Students’ Perceptions and Stigma Toward Those with Intellectual and Physical Disabilities

Students’ Perceptions and Stigma Toward Those with Intellectual and Physical Disabilities BACKGROUND: Previous research has shown that there is a negative impact on those who are labeled as having an intellectual or physical disability (Green, Davis, Karshmer, Marsh, & Straight, 2005). The purpose of this research was to learn more about the stigma against those with disabilities and how one can cope with this stigma. METHODS: The subjects of this study were 80 General Psychology students. Participants were randomly assigned to one of four conditions, which differed in which vignette received. The four vignettes described individuals with the disabilities of (1) Autism, (2) Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, (3) Paralysis, and (4) Blindness. After reading, participants were given three questions to ensure that they had read carefully. Participants then completed the 17-item Community Living Attitudes Scale (CLAS), which measures general attitudes towards disabilities. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: A Chi-square test was used to test the hypothesis that participants would differ in their ability to recognize different disabilities. Indeed, the data shows that participants incorrectly diagnosed Autism and Blindness more frequently than Attention Deficit Disorder and paralysis, Χ2=(3, N=80) = 15.075, p\u3c .01. Additionally, One-Way ANOVAs were run to examine differences in the CLAS scales between the four vignettes. Results indicate that participants differed in their ability to recognize different disorders. Additionally, results indicated varying levels of Empowerment, Exclusion, Similarity, and Sheltering between conditions. This indicates that stigmas may be diminishing. Future research should further examine why stigma occurs against these and other disabilities. Results will be discussed in more detail during the presentation. Keywords: Attitudes, Physical Disabilities, Intellectual Disabilities, Stigm

Separating Myth from Reality in Federalism Decisions: A Perspective of American Federalism--Past and Present

This Note reviews the history of American federalism with particular emphasis on a comparison of the reality of the birth of American federalism with the myth that shrouds that event. The interplay of the several levels of American government in the federal system has been called cooperative federalism. The Note describes cooperative federalism as a process and criticizes the use of federalism as a rationale for the implementation of policy decisions.\u27 The Note next considers the Supreme Court\u27s current analysis of federalism issues that have arisen when Congress has exercised its powers under the commerce clause and identifies the contradictions and confusions that result when myth and reality are intermingled in the Court\u27s analysis

Who is “us” in “nothing about us without us”? Rethinking the politics of disability research

Disability research (and disability studies) emerged from the activism of disabled people who not only challenged oppressive legal and social structures, but also the ways in which research was used to legitimate that oppression. At the forefront of this challenge in the UK was Paul Hunt (Stone and Priestly, 1996). Hunt (1981) discredited the work of formerly esteemed researchers Eric Miller and Geraldina Gwynne by highlighting the ableist and unethical basis of their work. Miller and Gwynne had been commissioned to research the experiences of disabled people who were confined to institutional living following agitation by The Union of Impaired People Against Segregation (UIPAS). However, Miller and Gwynne's findings focused on improving the lot of practitioners rather than the quality of life and rights of disabled people. Hunt (1981) challenged Miller and Gwynne's claim to objective findings by demonstrating that they had prioritised the perspective of practitioners over disabled people and reiterated wider social prejudices about disability. For example, Miller and Gwynne argued that in residential care, "the essential task to be carried out is to help the inmates to make their transition from a social death [e.g. being/becoming disabled] to physical death" (1981:10). Miller and Gwynne's depiction of disabled people throughout their work was discriminatory and inflammatory, positioning disabled people as burdens and parasites. Hunt, however, subverted their discourse: "Miller and Gwynne make various references to residents as parasites and see us as essentially feeding off society not only economically but emotionally as well … The real parasites are those like Miller and Gwynne who grow fat by feeding on others miseries" (1981: 11). Hunt's analysis of the power and politics of research laid the foundations of disability research. He highlighted the politics of objectivity and accountability, exploitation and oppression and mandated that disability research should benefit disabled people

Is a standalone inertial measurement unit accurate and precise enough for quantification of movement symmetry in the horse?

Standalone ‘low-cost’ inertial measurement units (IMUs) could facilitate large-scale studies into establishing minimal important differences (MID) for orthopaedic deficits (lameness) in horses. We investigated accuracy and limits of agreement (LoA) after correction of magnitude-dependent differences of a standalone 6 degree-of-freedom IMU compared with an established IMU-based gait analysis system (MTx) in six horses for two anatomical landmarks (sacrum and sternum). Established symmetry measures were calculated from vertical displacement: symmetry index (SI), difference between minima (MinDiff) and difference between maxima (MaxDiff). For the sacrum, LoA were ± 0.095 for SI, ± 6.6 mm for MinDiff and ± 4.3 mm for MaxDiff. For the sternum, LoA values were ± 0.088 for SI, ± 5.0 mm for MinDiff and ± 4.2 mm for MaxDiff. Compared with reference data from mildly lame horses, SI values indicate sufficient precision, whereas MinDiff and MaxDiff values are less favourable. Future studies should investigate specific calibration and processing algorithms further improving standalone IMU performance

Farmers’ ethno-ecological knowledge of vegetable pests and pesticidal plant use in Malawi and Zambia

While pests are a major constraint in vegetable production in many parts of Southern Africa, little is known about farmers’ knowledge and management practices. A survey was conducted among 168 and 91 vegetable farmers in Northern Malawi and Eastern Zambia, respectively, to evaluate their knowledge, attitudes and traditional management practices in tomato and crucifers (brassica). All respondents in Malawi and Zambia reported pest damage on tomato and crucifers, and 75% had used synthetic pesticides. The use of pesticidal plants, cultural practices and resistant varieties constituted a smaller portion of the pest control options in both crucifers and tomato. Over 70% of the respondents were aware of pesticidal plants, and more female (75%) than male (55%) respondents reported using them. While over 20 different plant species were mentioned by respondents, Tephrosia vogelii accounted for 61 and 53% of the pesticidal species known to respondents in Malawi and Zambia, respectively. Farmers with small landholdings were more inclined to use pesticidal plants than those with medium and large landholding highlighting the importance of this management alternative for poor farmers. Most respondents were willing to cultivate pesticidal plants, which indicate that farmers understand the potential value of these plants in pest management

Is There Really No Crying in Baseball? Examining the Acceptance of Crying in Sport

It is not uncommon to see tears shed by players on both the winning and losing teams, particularly after a championship game. However, sport is also seen as an environment where competitors go to “put their game faces on” and keep their emotions in check, such as during the film A League of Their Own, when a manager tells a sobbing player that “there is no crying in baseball!” The current study sought to examine the extent to which individuals agree with this perspective. Specifically, participants rated the acceptability of crying by males and females in both sport and non-sport scenarios. The results revealed different expectations for emotional reactions in sport as individuals were more accepting of crying in non-sport scenarios than in sport scenarios. Additionally persons with higher levels of restrictive emotionality were particularly likely to believe that crying in sport was not appropriate

Rethinking the social impacts of the arts

The paper presents a critical discussion of the current debate over the social impacts of the arts in the UK. It argues that the accepted understanding of the terms of the debate is rooted in a number of assumptions and beliefs that are rarely questioned. The paper goes on to present the interim findings of a three‐year research project, which aims to rethink the social impact of the arts, with a view to determining how these impacts might be better understood. The desirability of a historical approach is articulated, and a classification of the claims made within the Western intellectual tradition for what the arts “do” to people is presented and discussed

Azithromycin Treatment Alters Gene Expression in Inflammatory, Lipid Metabolism, and Cell Cycle Pathways in Well-Differentiated Human Airway Epithelia

Prolonged macrolide antibiotic therapy at low doses improves clinical outcome in patients affected with diffuse panbronchiolitis and cystic fibrosis. Consensus is building that the therapeutic effects are due to anti-inflammatory, rather than anti-microbial activities, but the mode of action is likely complex. To gain insights into how the macrolide azithromycin (AZT) modulates inflammatory responses in airways, well-differentiated primary cultures of human airway epithelia were exposed to AZT alone, an inflammatory stimulus consisting of soluble factors from cystic fibrosis airways, or AZT followed by the inflammatory stimulus. RNA microarrays were conducted to identify global and specific gene expression changes. Analysis of gene expression changes revealed that the AZT treatment alone altered the gene profile of the cells, primarily by significantly increasing the expression of lipid/cholesterol genes and decreasing the expression of cell cycle/mitosis genes. The increase in cholesterol biosynthetic genes was confirmed by increased filipin staining, an index of free cholesterol, after AZT treatment. AZT also affected genes with inflammatory annotations, but the effect was variable (both up- and down-regulation) and gene specific. AZT pretreatment prevented the up-regulation of some genes, such as MUC5AC and MMP9, triggered by the inflammatory stimulus, but the up-regulation of other inflammatory genes, e.g., cytokines and chemokines, such as interleukin-8, was not affected. On the other hand, HLA genes were increased by AZT. Notably, secreted IL-8 protein levels did not reflect mRNA levels, and were, in fact, higher after AZT pretreatment in cultures exposed to the inflammatory stimulus, suggesting that AZT can affect inflammatory pathways other than by altering gene expression. These findings suggest that the specific effects of AZT on inflamed and non-inflamed airway epithelia are likely relevant to its clinical activity, and their apparent complexity may help explain the diverse immunomodulatory roles of macrolides