CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES OF CHINESE IMMIGRANT STUDENTS WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES IN TRANSITION SERVICES

The purpose of this ethnographic study is to understand the experiences of newly immigrated Chinese students with intellectual disabilities who are in transition programs. In depth interviews were conducted with four students and their families. Quality of life, sense of self, nature of relationships, beliefs about disability, and challenges and opportunities are examined. The study surfaces complex social, cultural, and economic factors that impact students’ experiences. Data indicates that participants’ sense of self are informed largely by negative experiences with others based on perceptions of disability combined with negative experiences of being a new immigrant. They expressed feeling lonely and isolated. Participants identified lack of material and non-material resources as barriers for themselves and their families. Positive connections were found between participants being employed and establishing bonds and interactions with the community. Underlying assumptions about disability surfaced showing participants are often informed by a Social Darwinist view of disability more prevalent in China and encounter social disability rights model in their transition programs. A number of barriers to change, both in social systems and belief systems, were identified along with recommendations

Confronting brane inflation with Planck and pre-Planck data

In this paper, we compare brane inflation models with the Planck data and the pre-Planck data (which combines WMAP, ACT, SPT, BAO and H0 data). The Planck data prefer a spectral index less than unity at more than 5\sigma confidence level, and a running of the spectral index at around 2\sigma confidence level. We find that the KKLMMT model can survive at the level of 2\sigma only if the parameter $\beta$ (the conformal coupling between the Hubble parameter and the inflaton) is less than $\mathcal{O}(10^{-3})$, which indicates a certain level of fine-tuning. The IR DBI model can provide a slightly larger negative running of spectral index and red tilt, but in order to be consistent with the non-Gaussianity constraints from Planck, its parameter also needs fine-tuning at some level.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure