The Future of Disability in Alaska Summit & Follow-up Survey

The Future of Disability in Alaska Summit was held in Anchorage in the summer of 2013, May 9-10. The purpose was to gather perspectives from a diverse group of stakeholders to inform a vision of the future for people with disabilities in Alaska in five broad topical areas: 1) Housing Arrangements, 2) Advocacy, 3) Relationships, 4) Economic Wellbeing, and 5) Health. About 76 stakeholders participated in the summit including people with disabilities, family members, advocates, service providers, policymakers, and others. A follow-up online survey was conducted to gather information from a broader range of stakeholders and to get a sense of the highest priorities in each area. The purpose of the report and other products coming out of this effort is to inspire stakeholders to periodically reflect, individually and in groups, on how they are working toward the vision in a relevant area and taking action in the context of advocacy, policy/regulation, funding, and services/resources. The report states a vision for each of the five topical areas and includes many suggested strategies to accomplish it.Funded in part by Grant Number T7320663 from the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration; and Grant Number 90DD0009-02-00 from the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities, Administration for Community Living; both in the U.S. Department of Health and Human ServicesList of Tables / Executive Summary / Introduction / Method / Participants / Result

Human development

This article draws attention to commonalities in the use of the term development in relation to global development as practised by the United Nations Development Programme, and human development as taught in foundation courses for teacher education, nursing, and other social sciences. It argues, following Sen (2009), that the common direction and purpose of these two development projects is towards social justice. Theories of lifespan development affect the lives of persons both through national policy and self-management. Human development cannot and ought not to be sustained as a project for spreading euro-western values. Using the example of youth unemployment, it is argued that popular theories of career development, based on the twentieth century contexts of their authors, promote outdated assumptions, which create real personal turmoil for young adults who are trying to fit themselves into this changing world. The focus of the study of human development is optimal directions; thus for individuals, as for countries, development is both a global and a moral project. Placing emphasis on the global context of human development has far-reaching implications for scholars of lifespan development. These considerations also foreshadow the need to examine the role of lifespan developmental theory in Education, which is an acknowledged tool of global development

NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF CHILD HEALTH AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT Comprehensive Strategic Plan for Health Disparities Research

To identify the most appropriate scientific areas to address in this plan, the Institute drew from its existing research portfolio aimed at eliminating health disparities. Reflecting the Institute’s mission, the unifying concept of the plan is development, starting before conception and continuing throughout the lifespan and across generations. The Institute’s long experience investigating the complex biological and environmental interactions that drive developmental processes is invaluable when clarifying the causes of racial, ethnic, and even community-based disparities. By focusing and coordinating research on gestation and the early years of life, including the transitions into and out of adolescence and young adulthood, the NICHD can address not only the development of health disparities, but the critical timing of preventive and therapeutic strategies

Maximizing Human Development

The Human Development Index (HDI) is widely used as an aggregate measure of overall human well being. We examine the allocations implied by the maximization of this index, using a standard growth model — an extended version of Mankiw, Romer, andWeil’s (1992) model — and compare these with the allocations implied by the golden rule in that model. We find that maximization of the HDI leads to the overaccumulation of both physical and human capital, relative to the golden rule, and consumption is pushed to minimal levels. We then propose an alternative specification of the HDI, which replaces its income component with a consumption component. Maximization of this modified HDI yields a “human development golden rule” which balances consumption, education and health expenditures, and avoids the more extreme implications of the existing HDI.Economic growth, Human Development Index, Planning

Human Development of Peoples

This paper provides a framework and estimates of Enrollment Rates per natural and combines them with previous Income and Child Mortality per natural estimates by Clemens and Pritchett (2008) to produce a Human Development Index Per Natural. The methodology is applied for 1990 and 2000 to provide estimates of growth rates of this measure over the period. The paper also develops and illustrates a framework for estimating an education place premium, and discusses how it is related to per natural measures. The peoples of the least developed countries stand to gain the most from international migration, but there are potentially significant gains to migration between developing countries as well.Migration, Human Development, Education