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Actually this is my second time to visit New York City (NYC). My first visit was 8 years ago in 2008. After the conference and my friend left for Japan, I have been walking around NYC, literally to west, east, north and south! Sometimes I walk more than 1 hour at one time. Through my adventures, I have found many things that I didn’t see last time I was here, or I didn’t notice last time.
This is the last episode of “What My Mom Said About Me Dating With A Wheelchair User.”There are several reasons for me to start writing this story – “What My Mom Said About Me Dating With A Wheelchair User.” The first thought actually came up to my mind during this Chines New Year when I went home in Taiwan.
This year, unlike any other Chinese New Year, is the first time I went home as a married man. (Mizuki was in the U.S. doing her research or otherwise she would have been with me in Taiwan.) My mom said to me that she wants to buy Mizuki a gold necklace or a gold ring. I said “thank you but we do not need any gold necklaces nor rings.” I did not understand why my mom likes gold and wants to give Mizuki gold until I later learned the reason.
Rooted in Rights, an advocate group of human right for people with disability, invited me to feature in their filming projects in February when I was in Washington interviewing Disability Rights Washington. I grabbed the chance and said yes right away! I am very lucky to have this opportunity to talk about the employment-related challenges people with disabilities faced in Japan. Through working with Rooted in Rights, I shared the issues in Japan that I have noticed and my vision to change that.
The film was just released yesterday. You can watch it here!
The last company I visited in Seattle is Costco. The headquarters is located in Issaquah, which is 30-minute drive east from Seattle. I interviewed Brenda Weber, Assistant Vice President of Human Resource. At Costco, the vast majority of employees work at warehouses, which requires more physical movements as an essential function of the job. Those jobs might not link with employment for people with disabilities in Japan. However, Brenda estimates that there would be at least one employee with disabilities at each warehouse of Costco. Unlike Japan, US does not have a quota system for hiring people with disabilities. Then what kind of hiring process does Costco have to hire talented applicants including ones with disabilities?
People tend to worry about the things they cannot see. A lot of people worry about the future that has not come and may never will. Those people includes me and, of course, my mom.
My mom has been very worried about my life with Mizuki, a moon rider (wheelchair user) in a foreign country, which is Japan. I understand that no matter how hard I try to convince her that I am doing just fine she will not listen. Since a picture wins a thousand words, I decided to show her more than just a picture. I brought her to Japan for a short tour.
It was in February 2014, the last 4 days of Chinese New Year vacation, I show her and my brother around Tokyo.
Being a person with disabilities may be a disadvantage in workplace. Being a women also may be too. Professor Lisa Iezzoni, whom I visited in Boston, works for the Massachusetts General Hospital, a major teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School. She has multiple sclerosis and uses a wheelchair for all mobility needs. She shared her experiences of difficulties to build her career because of her gender and disability, and explained how change of law and education gave an impact to workplace in US.
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!
Though DO-IT hosts many programs, the most remarkable is the ”Scholars Program”. Once the selected, students can learn about college life throughout the school year and the upcoming summer. By experiencing real college life, students with disabilities notice things they need assistance with and think of what kind of support they need. They also practice how to communicate with faculty to ask for accommodations.
In English, “self-advocacy” means that people with disabilities speak up for themselves to ask for what they need to resolve issues around them. Kids learn that naturally through their daily life at home and school. However, for kids with disabilities, sometimes adults intervene too much at home and school. Then kids with disabilities miss opportunities to learn to self-advocate themselves.
To me, it is very normal to disclose my disability on my résumé because it is very common in Japan. However, I was shocked when I heard Sarah’s perspective about what résumé should be focused. In Japanese society, disclosing disability in job interview and carrying the ID for persons with disabilities are required. I am sure some Japanese people get benefits because of the system. But because of the system, I wonder if many people have incorrect assumption toward people with disabilities’ work performance and value of résumé. How do you think?