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Feb.
1998, Xene #02
A Private Matter?
- Sapporo's physically and mentally disabled
citizens
by Michelle Cook
In a society that values conformity, having a handicap
has traditionally been viewed as a matter to be dealt
with privately. The physically and mentally disabled
in Japan have long existed on the outskirts of their
communities, seldom seen outside their homes and rarely
discussed publicly. In 1994, Japanese author Kenzaburo
Oe, whose son is mentally handicapped, brought attention
to this situation when he won the Nobel Prize for
literature. However, the disabled and their supporters
were working on achieving recognition and improving
access and opportunities long before that. Old attitudes
and barriers are falling away, but there is still
much work to be done.
On this crisp autumn day, the Akashiya Kai group is
meeting at Hokkaido Shrine in Maruyama Park, Sapporo.
Children in brightly coloured kimonos run excitedly
up and down the shrine's main steps for an early celebration
of the shichi-go-san festival.
Adjacent to these steps is a single, steep ramp with
a seven-centimeter step at the bottom; today, it's
slippery with rain. One of the group's wheelchair-bound
members tries to maneuver over it but can't. When
asked who they can turn to with problems like this,
group leader Mamoru Takamori says the gods will have
to be asked to help improve access for Sapporo's handicapped
citizens.
According to a Japanese Ministry of Health and Welfare
survey, there are more than 2.8 million disabled people
in Japan. Sapporo has approximately 56,000 physically
disabled citizens, three percent of the city's population.
Imagine you are one of them. How accessible is Sapporo?
The Akashiya Kai group has been meeting annually for
10 years to check handicapped access to city facilities.
Satoshi Nitsu, a special education teacher in Sapporo,
says the number of handicapped coming to live in Hokkaido
is increasing and one reason is that the roads and
street system are more easily navigable for them.
The city is criss-crossed by an extensive yellow tile
(tenji block) system which helps blind citizens maneuver.
But as one Akashiya Kai member points out, these are
virtually useless in winter. This imperfection sums
up the situation for the disabled of Sapporo. They
live in a city in progress; access is improving, but
it is not yet complete.
A quick survey of some of the city's commonly used
facilities reveals that Sapporo City Hall and the
Hokkaido Government building are both accessible.
Many public buildings also have Braille-equipped elevators
and information boards. Several larger bank branches
and post offices, and department stores are equipped
with access ramps. Many older buildings and smaller
shops, especially those outside the city center, however,
do not have ramps or elevators and merchants are not
legally obligated to install them.
According to a Sapporo City Transportation employee,
all stations on the Toho subway line have elevators
and disabled-access toilets. The other lines have
elevators in 15 of their 23 stations and disabled-access
toilets in 13. However, a difference in level between
trains and platforms means wheelchair-bound customers
can't use the subway independently.
To improve the quality of life for the disabled, groups
like Akashiya Kai write letters to places with barriers
and meet with municipal officials.
Far from the city center, in Sapporo's quiet Fujino
district, there is evidence that these efforts to
improve the quality of life for the disabled have
not been in vain. Mukudori Park has been specially
designed for handicapped people. Completed in 1996
as the first neighbourhood park of its kind in Sapporo,
it is equipped with handrails, tenji block tiles,
Braille information boards, and climbing apparatus,
slides and swings for the physically impaired.
Takamori explains it is only a prototype, but Mukudori
Park is an indication that, while Sapporo still needs
to be improved, it is slowly becoming a city where
all citizens can enjoy life to the fullest.
EDUCATION AND EMPLOYMENT: ONE MAN'S STORY by Michelle
Cook, with Alfredo Varela
Mentally and physically handicapped students traditionally
were phased out of the regular Japanese education
system and into special schools at an early age. Limited
education meant severly limited employment opportunities.
Those for more severely physically disabled and mentally
challenged citizens were almost non-existent.
However, the employment and education picture for
Japan's disabled has been improving. There's a trend
toward allowing mildly disabled children to remain
in the regular school system. Employment opportunities
for the visually impaired are opening up in industries
such as computer programming. Communities such as
Date, in southern Hokkaido, have successfully launched
programs to integrate mentally disabled citizens into
the local workforce. The government plans to revise
the current law, raising the stipulated proportion
of physically disabled persons to 1.8% of the workforce
in companies with more than 63 workers, up from 1.6%.
Taro Sugawara, a translator in the International Relations
Division of the Hokkaido Government, is legally blind.
He discussed his education and employment experiences.
Q. What was your experience in school?
A. I enrolled in elementary school about 20 years
ago. At that time, my mother had to fight with the
Sapporo Board of Education. According to school law
I wasn't entitled to go to regular elementary school
due to my visual impairment, but I had gone to normal
kindergarten. One day I toured a special school for
the blind in Ebetsu. Of course, I knew a normal school
would be better, so I asked my mother to find a way
for me to go there. She fought the school board and
this was the starting point for her movement, a grassroots
movement, toward liberation - a strong word - of the
disabled in Sapporo.
Q. How does this integration affect the classroom?
A. Normal students know everything about what disabled
students want to do or say. I think students are good
advocates to show the public techniques for dealing
with handicapped people. Teachers should listen to
them. After these children grow up, the idea of living
with disabled people will be deeply rooted.
Q. What about your university education?
A. I have a B.A. in Literature from Oberlin College
(in Oberlin, U.S.A.). Most disabled people go to special
schools so it's very tough to pass private or national
university entrance exams because the level is so
different compared to regular schools. The disabled
learn more slowly and at schools for the blind they
teach more practical skills like how to be an acupuncturist
or masseuse. In my case, I needed a large-print test.
I applied in advance for this, but some private universities
refused only because if a disabled person passes the
exam, later the university has to accommodate them
and provide ramps or elevators. So some universities
strongly object to admitting disabled people. This
might be illegal, but everybody says it can't be helped.
The exception is schools with Christian or Buddhist
backgrounds.
Q. Is there a need for average Japanese people
to change their attitudes toward the physically disabled?
A. One important thing is learning how to accommodate
the disabled not only in the school environment, but
also in the workplace. A disabled person takes more
time to do a job. That's the basic concern normal
people have about working with handicapped people.
If disabled people are hired, supervisors will have
to change their notion that doing many things is equal
to achievement. This will contribute to better co-existence.
Q. What about your employment situation?
A. After I was hired [as a translator], the attitude
I encountered was very strange. When I was introduced
to each section, they were puzzled as to what I could
do and my former section chief kept asking me what
I could do. But after six months [of my working],
their attitude completely changed.
Q. Did you ever feel frustrated that you lacked
full support from society to help you attain your
goals?
A. I'm very satisfied with my present position. I
really appreciate the staff in my division because
they treat me as an equal professionally and privately.
At Oberlin, the staff and professors were very cooperative
and my friends and family have always been supporting
me. But one thing is clear, a normal person has many
options in where they work or who they marry. But
think about me. I just have a visual impairment, but
my range of options has been narrowed. If I was born
normal, I would not have chosen to be a public servant.
I'd be working for a foreign corporation, maybe stationed
in a foreign city.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS
by Michelle Cook, with Alfredo Varela
Like most mothers, Sunny (Sonoko) Izumi worries about
her son's options. Koshiro, or Ko-chan as she calls
him, is a 14-year-old junior high school student.
While most parents of boys his age are concerned about
their sons' high school entrance exam scores, Sunny
has different ideas. Ko-chan is autistic. He needs
a very controlled environment and Izumi feels his
school experiences have hindered more than helped
him.
"I don't think the school environment now for
severely handicapped children is appropriate, so what
I can do right now to help him is withdraw him [from
public school]," she says.
There are few innovative programs or centers available
in Sapporo to help the mentally disabled develop to
their fullest potential. Traditional attitudes may
be one reason for this. "Japan is different from
Christian societies," says Izumi. "There's
no [concept of] sin, so society is regulated by embarrassment.
Having a handicap is embarrassing in Japan so it's
automatically a negative thing."
According to a report by Megumi Kawabata published
by the Hokkaido Chapter of the National Association
for Problems of the Disabled, facilities for the handicapped
in Sapporo are limited to two dormitories with capacity
for 60 people, 27 group homes for 140, and 13 institutions
for 662 .
Compounding the problem, these facilities are not
innovative treatment centers. "They're very traditional
places," says Izumi. She adds that mothers are
especially worried about the lack of convenient high
school facilities for the disabled. "There are
a few now," says Izumi. "But kids in Sapporo
with severe handicaps can't get into special high
schools here; they take only mildly handicapped [students]."
She can't turn to the medical profession either. "One
problem I see is that there are only four or five
doctors to look after almost all handicapped children
in Hokkaido, so all they can do is prescribe drugs.
I asked one doctor what I could do for Ko-chan to
help him. He said 'probably nothing'. He's a sincere
person but I think he doesn't have enough time to
research because he's looking after so many people.
I think mothers and parents must make the first move."
That's exactly what Izumi did when she and Ko-chan
travelled to the U.S. in 1996 to participate in an
innovative program called Son-Rise. The Izumis were
the first Japanese family from Japan to participate
in this well-known American program for autistic children.
The program, which stresses love and acceptance of
the child as he is, involves intensive sessions in
which parents and volunteers try to reach the child
on his own terms, rather than on outside expectations.
Using imitative therapy and prolonged sensory stimulation,
someone is with the child for nine hours a day, seven
days a week. The goal is to establish eye contact
and increase it to the point where the child can interact
normally with others. Program participants can continue
the therapy at home by re-creating the controlled
environment.
It's been difficult to re-create the program in Japan
because, as a single mother, Izumi must do all the
work herself. However, she maintains a postive attitude
and is hopeful about providing Ko-chan with the options
he needs. "What I have to do is not worry about
the future, but find things I can do right now to
help Ko-chan," says Izumi. "In Japan no
one knows about the Son-Rise program; I have friends
to help but I need volunteers to run this kind of
program successfully,"
Anyone interested in volunteering to help Ko-chan
can contact Sunny Izumi at tel./fax. 011-898-2533.
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