First Report of the National Evaluation of RSVP Volunteers

In 2013, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) initiated a national evaluation of the Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP). The national evaluation was intended to collect the necessary information to better guide the RSVP program and to address three objectives: 1) describe the characteristics of RSVP volunteers, including how volunteers are distributed across CNCS’s performance measure categories, and how volunteers allocated their time to different service activities across the performance measure categories; 2) measure the relationship between volunteer characteristics, service activities, and volunteers’ psychosocial health; and 3) measure the impact of RSVP national service participation on volunteers’ psychosocial health compared to similar adult volunteers and non-volunteers in the Health and Retirement Study (HRS)... The current report focuses on the first objective, which is to describe the characteristics of RSVP volunteers, including how volunteers are distributed across CNCS’s performance measure categories, and how volunteers allocated their time to the service activities across the performance measure categories

‘Super disabilities’ vs ‘Disabilities’?:Theorizing the role of ableism in (mis)representational mythology of disability in the marketplace

People with disabilities (PWD) constitute one of the largest minority groups with one in five people worldwide having a disability. While recognition and inclusion of this group in the marketplace has seen improvement, the effects of (mis)representation of PWD in shaping the discourse on fostering marketplace inclusion of socially marginalized consumers remain little understood. Although effects of misrepresentation (e.g., idealized, exoticized or selective representation) on inclusion/exclusion perceptions and cognitions has received attention in the context of ethnic/racial groups, the world of disability has been largely neglected. By extending the theory of ableism into the context of PWD representation and applying it to the analysis of the We’re the Superhumans advertisement developed for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, this paper examines the relationship between the (mis)representation and the inclusion/exclusion discourse. By uncovering that PWD misrepresentations can partially mask and/or redress the root causes of exclusion experienced by PWD in their lived realities, it contributes to the research agenda on the transformative role of consumption cultures perpetuating harmful, exclusionary social perceptions of marginalized groups versus contributing to advancement of their inclusion

Translational profiling of hypocretin neurons identifies candidate molecules for sleep regulation

Hypocretin (orexin; Hcrt)-containing neurons of the hypothalamus are essential for the normal regulation of sleep and wake behaviors and have been implicated in feeding, anxiety, depression, and reward. The absence of these neurons causes narcolepsy in humans and model organisms. However, little is known about the molecular phenotype of these cells; previous attempts at comprehensive profiling had only limited sensitivity or were inaccurate. We generated a Hcrt translating ribosome affinity purification (bacTRAP) line for comprehensive translational profiling of all ribosome-bound transcripts in these neurons in vivo. From this profile, we identified >6000 transcripts detectably expressed above background and 188 transcripts that are highly enriched in these neurons, including all known markers of the cells. Blinded analysis of in situ hybridization databases suggests that ∼60% of these are expressed in a Hcrt marker-like pattern. Fifteen of these were confirmed with double labeling and microscopy, including the transcription factor Lhx9. Ablation of this gene results in a >30% loss specifically of Hcrt neurons, without a general disruption of hypothalamic development. Polysomnography and activity monitoring revealed a profound hypersomnolence in these mice. These data provide an in-depth and accurate profile of Hcrt neuron gene expression and suggest that Lhx9 may be important for specification or survival of a subset of these cells

Cripping sex education: lessons learned from a programme aimed at young people with mobility impairments

This paper analyses sexuality and relationship education (SRE) in a Swedish college programme aimed at young people with mobility impairments. Interviews and focus groups were conducted to explore students’ experiences of the structure, content and usefulness of SRE, and college personnel’s SRE practices. Results show that, although many of the issues covered are pertinent for all youth, being disabled raises additional concerns: for example how to handle de-sexualising attitudes, possible sexual practices, and how reliance on assistance impacts upon privacy. Crip theory is used as an analytical framework to identify, challenge and politicise sexual norms and practices. Students’ experiences of living in a disablist, heteronormative society can be used as resources to develop cripistemologies, which challenge the private/public binary that often de-legitimises learners’ experiences and separates them from teachers’ ‘proper’ knowledge production. Crip SRE would likely hold bene ts for non-disabled pupils as well, through its use of more inclusive pedagogy and in work to expand sexual possibilities. Crip SRE has the potential to disrupt taken-for-granted​ dis/ability and sexuality divides as well as to politicise issues that many young people presently experience as ‘personal shortcomings’

The subjection of women today

In The Subjection of Women, John Stuart Mill proposed that 'all honourable employments' and the training and education that qualifies one for them be made as freely open to women as to men. Today feminists call for equality of opportunity in employment and education for many of the same reasons Mill gave in his essay. In my thesis I examine the implications of both Mill's proposals and the comparable modern goal, equality of opportunity. I analyze the meritarian and the various utilitarian criteria of equal opportunity to determine what sorts of measures they require us to take. I show that certain common and good utilitarian criteria of equal employment opportunity require us to give boys and girls 'the same early education' and to eliminate sex prejudice from our society. Then I argue that the best interpretation of J.S. Mill's proposals requires the same measures. Giving boys and girls 'the same early education,' as I define it, includes treating them the same in the matter of their psychological development, i.e. not influencing either sex more than the other to develop or not to develop particular psychological traits or desires. Eliminating sex prejudice, I contend, is necessary to solving the problem of de-facto sex discrimination; it demands, among other things, that we come to value people's activities, achievements, and traits according to their contributions to human happiness and regardless of their sex. I further argue that if we try to bring about 'the same early education' before we have dealt with our sex prejudice, we will endanger the female psychological traits and many of the special contributions to human happiness hitherto made by women. I conclude that we should first cast off our sex prejudice and then take whatever further steps are necessary to give women and men equality of opportunity to fill any useful role in society.Arts, Faculty ofPhilosophy, Department ofGraduat