Priority Area
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Making Connections
As Executive Director Dr. Kathy Sheppard-Jones tells it, 2023 was a year of connections for the Human Development Institute. Connections, according to Sheppard-Jones, are a key aspect of how we do our work – one that can extend beyond the needs of individual projects. “Grants end. Leaders will come and leaders will go. If we…
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HDI Staff and Students Attend AUCD Annual Conference
University of Kentucky Human Development Institute (HDI) staff and students attend the 2023 Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) conference. The theme of this year’s conference was Emerging Leaders: Shaping the Future. The UK HDI is Kentucky’s Center on Disability and is a University Center of Excellence on Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). As a UCEDD…
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“All people offer perspective that is valuable to the rest of the world.” HDI Staff Erin Fitzgerald speaks on their experience with Neurodiversity and mental health
The following article discusses suicide, which some readers may find distressing. Erin Fitzgerald could always see the signs that she was different growing up – the tools to recognize how simply didn’t exist yet. “I grew up in an era where mental health was talked about very differently from how it is talked about today.…
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UK expands training to help substance-exposed children
Educators from the University of KY are providing a unique service to address a desperate need- training students to work with babies born substance exposed. The team of educators includes Dr. Jennifer Grisham and Dr. Sarah Hawkins-Lear from UK’s Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education (IECE); Dr. Joneen Lowman and Dr. Judith Page from Communication Sciences and…
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Community Health Workers make connections across Kentucky
Community Health Workers (CHWs) are front-line workers that serve as the bridge between our communities and the healthcare system. CHWs work across our state to achieve their role as connectors. With the goal of increasing the capacity of CHWs to support Kentuckians with disabilities, the Human Development Institute (HDI) has partnered with the Kentucky Office…
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HDI Photo Library Available Now!
Stock photography lacks disability representation. The photos are often staged and use models without disabilities resulting in misrepresentation and unnatural scenes. Staff from the University of Kentucky Human Development Institute (HDI) wanted to address this problem with the Photo Library Fund for Excellence Project. Their goal was to create accurate and diverse stock photos highlighting disability…
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Women’s Health & Disability
In partnership with the Kentucky Women’s Cancer Screening Program, this project is working to improve access to breast and cervical cancer screenings for women with disabilities. Results from the developed community needs assessment will be important to understanding the barriers women with disabilities face in accessing quality women’s health screenings and follow-up care. Collected data…
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Community Health Workers
Community health workers (CHWs) support people and communities across Kentucky to access resources, including quality health care and information. They work as a liaison between health organizations and the public to provide relevant information and guide individuals toward a better understanding of health issues. The Kentucky Office of Community Health Workers is collaborating with the…
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Asthma Education
In partnership with the Kentucky Asthma Management Program at the Kentucky Department for Public Health, this project focuses on the review, revision, and adaptation of Asthma health resources and educational tools through universal design principles to support the improvement of asthma control services and reduce asthma morbidity, mortality and disparities. Project Director: Johnny Collett Project…
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HDI’s Preservice Health Training Stands the Test of Time
Medical knowledge can advance so quickly that it’s a wonder when any tool stands the test of more than a few years. HDI’s Preservice Training Modules were created to help train medical professionals for how to interact with and treat patients with disabilities, and they are still being used decades after they were created. “Based…