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“I’m Kind of Stuck in the Middle. I Don’t Know Where to Go”: Race, Autism, and Intersectional Stigma Among Black and White Autistic Adults
No full textBackground: Autistic adults frequently experience social stigma, which may be compounded by additional marginalized identities such as race, gender, and sexual orientation. Black autistic adults, in particular, may face unique challenges at the intersection of racial bias and autism stigma. However, the experiences of autistic people with intersecting marginalized identities remain underexplored in research, contributing to a limited understanding of stigma’s impact across diverse communities.
Methods: We used qualitative methods to explore how intersecting identities shape autistic adults’ experiences of stigma and marginalization, with an emphasis on Black autistic adults. 32 autistic adults (16 Black, 16 White) completed a semi-structured interview regarding their social experiences. Participants shared recent stories of peer exclusion, acceptance, discrimination and support that they had experienced, as well as their feelings surrounding these events. We recorded and transcribed these interviews and used an inductive, or data-driven, approach to thematic analysis to identify salient themes in the data.
Results: We generated three intersectional themes, which encompassed the unique impact of stigma on those with intersecting identities. Specifically, these themes included: 1) identity-based discrimination shaped by race, gender, and LGBTQ+ status; (2) challenges in obtaining and processing an autism diagnosis; and (3) difficulties navigating personal identity, particularly among Black autistic participants. While autistic adults broadly reported stigma experiences, Black participants often described layered forms of exclusion related to both their race and autistic traits. Across racial groups, women and LGBTQ+ participants also reported distinct forms of marginalization and erasure.
Conclusion: These findings highlight how autism stigma intersects with other marginalized identities to shape social experiences. Black autistic adults, along with autistic women and LGBTQ+ autistic people, may encounter compounded barriers to acceptance, identity development, and belonging. These results underscore the need for more inclusive research and supports that attend to the diversity of autistic experiences.American Psychological Foundationhttps://www.liebertpub.com/doi/10.1177/2573958125137444
PMDD Poems
No full textIn a complete embrace of bodily horror and excess, this collection invaginates readers within premenstrual dysphoria disorder (PMDD) and the larger biome of menstrual disorder. PMDD Poems accounts for the ongoing marginalization of menstruating bodies while synthesizing current research on the disorder. Simultaneously, the collection juxtaposes malady with salubrious gender identity, validating non-binary identity and portraying it as euphoric epiphany, a systemic casualty, and an anchoring solace. The baroque explorations in the collection navigate this intersectional niche with the body positioned as adversary, victim, companion, confinement, and corpse
DEVELOPMENT OF A PORTABLE, LOW-COST PLATFORM FOR NUCLEIC ACID AMPLIFICATION AND DETECTION
No full textNucleic acid amplification tests (NAATs) play a critical role in clinical diagnostics by enabling rapid and highly sensitive detection of genomic sequences associated with specific pathogens. While fluorescence sensing is a common detection modality for NAATs, current fluorescence readers are large, expensive, or lack integrated thermal control. This thesis presents the development of a compact and low-cost assay reader combining precise thermal control and multiplexed fluorescence detection that can be adapted for a wide range of NAAT formats. The portable and wireless system, termed the Multiplexed Array Gene Imager (MAGI), has a volume of 380 cm3 and costs less than $90 to build. The MAGI system can be powered using only a battery pack and is controlled wirelessly by a computer using a Web-based graphical user interface. Performance of the MAGI system was evaluated using loop-mediated isothermal amplification assays that achieved time-to-positive values under 20 min. Overall, the MAGI system is easy to manufacture and assemble and provides a highly flexible and functional platform that can be adapted to microfluidic or microwell based assays for use in diverse environments including point-of-care and at-home settings
Fake Plants Can't Die
No full textVirtual landscapes, artificial reproductions, and digital images increasingly serve as primary references for our understanding of the natural environment, as the “real” environment is rapidly degraded. In Fake Plants Can’t Die, I ask, and attempt to answer, what it means to have a personal relationship to the natural world in the 21st century
UNRAVELING THE LINGUISTIC LOCUS OF STUTTERING FROM CHILDHOOD TO ADULTHOOD: A LONGITUDINAL & POSITIONAL ANALYSIS
No full textFor decades, the locus of stuttering disfluencies has been framed by a binary distinction between function and content words. While this division offered early traction, it now risks constraining deeper inquiry into the structure-sensitive demands that shape fluency development. This study re-examines the linguistic locus of stuttering by integrating grammatical role, utterance position, and developmental trajectory, moving beyond static categories to consider how vulnerabilities unfold across an utterance. It challenges the assumption that lexical class alone governs fluency patterns, proposing instead that the interaction between grammatical role and distributed planning demands more precisely account for persistence and recovery. Longitudinal analyses suggest that while function word stuttering remains stable early on, the interaction between finer-grained grammatical role and position patterns offers stronger differentiation between trajectories. By tracing these pressures, this work lays the foundation for a more dynamically structured model of early stuttering development
THE BISHOP’S MEASURE: LOG-SCALED ANALYSIS OF LIVESTOCK SIZE AND MANAGEMENT AT SKÁLHOLT IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC CONTEXT
No full textThis dissertation examines livestock management at Skálholt, an elite ecclesiastical center in early modern Iceland, through biometrical analysis of faunal remains. Applying log-ratio scaling to postcranial elements from cattle and sheep dated to the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, this research identifies distinctive morphological patterns indicating specialized husbandry strategies. The cattle assemblage indicates evidence for beef-focused production through distinctive metacarpal dimensions and the presence of polled specimens, while sheep remains demonstrate specialized wether management for wool production with significant dimensional differences between length and width measurements. When situated within broader North Atlantic contexts, Skálholt's assemblage demonstrates a regionally specific approach to agricultural innovation distinct from contemporaneous English improvement patterns. Rather than wholesale adoption of continental models emphasizing dramatic size increases, Skálholt shows selective enhancement of specific traits while maintaining adaptations to Iceland's environmental constraints. These findings challenge simplistic diffusion models of agricultural improvement and illuminate how elite institutions in peripheral regions mediated between local traditions and external influences during periods of agricultural transition
Examining Contributors to Black Maternal Health Experiences in Prince George's County, Maryland
No full textGemstone Team BMMBlack women in the United States face a maternal mortality rate three times
that of white women, a disparity mirrored in Prince George’s County, Maryland
(Hoyert, 2023; Maryland Department of Health, 2022). In 2019, the Prince George’s
County Health Department reported that between 2008 and 2017, Black,
non-Hispanic mothers experienced the highest pregnancy-related maternal mortality
rate (37.4 deaths per 100,000 live births) in the county (“Maternal Infant and Health
Report,” 2019). This study explores how maternal access to healthcare and provider
cultural competency training influence maternal health disparities in Prince George’s
County. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research team surveyed and
interviewed two key populations: Black mothers ages 18-34, residing in Prince
George’s County, Maryland, and maternal health providers practicing in the District
of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia (DMV) region. By examining patient-provider
interactions and gaps in medical education, this research aims to inform policy and
curricular reforms to improve Black maternal health outcomes
Modeling Recurrent Emergency Department Trends in the United States
No full textEmergency departments around the United States struggle with staff shortages and overcrowding following the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shutdowns. This study aims to create and examine models representing the probability of patients requiring multiple emergency department visits to better understand why some patients require recurrent emergency department treatments. The two models considered in this experiment are the Poisson Process and the “Frequent Flyer” Hypotheses. Ultimately, analyzing the data provided by the National Center for Health Statistics revealed that the Poisson Process does not accurately represent the realities of recurrent emergency department visits, but the “Frequent Flyer” Hypothesis does in some situations. It also revealed that there may be several lurking variables that compound to determine if a patient will require multiple emergency department visits, accounting for the inconsistencies of the “Frequent Flyer” Hypothesis
Interfiling 16mm Polyester Film with Acetate film: A Study
No full textThe University houses motion picture film collections across multiple libraries. Over the past year, efforts have focused on testing these films for vinegar syndrome and visually inspecting them to transfer unaffected films to a 50℉ offsite storage facility. A-D Strips from the Image Permanence Institute (IPI) were used to randomly sample films from the main collection, which includes over 2,500 acetate and polyester-based films stored together for 15 years in a room with fluctuating environmental conditions. During this initial testing phase, several anomalies were observed when testing polyester based motion picture films. The polyester based film that was part of this initial phase recorded results that were in the .5 - 2 range of A-D strip levels. Because polyester film is considered to be the most stable of the types of motion picture film, these results led to questions about the long-term stability of polyester. Primarily, this research project aimed to determine if the positive A-D strips from polyester films were due to their long-term interfiling with acetate film, or if the polyester film was potentially going through its own form of degradation
Getting started with a content analysis: How to explore your discipline through evaluating Libguides
No full textA content analysis is a research tool that allows for the evaluation of texts in a way that presents themes, meanings, and relationships throughout the items. LibGuides, a content management system, serves as a platform for organizing library resources. Although LibGuides are widely adopted by academic libraries, the design, structure, and instructional strategies can differ. LibGuides are widely seen as a valuable teaching resource though their effectiveness in this role is often up for debate. One key consideration is whether these guides are user-centered, focusing on presenting lists of content or resources, or learner centered, emphasizing a more tutorial centered approach. One pervasive criticism of LibGuides is that they ultimately best serve the needs of librarians rather than the users they are supposedly intended to serve. By examining the pedagogical approach behind these guides we can identify areas where they can be better aligned to meet the needs of our students. We are performing a content analysis to identify current trends in engineering LibGuides at R1 institutions. This poster will focus on the aspects of setting up a content analysis. While we will focus on LibGuides, the content analysis methodology is applicable to a wide variety of texts