皆さんこんにちは！
台湾人のジェフと生活を始めて早一か月。やっと生活にも慣れてきて、前々から計画していたブログを始めることにしました。それは車椅子に乗っている私と、健常者のジェフの生活をシェアすること。少しでも皆さんに理解を深めてもらえたらと思ってます。
健常者が障害のある人に対して考える”サポート”と、障害者が健常者に望む”サポート”は違うことがあります。私たちも4年前にアメリカで付き合い始めたころは、よくその問題に直面しました。しかしその度にお互いの意見を交換し（ケンカしながらも）2人にとって一番良い方法を見つけてきました。もちろん障害者一人一人の考え方、感じ方は違うと思いますが、このブログで何か皆さんに伝えることができれば・・・と思います。
ちなみに私の障害ですが、「特発性脊髄障害による下肢機能障害」と障害者手帳に記載されています。発症したのが2歳4カ月のときなので全く記憶はないです。母親によると、その日の午前中まで外で走り回っていたらしいのですが、お昼寝のあと急に歩けなくなったとのこと。その夜、緊急病院にすぐ連れて行かれ様々なチェックをしましたが、今の医学では説明できないという結果でした。その後も京都の大学病院や入院もし検査を続けましたが結局原因はわからず・・・そこから私の車椅子の生活が始まりました。今に至るまで本当に色々なことがありました。その内容は今後少しずつここに書いていこうと思います！
ところで、ブログのタイトルになっているMoon Riderというのは、皆さんご存じの車椅子マークをジェフ風に表したものです！あのタイヤ部分が月に見えて、それは「月に乗っている人＝moon rider」というのです。国が違うとこういう発想もできるんですねー。そして最後の”7”はジェフのラッキーナンバー。7が付く年や日に重大な（良い）出来事が起こるそう。ちなみに2人が出逢ったのも2007年です:)
私とジェフの場合は、身体の障害の他に文化や言葉の違いもあるので、その部分についてもこのブログでシェアしていけたらいいなと思います。なるべくたくさんの人に読んでもらえるよう頑張って書きますので宜しくお願いします！
みづき
Hello, everyone.
This is Mizuki. Jeff and I had been in a long distance relationship for 4 years. But Jeff decided to move to Japan this August because of the massive earth quake happened this March. He was so worried about me living in Tokyo alone after the massive earthqueakes and after shocks. It has been a month since Jeff moved to Japan. We finally get used to our new life.
In fact, Jeff and I have been planning to start a blog to share our lives, lives of a girl on wheelchair and a odinary boy, long time again. We are hoping to help handicapped and non-handicapped to understand each other better.
The support non-handicapped assume handicapped might need and the support handicapped hope to receive from non-handicapped are sometimes different. When Jeff and I first started dating 4 years ago, we faced this type of issues a lot. We have been learning each other through countless communications and arguments to find a best to supprt each other. Of course, our story may not apply to any other people. But it could be a good reference for you. Maybe you can find a new point of view to treat people around you.
Just for your reference, my disability is “Lower limb dysfunction due to idiopathic spinal disorders,” as stated on my handicapped ID card. (remarks: the disability in Japanese is 特発性脊髄障害による下肢機能障害.) The disease happened when I was 2 years and 4 months old. I have no momery how it had happened. According to my mom, I was running like a odinary girl in a park that morning. I took a nap at home after playing in the park. The disease just came to me after the nap. I could not walk anymore from that day. I was brought to hospital that night urgently, and put on many physical examinations. The cause of idiopathic spinal disorders could not be confirmed by the medical science that time. Even the current medical science cannot define the cause of my spinal disorder…. That is how I start my life with wheelchairs. I have so many stories that I want to share with all of you. Let me put them down in words one by one in the coming days.
Also, let me tell you more about the title of this blog, Moon Rider 7. Moon Rider is a term, interpreted by Jeff in a interesting way, that describe people using wheelchairs. You can see the sign of “handicapped” in many places. (You can type “handicapped” in Google Image Search, then you will find may type of them.) The handicapped sign looks just like a man sitting on a moon to Jeff. (You might need to use some imagination.) That is a really interesting way to interpret the sign. The sign might just be a sign for handicapped to most of Japanese. But Jeff sees it in a totally different way. So interesting that different people from different cultures to see one thing in many ways. And the number 7 is Jeff’s lucky number. Good things always happens to Jeff when they are related to 7. (We met in 2007, just for your information.)
Last but not least, the differences between me and Jeff are not only physical disability, but also cultures and languages. And we would love to share our interesting and inspiring stories with you! We hope you will enjoy this blog and make sure you follow our blog!
Thank you and looking forward to hearing from you!
Mizuki