Lisa Belkebir

Writing for Social Scientist

Fall 2022

Self-Assessment Essay

Growing up, I was always interested in writing, but I always struggled with what to write about. I would write in school and hope to find my passion in writing one day. After 13 years and one semester of school, still nothing. Finally, in the third semester of college, I enrolled in Writing for Social Scientists with one of the most amazing Professors. My writing has evolved in many ways. I have changed in terms of how I write and what I write about now. Let me elaborate. I have finally found my passion for writing. I am currently a Pre Law Major, and all I want to do is be an advocate for people. This course taught me the right way to construct an advocacy plan and what my passion is.

Our first essay in the course was our peer interview essay. We were instructed to interview one of our classmates about a community they identified with. In conducting my first observations, I was very confused about what I had to write down; I didn’t want to miss anything. After two or three class discussions, my teacher advised us to use the guide of questions she had given us earlier. After reviewing the guide of questions, my professor had provided, my partner and I better understood what questions to ask one another. After my interview, I had to take all my information, construct an essay, and answer whether my peer’s community was marginalized from the American mainstream. After writing my first essay and submitting it, I received my grade and feedback from my professor. In the input, my professor mentioned that I had done a great job gathering and analyzing my information, but my essay lacked organization and was very “long-winded.” Fast forward, we started working on our second major essay, in which we participated in another form of observing using our five senses and not engaging with anyone in the community. We were instructed to pick a community we were unfamiliar with or a part of. I chose to do the autistic community. After receiving feedback about the first essay, I realized I also needed to organize my double-entry notes. In my second observation, I had done a better job managing my notes; therefore, when I had done by the second essay, my essay was better organized and still kept the same amount of detailed writing I had provided in my first essay. In doing that, after submitting my essay, I received positive feedback from my professor and a 100 for the assignment. Our third and final major essay was our advocacy Plans, and this was probably one of my favorite essays. It involved two of my biggest passions: writing and advocating for those who can’t support themselves.  When completing my third essay, I gained a passion that I wasn’t even sure I had. When doing the creative project for our third essay, I unlocked so much creativity and critical thinking in me that I didn’t even know I had. After finishing both components, the creative project, and the third essay, I concluded that advocating for marginalized communities is something I am good at and passionate about. Therefore, my goal is to support as many people as possible.

This course has not only made me a better student, but it has made me a better person. This semester I was so lucky because I had taken Applications to Psychology in the modern world & Civil Liberties courses that all tied together. That being said, this course writing for social science gave me a better understanding of the lessons that had tied together. We learned many different ways social scientists conduct research; in knowing that I realized that every social scientist has a form of a method for observing. With this comes the importance of evidence. If a researcher were to tell us a statement, we would be less likely to believe the statement. However, if there were statistics or evidence followed after the statement, we would be more open to the information being told to you. One major thing we learned throughout the course was Bias. Bias is a preference towards a particular thing; Humans have implicit bias without even realizing we do. This course taught me to reflect on my thoughts and stereotypes before responding or speaking. There are many marginalized communities, and before this course, I wasn’t even aware that these issues were a thing, which is the importance of issues in marginalized communities. The lack of education is the root of all marginalized communities; If we took a second to educate ourselves about what’s happening around us, more people would be reaching their full potential today.

Research Question; what is the correlation between the feeling of loneliness & autistic teenagers?

Thesis: Autistic teenagers are more at risk of experiencing feelings of loneliness due to society’s rejection.

 Advocacy Plan By; Lisa Belkebir

End the stigma and start the conversation today. Research has found that teenagers with Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are more likely to feelings of loneliness than teenagers who do not have ASD(. Today I would like to introduce a community that can live its full attention if we today as a society choose to make a change. The community I will be advocating for today is Teenagers with ASD also known as autism spectrum disorders. These kids have been rejected by society so many times due to their ASD. Teenagers with ASD are often left out in social settings such as school, clubs, sports, parks, and other events due to the struggles they may deal with due to ASD. Teenagers with Autism are often ignored by the American mainstream, The American mainstream fails to acknowledge the social challenges that kids with ASD face which can often carry on to their adult lives. Due to the lack of social interaction kids with ASD receive in their teenage years, it has been seen that further on in adulthood they struggle to maintain and hold lasting relationships. Many people might just look at this as a loss to the Teens with the autism community, whereas limiting this community to the best of their abilities also deprives our society of thriving as well because we are minimizing the people in our society from reaching their potential which means your society won’t reach its full potential either, that is because society will only thrive if the people allow it to, therefore restricting or limiting certain people in your society will be in loss not only will teens with autism and upcoming generations with ASD. However, if we as a whole rise and find a solution and how to end the limitations on children with ASD then not only will all teenagers thrive so will our society.

To anyone who may have or knows a teenager with ASD or Is an individual with ASD today, I would like to take the first step in advocating for your community. When observing your community of teens with an autism support group on the Facebook platform, I am disappointed as a society as a teenager myself have failed our organization and would like to take the

first step in owning up to it  To all individuals with autism and family & friends of individuals with ASD today I take the first step to try to limit the number of children with ASD who experience the feeling of loneliness due to society’s rejection by creating an online platform for teens with ASD to chat and meet. Further, if my platform succeeds the goal will be that Teens all over the world to start forming and maintaining meaningful friendships, creating this platform gives many children the social experience they were revoked due to their ASD.

Throughout my observation many things rose to my attention that were very concerning, my first major concern was how socially left out these teens were. That was honestly such a reality check because we as a society are now aware of our actions, and my of those actions negatively impact many others around us. Many Teenagers with autism shared the same concern of bullying or rejection.  UCLA Springer Science Programs published an article stating many social deficits individuals with ASD end up battling with long-term “Specific social deficits among individuals with ASD (Autism spectrum disorders) often include (but are not limited to) poor social communication, impaired social cognition, and lack of understanding of social cues”(Springer Science Ucla Programs)”. These social deficits go on to have an enormous impact on their lives which only hurts them, whereas we can prevent a few individuals with ASD from developing more social deficits by including them and treating them as your equals as they are and deserve to be treated but as fair and right as you.  If parents were speaking on behalf of their child with ASD they would also share the same concern of their child not being able to make or keep friends.  One very interesting fact that I learned when conducting my research is that” In one study, Bauminger and Kasari (2000) found that children and pre-adolescents with high-functioning autism reported greater loneliness and less satisfaction with their friendships as compared with their typically developing peers(Jorsen).   Discovering this information doesn’t change that we need to learn how to adapt to everyone around us despite their differences. Why I choose to advocate for this community is a question I often get. I choose to advocate and observe this community because I am currently A swim Instructor for children of all ages, and when observing the teens with autism community when I saw many Children with ASD are later on socially excluded. I wanted to try to prevent that because many of my students with ASD have the potential to succeed just as much as my students without ASD, therefore I want to make sure to try to prevent as many social deficits as possible due to social rejection by creating a website with chatrooms for Children with ASD. In doing this I hope that many children don’t come home and feel this way “My son 17 high functioning and on the spectrum, he begged me to help him find friends he says when other kids find out he has autism they call him stupid or crazy and he was so depressed today when he came home from school he was crying (Teens with autism support Group Facebook), When conducting my observation this was a post that a parent had shared and when looking at my students I never want them to go home and experience the same pain and nor do I want any parents to see their child hurting for something they have no control over. Further, “children with autism who had more exposure to typically developing children were found to engage in more high-level interactions, as compared with children with autism who had no such exposure” (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders).  After Conducting all my research and observation I come to see that loneliness in Individuals with ASD is more common than realized, which also means we as a society have limited and rejected more individuals with ASD than realize. Therefore today I will begin advocating for the Teens with autism community & every Individual with ASD that may have been limited due to societal views.

Imagine waking up with no friends just because you might just a little different sucks right? Well today Is the first step in ending that. I have designed and created Online Chatrooms for All Children and Teenagers with ASD to socialize. I have designed two website platforms one containing all the chat rooms and the other is an intro website to access the chatrooms.  What are these website and what do they do you may ask? I am here to tell you exactly that, The first Plan of my Advocacy Plan for Teens with ASD is by sharing the Introduction website through many platforms. One platform that I have already shared this link is the Community that I had conducted my observations on. I had reached out to the admin of the group and made her aware of my goals for her community and was very excited to give my plan a try and maybe start putting an end to this issue of loneliness in children with ASD. What does my introduction website contain? Well, when accessing the Introduction website you will open up the “The Chatty Bunch” Page and when your scroll down you first receive a brief blurb on what the website is. Later on in your search, you will come across the rules and regulations of these chatrooms, and then will be the form to request to be in a chat room. When Individuals fill out the form it doesn’t mean they will be guaranteed a chatroom, after receiving the form our chat team will review the form and then respond with a decision. Saying the individual is indeed who they claim to be they will be sent a link to the chatroom website in the email they had provided in the form and will be granted access to the chatrooms. In the chatroom website when opening the links, you will first be brought to a small blur of what this website is and then you have the different types of chat rooms and under each photo is the chatroom name, Information detailing what that chatroom will mainly intel of and the link to the specific chatroom associated. Currently, I have set up a few different chatrooms as follows online gaming, Game Nights, The Boys Bat Cave, Move Nights, and More on the way very soon. This is a project and an advocacy Plan I plan on taking much further than just a Facebook platform. Individuals with ASD are just as intellectual and worthy as every one of us therefore not only requires but deserves the same social interactions and respect as given to everyone else around them. Therefore, I encourage you to advocate for everyone around you and the next time someone is different embrace it doesn’t get rid of them.” It is commonly assumed that individuals with ASD prefer isolation or at least minimal social contact (J Autism Dev Disorder). This assumption should not be associated with all individuals with ASD. END THE STIGMA AND START THE CONVERSATION TODAY!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Annotated Bibliography:

“Loneliness, Friendships Quality and the Social Networks of Adolescents with High-Functioning Autism.” Shibboleth Authentication Request, https://nasenjournals-onlinelibrary-wiley-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/doi/full/10.1111/j.1471-3802.2010.01148.x.

This article was one of the most important articles while conducting my research because I had concluded that most individuals with ASD are higher functioning, therefore, is why they struggle with maintaining and holding relationships due to people always limiting their abilities they would get “bored of the friendship” therefore are not able to experience longlasting friendships.

 

White, Susan W., and Roxann Roberson-Nay. “Anxiety, Social Deficits, and Loneliness in Youth with Autism Spectrum Disorders – Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.” SpringerLink, Springer US, 4 Mar. 2009, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10803-009-0713-8

 

This article was important to my research because it made me aware of the many social deficits that individuals with ASD later on face due to societal rejection.  “Specific social deficits among individuals with ASD (Autism spectrum disorders) often include (but are not limited to) poor social communication, impaired social cognition, and lack of understanding of social cues” this is a statement that was posted that proved why my thesis is as.

 

Suzuki, Kota, et al. “The Relationships Among Autism Spectrum Disorder Traits, Loneliness, and Social Networking Service Use in College Students.” Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, vol. 51, no. 6, 2021, pp. 2047–56, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-020-04701-2.

This article gives us a quick summary of how many children with ASD grow up facing many societal challenges due to issues that people in their society had created.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Good Afternoon My name is Lisa and on today’s daily reports I am pleased to say I was able to meet with a college student from the city college of new york, Moriom Ahmed. Ms. Moriom is a 20-year-old female, currently in her 2nd year of college. Ms.moriom originates from a country located in Asia called Bengali. Moriom identifies herself as part of the Bangladesh community located in Ozone Park Queens New York. As well as the Muslim Community. During our interview I was really able to see how much the Bengalish community impacted her because every time she spoke about her community and the people in it she would light up and her face would be rushed with happy emotions, When I asked Ms.Moriom how she felt after joining this community she said “I felt like I was back home in our home village Sylhet, Beanibazar. Our interview was conducted Via Facetime. Throughout the interview, I saw the passion Moriom had for the Bangladesh community and was intrigued to learn more about the Bangledesh community in ozone park, Queens. Throughout the interview, I grew to see what community meant to Moriom. A community to Moriom was “friendship between the same or different group of people living in one area and having most things in common.  As well where we can be open with one another about everything without being judged and being able to respect each other’s opinion, thoughts & Ideas and always supporting each other”. When Moriom told me this I was so impressed and fascinated because I felt the same way a community is all about support, respect, morals & similarities.  One person can be part of many communities, as each individual is different I asked Moriom why she chose to share about the Bangladesh community rather than the Muslim Community. Moriom chose to sit down today and talk to me about the Bangladesh community because simply this community in Queens is what helped Ms.Ahmed make her migration to the USA from Bengali easier. It gave Moriom a feeling of being back home in Bengali. There were fellow Bengali people around her. The Bangladesh community was planning & putting on events of their practice & traditions.  Being able to practice her culture and traditions every day as she would back home is part of why she enjoys living in the USA. Bengalis gather and share their culture, foods, dance, clothes & activities. The Bangladesh community is doing all the things that she would participate in back home in Bengali so this is what allowed Ms.Moriom to grow an attachment and importance for the Bangladesh Community In ozone park Queens.  I went ahead to just get the last idea of her idea of community by asking her what she believes makes a community strong.  Moriom tells me that having the same culture, religion, and residents who hold genuine & mutual respect for one another and have a strong commitment to genuinely wanting to help and support the ones in their community. Hearing this just allows me to see that many people from different communities have the same basic foundation of what makes a community strong. I always say a community is a group of people that will make sure not only the people in their house but also the people around them are always safe and healthy. A Community is what people make it to be is something I always tell people and Ms.Moriom explained exactly what I just stated. Seeing how most communities share the same ethical rules & morals is amazing.

We then moved on to deeper and more critical thinking and asked Moriom, If the Bangladesh community was marginalized from the American Mainstream.  When I asked the  Interviewer  Moriom Ahmed she went on to say that she believed that as a member of the Bangladesh community they haven’t been marginalized from the American mainstream. Moriom later goes on to share one of her experiences of the Bangladesh community’s religious practices, which shows their acceptance into the American mainstream. Moiorm shares that every Friday there’s a special prayer that Muslims participate in by going to a mosque ( Muslims Place of worship) and during the time of the prayer, Police officers come and stand guard around the mosques that are located in ozone park while the Muslim people prays”. I found this to be such a beautiful way for not only the NYPD but the American people to show their acceptance of different religions and cultures. There then rise the question well if the American mainstream is more open why all the protection this is for because there have been some attacks on the mosques targeting our Muslim people? There was an incident a few years ago where the prayer leader of a mosque was shot and died on the spot, unfortunately. As a community, we were glad to see that the proper steps of justice had taken place and the American mainstream still seeks to make sure our community is safe, recognized & welcomed into our mainstream.

Another Main Critical Thinking question I asked Moriom was How did her perspective about her community was shaped over time. Moriom actually briefly mentioned how her community changed over time and she was so joyful when telling me how when she first joined the Bangladesh community there wasn’t as full as it is today. Moriom goes on to say “the past few years a lot of immigrants from Bangladesh started moving and living here. Our Bengali culture and religion started to have more celebrations. I started to feel more open and secure about my culture and celebrated special holidays with them that made me feel like I am in Bangladesh and I can hold on to my culture. Slowly crime rates in ozone park have been decreasing because of the protection that’s been provided specifically for this community”. Not only did her community grow but it got safer as well.  Not only did her community change and benefit her and everyone else in her community but it helped her develop as a person.

As a person who is currently studying Psychology as a minor I was really curious about how Ms, Moriom would explain how the community had changed her as a person. When I asked Ms. Moriom she went on to explain to me that her ongoing caring strong intelligent and courageous characteristics were ones that the community was the ones who helped her strengthen and develop these traits. When I gave a list of Traits to Ms.Moriom I asked her to name ones she truly thought her community as a whole was helping her obtain and strengthen. Moriom told me her community has believed her to “dig deeper into humanity, to be more empathetic toward situations, learn what acceptance is, Kindness, faith,saftey, inspiration,generoristy, and how to build a strong work ethic”. This was truly inspiring and beautiful I feel like as a person learning about a brand new community hearing this makes me so happy to see that there are people in the world who care out for others and their own. While interviewing Ms.Moriom I was curious about all the different traditions that her culture partakes in and one tradition not only was it a beautiful and unique tradition but such a cool and fascinating tradition Is considered part of their Pre-wedding ritual this activity is known as adan paradan its where both the immediate family of the groom & Bride meet before anything else happens and give consent to their families joining and the bride and groom joining. I found this tradition so full and beautiful because when a marriage occurs most people fail to see not only did two beautiful people find their soulmates but two different families are now joining as well and the communication and acceptance between both families are beautiful.

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect like everything else in the world many people still have certain thoughts and ideas that are false pertaining to the bangelash community these are known as stereotypes some of these stereotypes Ms, Moriom has brought to our attention are “ Bengali people can’t talk proper English or fail to gain proper English accent” whereas it actually depends on that person because the ones who were educated in the USA will have a “proper English accent” whereas the ones who studied in Bengali where in Bangladesh students mostly studied in Bangladesh and Arabic, therefore when they migrate to the USA even though they learn the English language, they may still not have the proper accent as it is not their native language. Therefore no one should be basing someone’s skill based on their cultural background. One other stereotype Moiorm shared with me was that “all Bengalis like fish ”, Moirom goes on to say that fish was a big traditional dish in the Bangladesh community but it still goes back to just a personal preference. Ms.Moirom who was part of this community was not a personal fan of fish but it doesn’t make her any less Bengali. Stereotypes are statements that are consistently being said that are most of the time unfactual which is not okay. Toward the end of our interview, I mentioned that our communities share many cultural backgrounds and morals. For example, I had come to find out that our community shares similar traditions as their pre-wedding ritual due to the reasoning that both of our communities practice the religion known as Islam(Muslium). I used to believe that our communities were quite different but I go to see that we share more in common than I was aware. It was a pleasure learning about the Bangladesh community and I want to personally thank Moirom Ahmed for sharing about her beautiful country, traditions, and community.

 

 

“There is no point in even explaining she is autistic anyways”, most say this thinking there is no harm done behind it. They have just added to a chain that needs to be broken in American society.  Today I am observing one of the many marginalized communities in the American mainstream, Teenagers with autism. Throughout the process of choosing a community to observe I was very indecisive and didn’t know which community to focus on I choose to observe this community because I am currently a swim instructor for children and choose to observe this community in hopes of being able to understand and empathize more with children and teens with autism.

The American mainstream neglects to mention or acknowledge the people who battle daily autism. There is no sense of support for them when it comes to today’s societal views that they are “too slow” to function, whereas most autistic people can lead high-functioning lives if they don’t get neglected or separated due to their mental disorders. The Teens with Autism Support Group/Community was created on December 3rd, 2021, by the admin of the group, a 19-year-old male with autism. When he first started this support group his main goal was to build a community of teenagers with autism or others with teens with autism. A way for autistic children to build friendships and learn how to maintain and hold on to lifelong friendships. Facebook Platform brought this community together and you can see how most people in this community all share similar struggles such as building friendships. Today as much as they may not realize or like to admit whenever we encounter an individual on a spectrum without any thought to it, we pursue them as “slow” “incapable” “need assistance” “dependent” and so on. Therefore, we tend to see them as a pity case rather than an equal, therefore we don’t see them as someone you would socialize with. Many autistic children suffer from social interactions in schools. Some schools still have classrooms set up strictly for children on the spectrum. Most autistic children have the same abilities as children who have not been diagnosed with autism.  Us doing that as a society does more harm than we would know too many autistic children in the future. When they grow up and hit their teenage years “children with autism who had more exposure to typically developing children were found to engage in more high-level interactions, as compared with children with autism who had no such exposure” (Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders). Teenagers who grew up with autism and were put into special education classes in an environment solely with other children on the spectrum struggled with a variety of issues when it came to social interaction and or friendships due to the isolation over the years.  Autistic children struggle every day to communicate with others around them due to the lack of attention they receive from individuals who aren’t autistic. “. “Research suggests that impaired social skills are often the most significant challenge for those on the autism spectrum, often affecting the ability to develop and maintain meaningful relationships (UCLA PEERS PROGRAM)”. Autistic teens generally suffer from socialization daily and this is something the social struggles in noticing and engaging in.

Observing the Teens with autism community was such a beneficial and educational advantage. I observed this community from November 15th- November 18th, 2022. I broke apart my interview into 3 different sections for a total of an hour in time. The first day was my initial and main observation which lasted up to 40 min which was on November 15th from 9:00 pm up until about 9:40 pm.  In this first initial observation, I observed their sense of community. Most Teens in this support group shared similar characteristics of feeling distant from others, loneliness, and self-insecurity. On November 15th, 2022, at 9; 00 pm I started conducting my observation and this is what I concluded, a mother posted on the platform “This is for all teenagers out there with autism condition or knows someone who has been diagnosed”-Dec 3rd, 2021”. situations about kids with autism.”. Throughout the observation, I concluded that most teenagers with autism all share a similar struggle: socializing and making friends. Parents would come to these support groups to introduce themself and their children and would advocate on behalf of their children because most children with autism struggle with the concept of social communication. Many Autistic teens struggle with friendships because society tends to always reject people on the spectrum.  Later on, due to neglect, they fail to operate in the outside world with all the social communication.  On November 16th at 10:00 am I also saw the same concern among another teenager “Hello I am 17 and live in London I struggle to make and keep friends because I’m autistic there anyone who would like to be friends and chat? – Oct 28”. Autistic teens all around the world are constantly seeking friends because their environment has made it so hard for them to form any friendships. This community was unique because it was run by an autistic teen, and within the group, most conversations are conducted and held directly by the child themself unless other circumstances occur then a parent would speak on behalf of their child, but at the end, the goal was for teenagers with autism to start building meaningful relationships.  When first going into this community I had looked at the rules and within joining this community you had to be a teenager with autism or a parent of one, Respectful, Empathetic and no disrespect was tolerated. I proceed with my observations. On the last day of my observation, I conducted a mother came on the platform in hopes of seeking aid on how to help her son in high school make friends as he struggles with his social skills due to autism, “My son 17 high functioning on the spectrum he begged me to help him find friends he says when other kids find out he has autism they call him stupid or crazy and he was so depressed today when he came home from school he was crying”. Other teens would discredit their classmates if they were on the spectrum therefore, they would never be able to engage in any social interaction later in their lives without battling social deficits. A researcher had said, “Specific social deficits among individuals with ASD (autism spectrum disorders) often include (but are not limited to) poor social communication, impaired social cognition, and lack of understanding of social cues” (Springer Science UCLA Programs). My final observation concluded that many teenagers with autism 95% of the chance suffer from social deficits due to the lack of social communication given and received in their childhood lives (UCLA Programs). I was also very intrigued about how wide the spectrum of autism ranges. There are many different illnesses under the term Autism, we generally just say “oh he has autism” and never “oh he has Asperger” (which is a type of autism).

              After Finishing my observations, I was genuinely surprised and disappointed to be part of such a society and generation. Growing up I wasn’t even aware of the actions we had done to our uneducated minds. We choose to push people away because of their differences which can cause certain people to be affected by it in the long run, whereas we should be encouraging each other’s differences. We as a society need to start realizing that at the end of the day every human being deserves respect and to be acknowledged.  I was also very intrigued about how wide the spectrum of autism ranges. There are many different illnesses under the term Autism, we generally just say “oh he has autism” and never “oh he has Asperger’s” (which is a type of autism). I was disturbed to see all the words that were said to these kids while they were in school by kids who are supposed to be mature enough to know what should and should not be said. Overall, Teens with autism are often overlooked and should not be society plays a role in each other’s futures, therefore don’t minimize people’s futures just because they may need a little more assistance and guidance than you may need.

Works Cited Page:

Online Safety for Children and Teens on the Autism Spectrum: A Parent’s and Carer’s Guide. Shibboleth authentication request. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://web-p-ebscohost-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=59bd6a28-3a22-4c5e-bec2-8985db85dd98%40redis&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3D%3D#AN=879582&db=e000xna

Shibboleth authentication request. Shibboleth Authentication Request. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://link-springer-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/

Shibboleth authentication request. Shibboleth Authentication Request. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://link-springer-com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/