Development in West Virginia

In Small is Beautiful: Economics as If People Mattered, E.F. Schumacher considers unemployment. Schumacher describes unemployment as "the non-utilization or gross under-utilization of available labor."

Economic Development, according to Schumacher, "is primarily a question of getting more work done." For an economy to develop, four conditions must be met:

1. Motivation
2. Know-How
3. Capital
4. Access to New Markets

Regarding motivation, Schumacher says that "there is little to be said from the outside. If people do not want to better themselves, they are best left alone."

Of know-how, he asks "What is education for?" and talks about the obligation of those with know-how, or education, to act as leaders for the larger community. Schumacher says that this is a view that is "well supported by all the higher teachings of mankind" and quotes St. Luke: "Much will be expected of the man to whom much has been given. More will be asked of him because he was entrusted with more."

Capital is necessary because productive work cannot be done without it--"in the form of equipment and also in working capital."

The last condition is markets, which Schumacher says is a problem for poor economies: "There is a very real problem because poverty means that markets are small and there is very little free purchasing power. All of the purchasing power that exists already, is, as it were, bespoken...if I start a new production in a poor (economy) there can be no local market for my products unless I divert the flow of purchasing power from some other product to mine."

All of the above, he says, "sounds very difficult and in a sense it is very difficult if it is done for the people, instead of by the people... Let's not mesmerise ourselves by the difficulties, but recover the commonsense view that work is the most natural thing in the world."

My question: What does this mean for Economic Development in West Virginia?

Schumacher describes economics as an inexact science--"(Economics) is in fact, or ought to be, something much greater: a branch of wisdom...economic life is still worth living because it is sufficiently unpredictable to be interesting. The future cannot be forecast, but it can be explored."

Should the term "Mental Retardation" be dropped? What is your opinion?
- Changes proposed in how psychiatrists diagnose -
ByLAURAN NEERGAARD (AP) – Feb 9, 2010 — Don't say "mental retardation" — the new term is "intellectual disability." No more diagnoses of Asperger's syndrome — call it a mild version of autism instead. And while "behavioral addictions" will be new to doctors' dictionaries, "Internet addiction" didn't make the cut.

Revising Book on Disorders of the Mind
By BENEDICT CAREY
Published: February 10, 2010
In a conference call on Tuesday, Dr. Regier, Dr. Kupfer and several other members of the task force outlined their favored revisions. The task force favored making semantic changes that some psychiatrists have long argued for, trading the term “mental retardation” for “intellectual disability,” for instance, and “substance abuse” for “addiction.”

According to the American Psychiatric Association website:

INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES
"DSM-IV uses the term, “Mental retardation” (MR) to describe cognitive deficits. This term is outdated and considered pejorative by many, so the work group is considering a change to the term “Intellectual Disabilities”.

The usefulness of the four current categories (Mild MR, Moderate MR, Severe MR and Profound MR) is being examined, in comparison with a single category of Intellectual Disabilities, with diagnostic specifiers for 1) IQ and 2) Adaptive functioning.

The work group will seek feedback (through RFIs and meetings with stakeholder groups) on these changes in definition, as well as on the specific criteria to be proposed for the intellectual disabilities in DSM-5."
If you would like to leave your public comment on this, or other revisions, you can do so here.

Some other proposed changes being considered:

"The field is still trying to organize valid diagnostic categories. It's honest to re-look at what the science says and doesn't say periodically," said Ken Duckworth, medical director for the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, which was gearing up to evaluate the draft.

The draft manual, posted at http://www.DSM5.org, is up for public debate through April, and it's expected to be lively. Among the autism community especially, terminology is considered key to describing a set of poorly understood conditions. People with Asperger's syndrome, for instance, tend to function poorly socially but be high-achieving academically and verbally, while verbal problems are often a feature of other forms of autism.

"It's really important to recognize that diagnostic labels very much can be a part of one's identity," said Geri Dawson of the advocacy group Autism Speaks, which plans to take no stand on the autism revisions. "People will have an emotional reaction to this."

Liane Holliday Willey, an author of books about Asperger's who also has the condition, said in an e-mail that school autism services often are geared to help lower-functioning children.

"I cannot fathom how anyone could even imagine they are one and the same," she wrote. "If I had put my daughter who has a high IQ and solid verbal skills in the autism program, her self-esteem, intelligence and academic progress would have shut down."

Terminology also reflects cultural sensitivities. Most patient-advocacy groups already have adopted the term "intellectual disability" in place of "mental retardation." Just this month, the White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel, drew criticism from former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin and others for using the word "retarded" to describe some activists whose tactics he questioned. He later apologized.
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner in Chicago contributed to this report.

Tabitha's PowerPoint presentation

Last month during an Active Employment Counsel meeting, I presented this power point presentation below for my job-seeker, Tabitha McClain. The AEC is an excellent way for local business owners to use their contacts to help job-seekers find employment.

Tabitha has a unique communication style, and doesn't enjoy talking in front of groups of people. Instead of Tabitha forcing herself to do something she felt very uncomfortable doing, we decided to take pictures at her house and make a PowerPoint, so they could know a little about her. And she made sure I did my job, by being my editor. A gerbil and a hamster looks the same to me, but she let me know they're not! Now I know.

It was a good way to keep her involved in this process- it is her life after-all. And we were able to use some creativity to customize this job hunt experience for her.

From the meeting, we now have some interesting job leads to follow, that helps to give us a focus for the future.

You can click on the presentation below and forward through the slides at your own pace.

ReelAbilities

Check out the ReelAbilities site. They just had their second annual NY disabilities film festival. It is dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities. There are trailers of the films!

Brenda

Rascal Flats "Living on Faith"

I received an email today regarding an article in the Guideposts magazine about the amazing Rascal Flats. The article tells of his previous employment prior to becoming a country legend as a job coach working with individuals of whom had disabilities. The article reflects a man that was given the remarkable talent of music, but a genuine gift of compassion and caring for individuals.


I encourage everyone to use our personal gifts and talents to enhance the lives of our friends and neighbors, to not only have dreams but to have the desires and faith to turn our dreams into success stories!

Real People, Real Jobs

Please check this site out:

Real People, Real Jobs


Great Stuff!