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The hotel I stayed in San Diego in March is “The Sofia Hotel.” I chose this hotel because of its location, walking distance to the conference palace where I attended, also its decent price. As I requested, the hotel assigned me to an ADA room which is wheelchair accessible room, so I’m going to introduce the room’s facilities!
When I visited San Diego, I was so impressed by the trolley’s system. In Japan, most of the train and subway have a gap between a cart and a platform. Therefore, at first Moon Riders (wheelchair users) would need to ask a station staff to bring a mobile ramp to help Moon Rider passengers board the train. The station staff would then contact another station, where the passenger gets off and make sure that another mobile ramp can be ready by then for the passenger to get off the train. After this process, the passenger finally can get on a cart. It might take more than 10 minutes to take train if a station is big and busy. The trolley in San Diego, however, is very easy. It is the best system for Moon Riders!
In late March, I attended 31st Annual International Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference in San Diego. At the conference, you can find the latest technology service and products which support and maximize abilities of people with disabilities in daily life, at school, or workplace.
At first, I was only planning to go there as an attendee. However, Sheryl Burgstahler who is a director of DO-IT Program in University of Washington (Interview report is here) asked me to give a presentation with her. DO-IT Program has been implementing locally in Asian countries including Japan. At Sheryl’s session, I got 15 minutes to talk about education and employment environment for people with disabilities in Japan.
The time Jeff and I spent in Boston went so fast. I had some interviews for my research and Jeff had some friends to meet, so we were busy at moving around everyday. Boston was colder than I expected and very windy. Spring did not seem to come anytime soon. We both have been to Boston. Jeff went there 9 years ago, and I was there 8 years ago. We found again that Boston is really nice place. I am going to share our trip briefly!
In this blog, we have shared some episodes about our relationship. We also received messages and questions from readers who are in the same situations, for example people who are dating with people with disabilities, who are in a long distance relationship or in an international relationship. This time, we would like to write our stories from the beginning.
I had some precious experiences besides interviewing for my research in Seattle. One of them is to give a talk at “Meet the Professional” hosted by ICC Seattle Office, a study abroad agency. Meet the Professional is an event which a professional in various field gives a talk to Japanese students in Seattle area! What I talked was my disability, school life in Japan, findings in study abroad in U.S., experiences as an employee, and reasons why I research about employment for people with disabilities now. For one hour, I shared my experiences and how I changed my thoughts in my life.
