a culture of creative collaboration that celebrates and uplifts diverse perspectives and voices.

Full transparency is an important topic for us, as ‘Doogri’ is the aramaic word for ‘forthright’. At this time we’re performing a full total compensation review across our organization. We’re prioritizing establishing and communicating a fair and equitable salary structure and review process, so we can speak to all our compensation conversations thoughtfully, both internally and externally. If you are contacted about your application to this role, we commit to having an open and transparent conversation about pay in our first meeting with you. Be prepared to negotiate your salary. 

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

Yay, I’ll see you on zoom this weekend.

 

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

Every week on Saturday, Sunday, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM PDT

From Jul 03, 2021 to Jul 10, 2021

Dr. Henny Kupferstein (Host)

https://on.zoom.us/ev/AEk9TFGWBHgKtmrnsXRdVf0LVY2IgdF-9Kr8BYeoW6G4nMUNxgEzUVojtfoowiteUK8UFQM

 

#SDP #SelfDetermination #budget

 

Please Register: $1 per Zoom device. We will have captions enabled and chat for accessibility. We welcome AAC users. Send your feedback on your SDP process until today to info@doogri.org and we will discuss as peers.

Say YES to Self Determination, say NO to misappropriation. 

Did you know that the State Council is in charge of sharing information with the DDS Committee, but if one doesn’t want to share with the other, your Regional Center counselor will not have any actual concrete information to tell you? 

Also, did you know that The Tarjan Center at UCLA, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, is supposedly responsible for reporting about the transition to Self Determination, but their research funding does not cover interviewing consumers directly? 

Take a stand and show the state government that consumers and their families have been forced to research trials by fire, and suffer the consequences of misappropriation. We have a right to the $10-billion+ and today is your day to know how to access this. Until this process is not in compliance with the ADA, the Lanterman Act is not protecting us from labor law violations. We are being asked to do their job, but we are not allowed to collect $2,500 for our INDEPENDENCE!!! Join to discuss. 

Donate to our organization

Links for Navigation

  1. Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

  2. San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California
  3. The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California
  4. July 1, 2021 Self Determination started today!!!!
  5. Return to Doogri.org/SD for Self Determination

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California

The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California

July 1, 2021 Self Determination started today!!!!

July 1, 2021
Self Determination started today!!!!
#AssistiveTechnology, #Pianolessons, and #AAC lessons are now a covered cost for disabled students of all ages.
 
Thanks to our tireless legislative activism, we now also offer a college success program.
By the people, for the people, always.
Don’t forget to book us for your budget consultancy — click http://www.doogri.org/SD to read more

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

Every week on Saturday, Sunday, 2:00 PM – 3:30 PM PDT

From Jul 03, 2021 to Jul 10, 2021

Dr. Henny Kupferstein (Host)

https://on.zoom.us/ev/AEk9TFGWBHgKtmrnsXRdVf0LVY2IgdF-9Kr8BYeoW6G4nMUNxgEzUVojtfoowiteUK8UFQM

Please Register: $1 per Zoom device. We will have captions enabled and chat for accessibility. We welcome AAC users. Send your feedback on your SDP process until today to info@doogri.org and we will discuss as peers. Say YES to Self Determination, say NO to misappropriation.

Did you know that the State Council is in charge of sharing information with the DDS Committee, but if one doesn’t want to share with the other, your Regional Center counselor will not have any actual concrete information to tell you?

Also, did you know that The Tarjan Center at UCLA, a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, is supposedly responsible for reporting about the transition to Self Determination, but their research funding does not cover interviewing consumers directly?

Take a stand and show the state government that consumers and their families have been forced to research trials by fire, and suffer the consequences of misappropriation. We have a right to the $10-billion+ and today is your day to know how to access this. Until this process is not in compliance with the ADA, the Lanterman Act is not protecting us from labor law violations. We are being asked to do their job, but we are not allowed to collect $2,500 for our INDEPENDENCE!!! Join to discuss.

Share from:

Dr. Henny’s public facebook page https://www.facebook.com/HennyKupferstein/posts/1974213776079030

Self-Determination Families and Friends https://www.facebook.com/groups/2170109546432928 (pending moderation)

California Self-Determination Program Forum

https://www.facebook.com/groups/CA.SDP.Forum/posts/1003451660425849/

Share on LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/activity-6816531874169528320-IRoM

Share on Twitter 

https://twitter.com/HennyKtweets/status/1410766531382763524

Find all events on Zoom’s onZoom calendar

Donate to our organization

Links for Navigation

  1. Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

  2. San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California
  3. The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California
  4. July 1, 2021 Self Determination started today!!!!
  5. Return to Doogri.org/SD for Self Determination

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California

The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California

What’s with all the politics and the holdups?

Bookmark this page to stay tuned with our research and advocacy.

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

 

State and Local Advocacy

  • San Diego only enrolled 43 people, despite a lottery slot of 300.
  • Suzy Requarth is the person tasked with “implementation funds and spending plan.”
  • If the Regional Center does not fulfill this mandate, they will have to relinquish their budget to approved SD plans. <– no wonder they’re avoiding your calls
  • If you would like to advocate for San Diego to implement more efficiently, please write to your Representatives and attend committee hearings.
  • Get involved with the committee who makes decisions for us: Self-Determination Local Advisory Committee Meetings are held the 3rd Tuesday of every month. Schedule is here
  • Upcoming: Jun. 15, 2021 5:00-6:30 p.m.
    Register in advance for this meeting

Donate to our organization

Links for Navigation

  1. Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

  2. San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California
  3. The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California
  4. July 1, 2021 Self Determination started today!!!!
  5. Return to Doogri.org/SD for Self Determination

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California

The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California

San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California

“I am a great example as being Independent living adult” ~ Gabriella Ledesma

Congratulations on attending your Self-Determination Orientation. The California governor approved $10.5 billion ($6.5 billion General Fund) for the Department and estimates that approximately 386,753 individuals will receive developmental services by the end of 2021-22.

In October 2013, California Governor Jerry Brown signed SB 468 into law creating a statewide Self-Determination Program that offers regional center consumers a voluntary alternative to the traditional system and more control over the services they receive and the individuals who support them. Starting July 1, 2021, all consumers can switch to Self Determination.

..but wait… For current regional center consumers, the budget will equal 100% of the amount of the total purchase of service expenditures made by the regional center during the past 12 months.

…um, so…If your case manager or regional center supervisor says that they are still (1) unsure and (2) “waiting to find out funding availability” and (3) not providing clear instructions, please write to us now. info@doogri.org

Here’s what is supposed to happen next for you.

We learned about an IF (Independent Facilitator). We asked if a consumer can get the $2,500 from the budget if they complete the work. According to district managers, you cannot pay yourself, and you have to pay others; there is no mention in the State order (Dec 2018) about this ad hoc prohibition.

We are looking into training our autistic clients to have job opportunities by becoming an IF for their peers! Stay tuned.

IF – Independent Facilitator

An IF is not required for your next step, but recommended. Their role is to sit in meetings with your R.C. team. They are supposed to negotiate rates and service codes for your budget. They can advocate for you to get the best possible budget based on what you know you need. If you expect your service coordinator to be sluggish, non-responsive, or cruel with their service agreement rate disclosures, then an IF is a good idea for you!

FMS – Financial Management Service

Informationfrom: https://www.sdrc.org/sdp

A Financial Management Service (FMS) is the only required service for participants in Self-Determination. You can find a list of the FMS agencies that San Diego Regional Center partners with here.

  • about 10 companies listed, check out the negative yelp reviews.

3 Different Models

There are actually 3 models available for Self Determination, but most agencies will offers 2.

  1. Bill Tier Model – very similar to traditional services with regional centers. They choose the agencies they know and make their own suggestions.
  2. Sole Employer ModelYou choose your own agencies and personnel. The FMS responsibility is to collect the w-2 forms, calculate the tax withholdings, and send the paychecks. Consumer’s responsibility is to enter the GROSS rate, not the NET into the budget, since we pay the tax withholdings from the overall budget. The deduction is 14.8%. If you’d like to calculate that, you would have to say, “If you want $15 per hour, we will have to calculate 15*1.48 = 22.” $22 is then the gross rate entered into the budget.

The FMS will send you forms to complete, and set an appointment for your initial meeting.

  • We recommend that you ask for a zoom call and complete the forms together.
  • They will offer paper mail forms
  • they are amenable to digital processing for efficiency and disability accommodations.

Expand Your Network

  • Please join our email list (email us, list@doogri.org) to receive news, updates, call to action, and interact with other list members via email

Donate to our organization

Links for Navigation

  1. Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

  2. San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California
  3. The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California
  4. July 1, 2021 Self Determination started today!!!!
  5. Return to Doogri.org/SD for Self Determination

Dr Henny’s Self Determination Peer Support for Consumers in California

San Diego SDRC Self Determination Orientation with Regional Center, California

The Politics of Self Determination and Regional Centers in California

#THRIVING event – March 7, 2021 12:00 eastern

Post-Group #THRIVING reflections live reflections and resources linked to the FB live

[FB link for sharing this page] [with captions on Youtube] [Follow on Twitter] [on LinkedIn] [on TikTok] [on Instagram]

Introduction

I just finished a Zoom support group for people who are thriving in a pandemic but are called maladaptive. I want to make sure that they are time-logged when I have that energy of what was shared in this space. The real-time notes that I have taken were my immediate reactions, my subconscious playing with my fingers on the keyboard and letting it flow whatever was relatable. I just logged it on a note list because that’s how I accommodate myself. 

I want to reflect about: What the topics were when people were originally joining

We were waiting for the space to fill, right? So in that awkward space, I introduced my friend as someone that I’ve met in Troublemaker University. What troublemaking means? What does creative self-play mean? finding the self. Liberating yourself from whatever constructs, wherever you come from. We wanted to know:

How do you give yourself permission to thrive? How do you claim your sovereign right to thrive? 

Sovereign Right. A number of years ago, if you have experienced that claiming the right to thrive happened while you were in a very strict religious environment from birth and recognizing, containing something that there is just no truth in your actual world. That could have been a very true difficult transition. In that time of transition, few people would use the word thriving to represent what they’ve experienced. But over time the process truly became more sobering. And to claim your sovereign right, you have to also claim your right to have the power of your own mind: what you believe, what you think, and what you choose to be a part of. 

Thinking about people who decorated their background. That shows some self-determination. We got to see someone’s background today which was a red and blue checkerboard with a chicken in every other box and it was fantastic. It unlocked a little bit of the spontaneity that we had going in this group.


Graduate Programs. A very dogmatic institution.  Told that the professor is the boss. The professor teaches you how you should: think & conduct yourself. If you’re upset with their wrong structure that doesn’t align with you, you’re the one with the behavior problem. That type of group-think, we can also find it in the social justice movement because we’re gonna have this dogma on how we’re gonna change the world. That too is very-very terrifying for people who come from high-demand groups to suddenly experience themselves in another high-demand group in the name of social justice. It doesn’t sit comfortably with people. 

I don’t identify as a self-advocate. I advocate for autism support but I’m not an autistic self-advocate. I no longer am a self-narrative zoo exhibit. I don’t provide this emotional labor

The way that I do it is in a completely different way. I enjoy being silly, returning to a child. I didn’t have these creative opportunities when I was a child. I was in a system that didn’t tolerate it. It was a behavior problem. It was against God’s will. Being able to liberate my creativity, I feel like I’ve returned to the inner child. I am being grown-up, chronologically, professionally with a Ph.D. but the perpetual play is keeping me alive.


Major Transitions. Learning about their autism diagnosis in a very hard and traumatizing way by being diagnosed by a top professional in a different country, attached to the head of a university who paid zero attention to this person during the diagnostics and just saw them as a diagnosis, not as a human. They described it as being “silly” never really knowing what that meant, this sense of agency. Once they developed this feeling for about a year, they began to do more important research on their own and struggled to work with sensory overload but not being validated. Giving everything but not being seen or understood, being just diagnosed in your late 40s.

So where is this perpetual child, your perpetual child in your world?

Where you’re situated right now and everybody shared, learning from other people about where they’re currently situated, where they’re at, and why they are thriving

We were all just born somewhere and we didn’t have the choice to choose our identity.
Workplace Diversity Training: How it Should be Done - Great People Inside

Now, what about if your identity is linked perpetually from the perspective of the passport you’re holding? 

The sacred paper, the dogma of nationality. Then merge that with religious teaching. 

Suddenly, you’re born with instructions that the brain must be inside the box. You just receive the orders, you follow it. You’re having a political expectation to live in a certain way. 

Somebody who was born in Palestine shared that hatred was the teachings and it was the foundation of all of their teachings. 

Growing up in such a terrible reality, you actually didn’t know what was happening. Childhood was not an option because you have to see so many unpleasant things. 

Growing up and you discover that your passport keeps changing for political reasons. Sometimes it gets renewed every three years, five years. Sometimes you have to leave the country or you have to come back, to claim your nationality. Then you find that when you go to the bank in another country, Palestine doesn’t show up in the bank system so you actually can’t withdraw your money from your own bank account. So what is yours, what is your sovereign right? Do you have the autonomy to have access to your own finances or passport, that sacred paper of belonging?

So you learn that you’re INFIDEL if you try to ask questions. You discover you’re an outsider that your thoughts have to be in a very specific direction.

And if you’re outside the box, everyone is rejecting you, treating you like you’re a stranger, you don’t belong. You must not be considered part of the family or a group or of any society ever again because you’re the bad guy. You’re the one who chose to think like this.

So here, wherever you want to go, you cannot even be considered because your passport suddenly is not even a thing. 


Childhood Experiences. Another member discovered that they were trying to fit in. But every time they had the normal event and they, the autistic student, are pulled away by the special Ed teacher from the group. She could never feel completely included in either world. She wanted to be in there. She was fitting in but she never got this opportunity. The student has to stay in the library. She finds spending more time volunteering in an assisted living home than hanging out with friends her own age. Being isolated without an explanation. Not being told why you’re being pulled out. Also being forbidden from going on field trips with little or no explanation. Not being explained what the adult’s agenda is, what dogma are they pushing you from side to side?

When it comes back to sovereignty and you have this birthright, I mean, we kind of have to make up our own lives, right? If you think of existential psychology on a very individual level we have such potent agency.

But when you encounter system-think or group-think or systemic oppression, the basic challenges in the systems are nameless. They’re also faceless, right? So we call it a social problem. You have to take social skills class. I’m anti-social. I actually love to say that I conduct anti-social science research. Because I want to see these systemic oppressions which are nameless, faceless, and quantify it, objectify it. Just like they have robbed our autonomy and our sovereignty when we were younger. 

Reclaiming that and bringing the inner child out prompted the sharing of someone else’s narrative of being in a cult for 10 years. In their description: 

You lose everything. You have to start from scratch, no education. You have to do a lot of research to think about this new mindset you have. To start removing all the layers, removing the brainwashing until you find who you are, the core of yourself. When you realize this cultic mindset, you can see it everywhere. Everywhere you look there is dogma but now you’re hypersensitive to actually identify it. 

So our dogma radar goes up very-very high once you’ve had this existential conversation with yourself. 


Tension between Individuals and Culture around them. We’re all born in a family. We’re born into a tradition. A tradition is an extraordinarily powerful tool. And at that point, we were clocking in at 49 minutes which was our promised zoom time. So, anyone who stayed beyond that, it was just extra leisure.

Life can be incredible. So on this very individual level when these changes happen to someone. Learning, opening your eyes to see that,

“Oh my goodness, my life can be, life can be. Love is possible.”

who knows? But then you’re paraded around. You’re looking at the parade of examples of success. When you’re trying to achieve those milestones for yourself, the inertia seems to move very, very, slowly. With the traditions you’ve been raised with your entire life, it becomes very difficult suddenly to continue and carry those on. Because you’re starting to see some traction about these examples of success. Because they become relatable to you or you admire it.


Plato’s allegory. Cave people are chained in a cave, looking at shadows on the wall. Because that’s their job and that’s all they’re doing essential, slave labor. But at the end of that story, one of them is let free to go check on the outside world. To see if the shadows reflect what is actually experienced in the outside world. But then, that individual who leaves the cave and is unchained actually experiences some light. It becomes a very intense experience coming back to the people in the cave. Talking to them in their shadows. The immediate experience is this intensity of what if.

What if they laugh? What if they judge me? What if they condemn me? 

Essentially, you’re actually still sharing. You’re still staring at the shadows of your own wall when you’re asking yourself: what if. 

So today we extended honorary membership to the Doogri Institute for anyone who has attended the Zoom groups up until today because we want to continue to inform our members that we promote classes on how to use different social media platforms to find your voice. Ask yourself these existential questions: Do I want to be the one who sees the light of how my anecdotal evidence is relatable to people, even if you can’t imagine right now? 

@drhennyk On TikTok

Who cares if I show my cat on TikTok? Who cares? Well to answer that question, we have Tik Tok Tuesday. All Tuesday technology classes are about TikTok. So if one class is full, we’ll keep teaching. We want to show you what Tik Tok has unlocked for me and for others. It is just the permission, this unapologetic permission to be in a perpetual play state. If you follow, for 15 seconds you may see me struggle with a coffee pot in the morning. If that’s relatable to you, I can’t imagine but I know I’m sowing the seeds of not asking the “but” and “what ifs’.” 

When we say I am sowing seeds, you can’t imagine what is sprouting under the soil. I went out there and I saw it. Because eventually, something happens. The private messages: “You’ve made me giggle,” “Your Tik Tok videos are cracking me up.” Even if one person never watches my Tik Tok videos, I will continue to do it. Because it’s for myself. Being able to be completely who I am and all the people who have tried to hurt me in my adult life. That’s because my existence shattered their worldview. An autistic person trying to have a career, no-no-no-no.

Professional & Academia Hazing. So you encounter this type of hazing in the professional, in academia. “No, we can’t have disabled people in our class.” “We can’t have blind people learning how to be teachers for the visually impaired and blind students.” Why? You don’t know how to adapt your curriculum to blind students? 

This continuous blocking and blocking and blocking. We’re over it.  Just continue to exist. Put yourself into existence mode. Thrive, play, and just do because you already belong. You have already been born. You have an identity. You’re allowed to exist. You’re allowed to be learning to speak up even if they don’t want to hear it. 

Being told to stay in your place, “We’re the grown-ups so we can bully you ruthlessly.” Getting away from that, where do you go? 

We had a clinician in the group who heard these narratives, of the trauma of leaving groups or leaving an identity. When you experience an autism diagnosis, your whole life goes bust. There’s so much retribution when you can liberate yourself from these diagnostics that you didn’t align with (mention of inaccurate diagnoses prior to an autism one). But suddenly you have something that rings true for you. Whatever it is, let it be schizophrenia. If you’re Trans, whatever is what you come out to yourself, you accept. Because you identify with it. 

That part of knowing from another clinician the message of hope she says is, “As a clinician, to hear what autistics are overcoming in their own usual development. It’s not unusual and it’s like all other people who try to find their group and their community as part of natural human development.” 

And when you have to explain your story, it’s because it’s up to you to teach the clinicians. Most deemed professionals don’t at all know what they’re doing. You have to decide, am I going to be a champion in my own life? Can I take a lifetime to advocate for my life? 

It’s unfortunate that the autistic is put into the role of educating the clinicians. But at the same time, outside of autism diagnoses, it’s unfortunately not so calm, not so uncommon. Pretty much everyone who’s been in therapy may have experienced something like that. Or being rejected when you try to bring your actual story when you need accommodation in college. This is a very relatable topic where suddenly, you have to be providing emotional labor, being a self-narrative zoo exhibit, feeling so invalidated, feeling like a hole is directly under your feet with something that somebody shared. 

Then they said to her, “We are the experts and you basically know nothing.” For her, she experienced that it is the nervous system of both people in this relationship of, “I’m going for a diagnosis, you’re the counselor” “You’re this genius, I’m the apprentice.” In a professional career, “I am the supervisor, you’re the employee.” 

Any type of systemic dynamic change that makes it impossible for a person to thrive. It is if you look at it from the cognitive side that involves the nervous system, we know that it’s a relationship from the nervous system to the nervous system. It takes out this whole personhood, the diagnosis. It becomes on the human level. It becomes so beautiful because it’s not the oppression of the church of psychiatry, which I like to call it. But you start to see the side, somehow, that they are living, existing opposites that can be contained in a single relatable moment, digital or in person.

In the next zoom meeting, What sense of play are you bringing? Bring your inner child. Bring puppets. Show me your pet. Forward-facing camera. Show me the landscape. Show me the wallpaper of your living room, something relatable. It turned out that because we had this conversation, we discovered that their situation right now is trauma from being forced into eye contact from a very young age. When we talked about this, there was a comment that said, “Yes, I will try to see what I can play with to return to a child and I’m comfortable showing my cat. Because I love cats.” Then to explain how much they love cats, it was because “dogs or puppies rather are very emotionally demanding.” I mean, that at least explains why so many autistic people are cat people and rather than dog people. But yesterday’s group we talked about being pet non-conforming. You can love both dogs and cats. We don’t have to be in that binary of being a cat person or a dog person.

You’re allowed to have those thoughts. You’re allowed to exist. It can be silly and that’s okay. Because at least you’re making me smile. So you’ve sowed your seeds. I will see you in two weeks. Thank you for watching. And thank you for commenting. Overall, continue to use that search bar: Doogri Doogri Doogri, you will find us.

Cheers.


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Reflections and Resources:

  1. #THRIVING FB Live reflections (playlist)
  2. #THRIVING Youtube Playlist 
  3. Other reflections: Sia’s Interview and Elissa’s Comment

More of drhennyk [on TikTok]  [on Instagram][FB link for sharing her page] [Follow on Twitter][on LinkedIn]

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Create Lesson Plans for Gifted Students – Work From Home

Our educational non-profit is seeking staff to generate short lesson plans for students with exceptional giftedness. Lessons are on math, history, science, famous people, and high-school subjects for online students.

  •  You must be a skilled educator who can rearrange lesson content into our template format.
  • You must be able to connect to the internet platform to submit to the office.
  • You must submit a sample lesson plan that meets all of our template requirements to be considered for a full time position.

What is a lesson plan?

A lesson plan consists of a numbered list of facts. Number one will have 3 facts about something educational. Then, there will be an indented question about these facts. The question will contain a choice of 2 answers, (red or green?). Then, you return and start fact 2, and so on.

Our education department requires lesson plans written as though they are being taught to 6th graders and up. Plans should be written as though one is teaching or explaining the content or concept to someone who has no exposure nor a grasp of the cultural reference being made, perhaps a foreigner learning English for the first time. Provide lots of example to describe a new word.

Here is a snippet of our volcano lesson so you can imagine our format.

(1) The eruption of Mount St. Helens was not a surprise. Geologists are people who study the earth, and they knew that the volcano had erupted about 100 years ago. Therefore, they calculated that was going to happen again. The instrument used to record and measure these vibrations is called a seismograph.

A large wave on a seismograph means the instrument measured a large breakage of Rock or Light?

(2) Geologists watch volcanoes for signs of an eruption. They listen for rumbling, the deep groans and moans of the earth that is slowly melting underneath the ground. Mount St. Helens had been rumbling off and on for more than a hundred years.

Is Mt. St. Helens considered a volcano that is Dead or Alive?

Geologists know that these rumblings are warnings. Geologists also measure earthquakes. Before a volcano erupts, there are usually earthquakes happening in the same area, called a region.

After an earthquake in your region, should you worry about a future Volcano or a future Snowstorm?

[ end lesson sample ]

Opportunity for Growth: extraordinary creativity is rewarded!

Our base pay is $1 per Fact+question. Lesson plans must be at minimum 10 questions. You may write longer lessons, and you may submit up to 4 lessons plans per day! (=$40/day)

We look forward to reviewing your sample submissions and expanding our team with your creative skills. Please also check our updated Jobs page, as our mission is to generate employment opportunities for people seeking gainful and meaningful work. We honor neurodiversity, so please reply with your interest and availability so we can expect a timeline. What excites you about this format?

Explanation of our template and milestones:

(A) Content topic should be age appropriate, while the context must be provided to an alien thinker to develop content knowledge with guided imagery. Your 6th grader might know that microwaves are used for food, but the alien might know that humans use electromagnetic waves in their kitchen. Teach to both at the same time.

(B) Think of the Ripley fact, “Can you believe it?” Our students love fun, weird or goofy facts they can repeat to show off their smarts. “Hey, did you know that the world’s tallest person needed 14 yards of fabric to make their suit?”

(C) Critical feedback questions that offer two choices for a response. The choices must reside in the same alphabet cluster, but not the same letter for both questions. (A-I, or J-R, or S-Z). Example: Is today’s lesson about Electricity or History (E and H are both in the alphabet cluster A-I).

letter clusters

(D) Topic sentences must generate imagery so the student can imagine themselves in that content, and can try to guess how it looked, worked, or felt. Every idea should be followed with a critical thinking question to assess the student’s abstract imagery skills. The question doesn’t evaluate if they ‘heard’ or ‘understood,’ but how well they can imagine what would happen next, given the most recent facts. Example: * Is YARDS a Measurement or a Pattern? (J-R)

(E) Tools you can use: Thesaurus https://www.thesaurus.com/browse/pull?s=ts to discover similar words that reside in the same alphabet cluster.

FROM TRIAL PROJECT TO HIRE!

Our Phase I hiring requirements include submitting one Sample Lesson of a topic of your choice; something that you know a lot about. Please use our submission form here

Phase II
Our editors will review your submissions and send you a google doc (please provide a gmail) to act as a working document. We will provide feedback as comments in the doc.

Phase II
The third and last phase of our hiring process is identifying candidacy and remitting an offer and budget.