Life Skills for People of Color on the Autism Spectrum
What you'll learn
- Navigating healthcare to get your autism diagnosis, and how a diagnosis is beneficial to you
- Defining and refining your values and priorities in a way that stays true to your culture
- Powerful and robust time management techniques, including how to efficiently make decisions
- How to protect and manage your energy so you have more inner resources to meet the world
- Health and wellness techniques to keep you grounded and prevent meltdowns
Requirements
- Only a genuine commitment to developing yourself is necessary.
Description
Being an adult on the autism spectrum comes with abundant challenges. These challenges multiply when being BIPOC, including coping with and navigating regular harassment and discrimination on an individual and systemic level. While some materials do exist for teaching life and social skills for adults with autism, they neglect the BIPOC experience with all its associated nuances, risks, complexities, and deeper needs. This course is one of the first attempts to bridge this gap in resources.
Given the additional layers of stress, pressure, and complexity that is the backdrop of our lives as neurodivergent BIPOC adults, this course seeks to teach more fundamental inner skills that are required for integrating with society. Some of these skills include: navigating the US healthcare system to get your diagnosis and receive support, and understanding why a diagnosis is important; defining your values and priorities for more meaningful interactions; original techniques and routines I have developed for effectively managing time, conserving energy, and maintaining overall well-being; and creating a safe and nourishing environment. These internal life skills will prepare you for building meaningful relationships and engaging with society, which will be taught in the second course of this series, Social Skills for People of Color on the Autism Spectrum.
Who this course is for:
- This course is tailored to meet the needs of adult BIPOC with autism, but those with ADHD can benefit as well. This can be highly informative for those in partnership or caring for someone who is BIPOC and on the spectrum. This course is open to anyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, etc. However, this course may not be best suited for those on the spectrum with deeper support needs, such as being nonverbal.
Instructor
Aftab Hafeez is an ex-Googler, music producer, film composer, and researcher based in Palo Alto, California. As a Colombian-Pakistani American on the autism spectrum who went from minimally verbal to teaching himself to think in words, and with a deep understanding of human behavior that has several multiple Fortune 500 companies, he pulls from both extensive research and his own first-hand experience to teach life and social skills for people of color that yield meaningful interactions on an interpersonal and societal level.