Who is Disable?

In the envelop that carried the letter of success for JICA volunteer, a document on self-learning was found. JICA required me to write 2 reports on Deaf: 1. Read book(s) and write a report on Deaf and 2. Visit deaf school(s) and write a report on Deaf. I wrote the following in one of the reports: “I think that those who don’t understand pains of deaf people are the deaf, more precisely the deaf of heart.” To tell you the truth, I hadn’t known that there were so many obstacles and burdens for deaf people in life until I studied about the deaf with books and by visiting deaf schools for this occasion. But we don’t normally notice others' difficulties unless we happen to encounter with their problems. Well, even if we witness them, we may not do anything because we’re powerless to save others after all. So what can we do? And what should we do for others? Especially for people with disabilities.

By the way, do you use glasses? Does it mean you are one of people with disabilities? Fortunately I don’t. Well, I can say so right now but I “will” use glasses for aged in the not too distant future for sure. So does it mean I will be one of people with disabilities? Physically “Yes”, but socially “No”. Because there are so many people living with glasses in society, so people don’t regard them as disabled. What about people on wheel chair or people with a white walking stick? You would think that they are disabled, wouldn’t you? Namely they are physically disabled and socially too. Is it a matter of degree of disability? Or type of disability? By the way, do you watch the Olympic Games on TV and are you excited about gold medals? So what about the Paralympics? Actually mass media in Japan don’t treat them equally because viewers are not interested in the Paralympics. With or without disabilities, the value of gold medal should be the same but people don’t regard them as the same. Because of disability? Or of number of athletes? Or you compare records of them? So why?

<< Who is Disabled? >>

If you fail to see the potentials in the person but see only the person’s disability, then who is blind?

If you cannot hear your brother’s cry for help and justice, then who is deaf?

If you cannot stand up for the right of all people, then who is the cripple?

If you cannot have the patience, the tolerance and understanding for individual differences,

then who is mentally-handicapped?

Your attitude towards persons with disabilities is the biggest handicap.

 I found the above writing on the wall in the principal’s office and was so surprised by that because I wrote the same sort of thing in my report for self-learning in Japan. However to understand people with disabilities is not easy and to treat them as the same is more difficult without physical contacts with them. “To be disabled or to be, this is the question that I want to ask…” And actually the former principal was the person described as “if you cannot” and always screamed and shouted “Deaf children!!” whenever problems occurred, as if they had made up the problems because of deafness. It’s completely discrimination. The head of our school was “mentally-handicapped”, unfortunately. In general children are geniuses for making problems and giving headaches to adults. It’s the essence of children. That’s why teachers are there with children to educate and discipline them. I think that the attitude of the 3-I: Indifference, Ignorance and Irresponsibility toward others would make you disabled and bring the handicap to people with disabilities. Yet it’s not easy to change our society overnight, so what can you do in everyday life? And what will you do for others?