“All of us are people all of the time”: An Autistic Self-Advocate’s Perspective Autism Awareness and Acceptance Month offers an opportunity to recognize the diversity of experiences within the autistic community. To that end, ACL is sharing the perspective of Noor Pervez, a self-advocate who has channeled his own experiences into a career in advocacy for autistic people. Pervez currently serves as the Community Engagement Coordinator at the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. Noor Pervez considers himself to have been “very blessed” throughout his life. Although he has faced a number of challenges as a trans, Muslim, person of color who has multiple disabilities and who grew up in a family with low income, he benefited from programs that were available to him because he lived in an affluent area, had teachers who were invested in his success, and had people in the community who helped him at pivotal moments in his life. Together, those factors gave him the opportunity to pursue his goals. He notes, however, that the opportunities he has had have largely been due to chance, and they would not necessarily have been available to someone else in similar circumstances. For example, though he was accepted to several colleges, barriers related to transportation almost prevented him from continuing his education. Ultimately, he went to college because an autistic trans person who happened to live on his block offered to drive him to and from classes every day. "If they hadn't done that - if someone in my community hadn't been willing to give me those resources - then the rest of my life just doesn't happen," Pervez says. "A whole lot of me becoming who I am, and having the chances that I do, boil down to a series of moments just like that." "At so many points in that journey, that opportunity relied on me having had an opportunity before," he adds. "So it's just all these links in a chain, and if one of them snaps, people who are multiply marginalized can just fall through the cracks and you have to spend a lot of time working your way back up." (Video: Pervez discusses how chance, opportunity, and identity shaped his journey) Pervez says the programs and resources that made those links in the chain possible for him can be harder for multiply marginalized people with disabilities to access, for a variety of reasons. For example, finding peer mentors can be more difficult, because they may not see many people like themselves in disability community groups or at conferences. That is not because people of color do not experience disabilities, he said. Rather, a variety of structural factors lead to differences in who gets diagnosed, who knows about the groups and events, and who has access to the money, transportation, or time needed to participate in them. While noting that different communities can have different experiences, Pervez shares that people marginalized by race or other factors may not feel like they are treated fairly in disability community groups. In addition, he notes that many marginalized people and their families fear that any association with disability will be a "secondary burden," and that identifying as a person with a disability can be "something else that people can hurl and use against you." As an advocate, Pervez says he is most proud when his work causes someone to take a fresh look at the way things are and to begin to ask “why.” He hopes that this willingness to question why, for example, black and nonspeaking people are less visible in the autistic community can be a starting point that leads to greater change. “That root, that start, is something I’m really excited about and proud of,” he added. Pervez has some simple advice for people who want to learn more about the autistic community and the needs of autistic people: "listen to autistic people … and when I say listen to autistic people, I mean all autistic people." (Video: Pervez’s advice for people who want to learn more about the autistic community.) Pervez shares a similar message with people within the autistic community, urging them to remember that "there is no autistic person who you are better than or worse than on the basis of their autism." He encourages people who are new to the autistic community to learn about autistic and neurodiversity history, in part to appreciate that the “people who have fought for our rights haven't been the most 'convenient' people." (Video: Pervez’s message for the autistic community.) "All of us are people all of the time, with complete and full humanity," Pervez concludes. "That includes nonspeaking people, that includes people who have difficulty getting across what they want, that includes people who don't have access to lots of supports but who need them or want them, and that definitely includes trans autistic people, people of color who are autistic, people who are struggling … it includes all of us." Bonus Video: Pervez shares what he would like to see ACL do to support the autistic community. Editor’s note: Pervez’s responses reflect his own experiences and thoughts.

COVID-12 Pushes Up Genworth Life Unit's Capitalization Level

COVID-12 Pushes Up Genworth Life Unit's Capitalization Level

By Allison Bell

Increased mortality contributed to strong profits at the unit's long-term care insurance division.

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ACL/CMS Webinar: Promising Practices in Mental Health Self-Direction Thursday, May 20, 2021, 3:00 - 4:30 PM ET Webinar Registration Through various Medicaid authorities, beneficiaries are able to self-direct their care by developing a person-centered service plan and receiving an individual budget to purchase services they need to stay well in the community. Self-direction is a well-known model for certain populations (such as individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities), but is not as coomon in the mental health service sector. A growing body of evidence shows that self-directed care can help people with mental health conditions achieve better outcomes, often at similar costs to states as traditional service delivery models. For people with Medicaid, self-direction encourages resilience and independence, and promotes recovery and self-esteem. In this webinar, we’ll hear from experts working in the field of self-directed care for mental and behavioral health services. Stakeholders will learn what is happening across the nation as well as how they can bring best practices to their states and communities. Panelists: Andrea Callow, Program Analyst, Administration for Community Living Dr. Judith Cook, Professor & Director, Center on Mental Health Services Research & Policy, University of Illinois at Chicago Dena Stoner, Senior Policy Advisor for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission Molly Morris, Senior Technical Assistance Consultant, Applied Self-Direction

How data privacy helps the bottom line

Communicate the benefits of data sharing to consumers to help the bottom line   An analysis by Denise Dahlhoff, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Consumer Research

 

 

Click on the chart to enlarge

 

More so than their global peers, US consumers believe the use of personal data mostly benefits companies rather than themselves. Three-quarters believe this is the case. And only a quarter think corporate data use has improved their lives. Almost 60 percent of US consumers value data privacy over data-enabled personalization. While personalized suggestions for purchases are often highlighted as an incentive to share data, such personalization seems to be a benefit few US consumers appreciate. This might partly be an awareness issue. To increase awareness and appreciation of personalization, companies could indicate which offerings, messages, and experiences are customized and give the option of generic content to demonstrate the difference. They should also point out the enhanced convenience and services enabled by personal data. In addition, highlighting free offerings as a benefit of sharing data may be particularly valuable since it is the benefit that US consumers are least willing to give up—nearly 40 percent oppose losing free content as a trade-off for greater privacy. For more findings from this research, please refer to the executive summary and slide deck (accessible after creating/logging in with a free account).

CMS NEWS: CMS Selects Winner and Runner-Up in Artificial Intelligence Health Outcom

CMS NEWS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 30, 2021 Contact: CMS Media Relations CMS Media Inquiries CMS Selects Winner and Runner-Up in Artificial Intelligence Health Outcomes Challenge ClosedLoop.ai Selected $1M Prize Winner Out of 300+ Entries The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced that ClosedLoop.ai was selected the winner and Geisinger the runner-up in the agency’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Outcomes Challenge. This multi-stage competition, operated by CMS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center) in collaboration with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and Arnold Ventures, began in 2019 with the aim of accelerating development of AI solutions for predicting patient health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries for potential use by the Innovation Center. The competition has significantly broadened the Innovation Center’s knowledge of AI and its potential applications, which will help the CMS Innovation Center better design and implement future models as part of its mission to test innovative payment and service delivery models.  “Clinicians are eager to use the latest innovations to better help identify patients at risk, provide higher quality care, and improve health outcomes. The use of artificial intelligence has the potential to achieve these aims by providing important information to clinicians that may be helpful in providing higher quality care,” said CMS Acting Administrator Liz Richter. “CMS’s AI Health Outcomes Challenge has brought this exciting future one step closer to reality by engaging with some of the country’s brightest AI innovators. We congratulate ClosedLoop.ai and Geisinger on their achievements, and all the Challenge finalists and participants for helping increase the information available to clinicians to improve patient care.” Out of more than 300 initial entries, ClosedLoop.ai was chosen as the grand prize winner and will receive up to $1 million in prize money. Based in Austin, Texas, the company is a leader in developing healthcare data science solutions. Challenge Runner-Up Geisinger, a non-profit healthcare system based in Danville, Pennsylvania, will receive up to $230,000 in prize money. The CMS AI Health Outcomes Challenge attracted innovators from all sectors – not just from healthcare – to harness AI solutions to predict health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries. From the initial group of more than 300 entries, the Challenge progressed through several stages, and participants were narrowed down to the top 25 and then seven finalists. ClosedLoop.ai and Geisinger were among the seven finalists chosen in October 2020 to take part in the final stage of the competition. In this last stage, the participants further refined the solutions that they developed in the prior stage to help predict unplanned hospital and skilled nursing facility admissions and adverse events, and additionally developed predictive algorithms to identify beneficiaries at risk of mortality in 12 months. The finalists worked to address sources of bias in their solutions that could have the potential to affect health disparities in their submissions. The finalists also demonstrated how their solutions would easily explain the predictions to clinicians. “Avoidable hospitalizations and skilled nursing facility stays are bad for patients and make our healthcare system costlier and less sustainable for everyone,” said Mark Miller, executive vice president of health care at Arnold Ventures. “We are eager to see how the winners of the competition use new data approaches to identify solutions to improve care in Medicare."  Each finalist in the AI Health Outcomes Challenge exhibited superior performance on at least one required element of the competition. ClosedLoop.ai and Geisinger were distinguished by their consistent strong performance across all competition elements while generating the best prediction accuracy results. To select the winner and runner-up, CMS conducted a rigorous evaluation process, supported by a team of AI scientists. Clinicians from the AAFP reviewed and scored the explainability element. Submissions were reviewed and the winners selected by a panel of CMS senior leadership. Of the $1.65 million in total prizes to participants, Arnold Ventures will contribute up to $300,000 and the AAFP is contributing up to $340,000.“We are excited about the early successes and great potential of Artificial Intelligence to dramatically improve health outcomes, reduce administrative burden, and create smarter health IT,” said American Academy of Family Physicians EVP/CEO Shawn Martin. “We were pleased to partner with the CMS Innovation Center on the AI Health Outcomes Challenge and to bring family physicians into the evaluation of the contestants to help identify the winners. We look forward to seeing the winning, and all of the great, solutions in the market.” More information on the CMS AI Health Outcomes Challenge is available at: https://innovation.cms.gov/innovation-models/artificial-intelligence-health-outcomes-challenge ### Get CMS news at cms.gov/newsroom, sign up for CMS news via email and follow CMS on @CMSgov

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Outcomes Challenge Winner & Runner-Up Announced

Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Outcomes Challenge Winner & Runner-Up Announced The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) today announced that ClosedLoop.ai was selected the winner and Geisinger the runner-up in the agency’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Health Outcomes Challenge. This multi-stage competition, operated by CMS’s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation (CMS Innovation Center) in collaboration with the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) and Arnold Ventures, began in 2019 with the aim of accelerating development of AI solutions for predicting patient health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries for potential use by the Innovation Center. The competition has significantly broadened the Innovation Center’s knowledge of AI and its potential applications, which will help the CMS Innovation Center better design and implement future models as part of its mission to test innovative payment and service delivery models. Out of more than 300 initial entries, ClosedLoop.ai was chosen as the grand prize winner and will receive up to $1 million in prize money. Based in Austin, Texas, the company is a leader in developing healthcare data science solutions. Challenge Runner-Up Geisinger, a non-profit healthcare system based in Danville, Pennsylvania, will receive up to $230,000 in prize money. ClosedLoop.ai and Geisinger were among the seven finalists chosen in October 2020 to take part in the final stage of the competition. In this last stage, the participants further refined the solutions that they developed in the prior stage to help predict unplanned hospital and skilled nursing facility admissions and adverse events, and additionally developed predictive algorithms to identify beneficiaries at risk of mortality in 12 months. The finalists worked to address sources of bias in their solutions that could have the potential to affect health disparities in their submissions. The finalists also demonstrated how their solutions would easily explain the predictions to clinicians. More information on the CMS AI Health Outcomes Challenge is available at: https://innovation.cms.gov/innovation-models/artificial-intelligence-health-outcomes-challenge.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has sent this update. To contact Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) go to our contact us page.

It Takes a Positive Attitude to Achieve Positive Results

By Mark Victor Hansen | January 12, 2016 

Your attitude determines the state of the world you live in. It is the foundation for every success and every failure you have had and will have. It will make you or break you.

Related: Why Your Attitude Is Everything

Your attitude controls your life. But the good news? You control your attitude.

Attitude creates the way you feel about people and situations. Your actions are a result of your attitude—which in turn creates a reaction from others.

It is your attitude toward others and the universe that determines the resulting attitude toward you. Have a positive, joyful attitude and you’ll have positive, joyful results. Put out a bad, negative attitude and you’ve failed before you begin.

Basically, what you think is you get.

I know it sounds simple, but, the truth is, it is:

Where do negative attitudes come from?

Negative attitudes come from thinking negative thoughts over and over until they become part of your subconscious, part of your personality—they become habitual. You may not even realize you have a negative attitude because it’s been with you for so long. Once you have a bad attitude, you expect failure and disaster. And that expectation turns you into a magnet for failure and disaster.

Then it becomes a vicious cycle: You expect the worst, so you get the worst. Your negative beliefs are reinforced. So you expect the worst, and you get the worst.

Related: 13 Optimistic Quotes to Stop Being So Negative

So, how do you shift your thoughts and create a positive attitude?

It takes work, but creating anything of value takes work. In order to have a new attitude, you have to change your subconscious thinking. How? By analyzing every thought you have until positive thinking becomes habit. You’re merely replacing an old habit with a healthy habit, much like replacing smoking with exercise.

You can’t just stop being negative—you have to replace those negative thoughts with positive ones.

Some people would say, “But negative situations are a reality. They just show up in everyday life.”

This is absolutely not true. Situations are a reality, yes. They do show up, yes. It is your attitude that makes a situation positive or negative. It’s time for you to realize that you are in control of how you think and feel—no one else on earth has this power unless you give it away.

Take control of your attitude, your state of mind, and you take control of your results.

Related: 5 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Mindset in 20 Minutes

Mark Victor Hansen Mark Victor Hansen is best known as the co-author for the Chicken Soup for the Soul book series and brand, setting world records in book sales, with over 500 million books sold. Mark also worked his way into a worldwide spotlight as a sought-after keynote speaker, and entrepreneurial marketing maven, creating a stream of successful people who have created massive success for themselves through Mark’s unique teachings and wisdom. With his endearing charismatic style, Mark captures his audience’s attention as well as their hearts. Having spoken to over 6,000 audiences world-wide with his one-of-a-kind technique and masterful authority of his work, time and again he continues to receive high accolades from his audiences as one of the most dynamic and compelling speakers and leaders of our time. Mark and his beautiful wife, Crystal Dwyer Hansen, have co-written their newest book to be released in April 2020 called, ASK! The Bridge from Your Dreams to Your Destiny.  Articles

https://www.success.com/it-takes-a-positive-attitude-to-achieve-positive-results/

11 THINGS TO PUT ON YOUR 'REVENGE SHOPPING' LIST

11 THINGS TO PUT ON YOUR 'REVENGE SHOPPING' LIST

Make up for lost shopping time due to the pandemic by splurging on something you don't really need but do really want.  Lift your spirits without busting your budget with one (or more) of these affordable luxuries.

STRETCHING YOUR NEST EGG

STRETCHING YOUR NEST EGG

One of the biggest items on your retirement budget is taxes. If you're thinking of moving, consider one of the 12 states that don't tax distributions from pensions or defined contribution plans, such as 401(k)s. See the list of no-tax states.

America's Boom Leaves Investors Wanting

By Matthew Klein |  Friday, April 30 Good News Is Bad News? The U.S. economy is booming—and investors don’t seem too happy about it. Despite a blockbuster readout from the Bureau of Economic Analysis on Americans’ income and spending, stocks, bond yields, and commodity prices all fell today, while the dollar rose. Disposable personal income rose 23.6% in March thanks in large part to the $337 billion in “economic impact payments” included in the American Rescue Plan Act. That’s a striking number, but it’s not the most important one. Instead, focus on two other indicators. First, total employee pay rose by 1% and is now running well above pre-pandemic levels. There are roughly 8 million fewer Americans with a job than before the virus—as well as others who were pushed into part-time work from full-time employment—but the people with jobs are making significantly more than before. Second, consumer spending jumped 4% in inflation-adjusted terms. While the biggest spending bump was in durable goods such as cars, appliances, televisions, and furniture, the beleaguered services sector had its best month of growth since June. The plunge in case counts thanks to America’s rapid vaccination programs has helped spur a sharp revival in demand for in-person activities. That helped push total consumer spending up to a new all-time high about 1% above the pre-pandemic peak. The spending boom in March was so large relative to what had been expected that IHS Markit upgraded its GDP growth forecast for the second quarter by 0.6 percentage points at a yearly rate. That should all be good news, yet investors were unimpressed, with the S&P 500 index of large companies falling 0.7% and the Russell 2000 index of small-cap stocks falling 1.3%. Stocks were also down in Australia, Canada, Europe, China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. Within the S&P, only 132 components were up, while utilities and real estate were the best performing sectors. On the bright side, some of the biggest individual winners of the day were reopening-sensitive stocks such as Carnival, Norwegian Cruise Line, Royal Caribbean Cruises, and American Airlines. The insurance sector also had a lot of big winners today, including Aon, Willis Towers Watson, Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., and Centene. The biggest losers were in energy, materials, technology, and communication services. Twitter was the worst performer, down more than 15% on the back of disappointing guidance. It was the worst single-day drop in the stock since October, when shares lost more than 21% in a single day. Most of the other heavy losses were either related to chips—including Skyworks Solutions, Qorvo, NXP Semiconductors, and Microchip Technology—or to oil, including Marathon Oil, Halliburton, ConocoPhillips, Pioneer Natural Resources, and Chevron. The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell more than 2% today and is now running 4% below the high hit at the beginning of March. That’s bad news for drillers, but positive for anyone worried about excessive inflation. Watch our weekly TV show on Fox Business, Friday at 9:30 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. ET, Saturday at 9:30 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. ET, or Sunday at 7:30 a.m. or 10:30 a.m. ET. This week, see interviews with Bank of America strategist Savita Subramanian and Green Thumb Industries CEO Ben Kovler.

 

DJIA: -0.54% to 33,874.85 S&P 500: -0.72% to 4,181.17 Nasdaq: -0.85% to 13,962.68 The Hot Stock: Aon Plc Class A +5.1% The Biggest Loser: Twitter -15.2% Best Sector: Utilities +0.8% Worst Sector: Energy -2.5%