Breaking the Silence

Living my life as a deaf person has given me the ability to see the flaws in schools and society towards those who are differently abled. This is my story and journey of changing the world for the better. OOC (This is a school project)

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An organization to help those with disabilities in Japanese to receive any assistance they might need. 

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Accessible Japan - アクセシブルジャパン

Accessible travel advice for disabled and senior travelers interested in visiting Japan. Wheelchair accessible hotels, tourist sites, train travel tips and more. アクセシブルジャパン公式サイト

A great list for those who wish to travel to Japan or even those who live in Japan and wish to travel and have disabilities. 

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"We live in a world in which judgement is more important than getting to know that person"

A Silent Voice

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Japanese children are meant to follow the following regulations in order to be seen as an “ideal Japanese student”: 1. a good command of the Japanese language, 2. a stable family environment (including a mother able and available to cooperate with the school), 3. good health condition, 4. sustained attention capacity, 5. full control over one’s body and gestures, (vi) “average” physical ability, and 6.“normal” social skills. Those who do not “comply” with these standards are “externalized” to other educational institutions to serve them. Again, society deeming who is “normal” and those who do not fit those standards are separated by their disability into different institutions, another aspect of ableism.

Mithout, Anne-Lisse. “Children with Disabilities in the Japanese School System: A Path Toward Integration?” Contemporary Japan, vol. 28, no. 2, 2016, pp. 165-184.DOI: 10.1515/cj-2016-0009.

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Relationships with other children, especially during non-learning moments is important in order for inclusion to be successful. This is more important now in Japan because of the increase in ijime (bullying) in school-aged children. I was constantly bullied because my classmates could not communicate with me. The began to see me as inferior to them. When a teacher attempted to show them how to best communicate with them, they did not want to. They wanted me to adapt to them or speak, even though I was unable to. There is a need to teach children at a very young age that there are children like them who just have different abilities to their own, but that’s okay. If this was a set policy within schools I could have been saved a lot of heart break and stress. (Anne-Lise Mithout, 2016)

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Inclusion as Innovation: The Past, Present, and Future of Disability Policy in Japan

June 25, 2020 — Mark Bookman, a Ph.D. Candidate in East Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Pennsylvania, discusses the past, present, and...

A great webinar that talks about the Disability Policy in Japan. Specifically, how it has to change because of the impact of the Corona Virus. Because of the pandemic, flaws within the policy and the access to goods and services for people with disabilities have come out to the light even more. Those within this community are asking for more changes and the taking down of these barriers in order to live like everyone else.

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Japanese Girl On Having Disabilities (Pt.1)

Special thanks to ぐれいす for sharing her thoughts on having disabilities in Japan.#OneOnOneInterview＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝＝■Her Japanese bloghttps://me...

An interview with a young girl who has multiple disabilities that are not visible. This is a struggle because many are quick to judge her if she sits in the priority sitting in the bus or train. There is still a need to learn that not all disabilities are visual. Another great point she makes is the need for the medical institution to be better of its treatment and behavior towards those who are disabled. Just because someone doesn’t “look” disabled doesn’t mean they are not. My teacher would forget about my disability because it is not readily visible and during lectures he turn his back towards me forgetting that I needed to read his lips to understand him.

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Living in Japan with a Physical Disability

If you'd like to support our mini-documentaries, we have a Patreon account https://www.patreon.com/lifewhereimfrom. If you can't, don't worry, you can suppor...

Japan has done a great job in helping those with physical and mobility disabilities get around and have access to different transportations and locations. Both the national and city government offer additional help for those who need assistance in getting around or at home. This is a change that should be offered all around. 

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Deaf community looks to bringing their 'own' Olympics to Japan after 2020

The Japan Times had a chance to see volleyball played by the deaf people, and learned about their aim to bring Deaflympics — known as the Olympic Games for t...

A pure demonstration of how sometimes we are not enough of something, in this case not disabled enough. The Paralympics is set to be hosted by Japan on August 24, 2021, yet some in the deaf community are unable to participate. In order to participate in the Paralympics, people who are deaf must also have another disability. They have their own Olympic games, but has never been hosted by Japan even though they have represented the country many times and have won many times as well. Those who are “only” deaf in relation to those with “severe” or multiple disabilities are deemed not “disabled enough” to participate. Again, a demonstration how society dictates who is disabled and who isn’t.

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串カツふさお Deaf owned Tokyo Pub

83歳強いおばあちゃんはまだワインを飲める！Some Japanese women can handle their wine!

A demonstration how the idea that those within this minority group are invaluable is completely wrong. A pub that welcomes everyone and is run by people who are deaf. We as people of this community are fully capable of doing much more than what we are told by society and medicine. There is a constant need to separate us from normate society and even those within the disabled community, for no reason. This pub is a true testament to the capabilities and invaluable abilities that this community brings to society.

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Japan: Meisei Gakuen School for the Deaf

At Meisei Gakuen School for the Deaf, the only private bilingual deaf education program in Japan, Jeff, and Joel are blown away at the disciplined and deaf-c...

This is the only private bilingual School for the Deaf in Japan. Japan has both public and private schools for disabled children. The issue lies that those who have lower income are unable to attend schools like these. As Jeff says in the video there are three important things for children to thrive in their education: support from parents/family, the right school environment, and the right peers. This is important for any student, but most of all for those who are least supported in society.  The other important aspect of this video is the advantage of teaching children at a young age another language. Sign language should be available to young children.

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Integrating deaf children into a regular classroom

Mayflower Primary School is the first primary school to take in children with moderate to profound hearing loss who use sign language.

The young are where to start making the change in society. Like the principal says in the video, by creating a community where both disabled and normate children attend school together you create an almost “barrier free environment.” This is something that adults and all of society can learn from. By creating this community you take out the ableism that is so enforced within society. Being placed in a “normal” classroom in grade 2 was not easy. The students were never shown or taught that people with disabilities were just like them. They had no wishes to learn sign language like the small children in the video. Change and understanding should begin early on to make true progress.

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Barriers facing disabled in Japan are more than physical

A young Japanese man with cerebral palsy has died without achieving his cherished dream of entering a normal high school, despite trying 27 times over seven years to enrol.. Read more at straitstimes.com.

This article is an excellent example of what needs changing in our society - society and its way of thinking needs to change. What good is changing government infrastructure, policies, and buildings if as a society we still hold the same believes towards the disabled community. What good was placing me into a “normal” classroom if the society within my school still saw me as abnormal and a nuisance. Society does not just create physical barriers for people with disabilities but even when those barriers are removed the oppress us with their mental barriers. 

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Why is Japan Still Biased Against People with Disabilities? | Tokyo Life

Last year’s Sagamihara massacre put the country’s bias against people with disabilities in the spotlight. We look at the reasons behind the discrimination.

The Sagamihara massacre on July 2016 demonstrated Japan’s continued belief that disability should be hidden from society because of ijime (bullying). Japanese society continues to hold on to the moral model; that those who are disabled only bring shame, not just to the family, but to Japanese society as a whole. I suffered through ijime constantly at the hands of my classmates with no help from my teachers. They saw me as an embarrassment and shameful thing.