Dear Mina san,

Hope this message find you in best health.

I am really sorry that I haven’t updated any report since my return from Japan.

Here are some of my activities related to disability: This story was made with timeline order from 2014 up to present.

Enjoy reading!

ASEAN Disability Forum : The unity of DPO in ASEAN to achieve a better society for people with disabilities in ASEAN region.

ADF is a platform where DPOs coordinate action to advocate disability inclusive policy formulation and implementation. It is aiming to mainstream disability and its needs.

You could visit http://aseandisabilityforum.org/digaleri/ for more details. The secretariat is located in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Since my return from Japan, I joined ADF Secretariat as a communication officer up to present. I have responsibility to manage communication flow both for internal & external and ensure the accessibility level of ADF website beside basic secretarial tasks.

At the moment, the website is not fully accessible yet for visually impaired and deafblind. The website was designed with sophisticate pictures and new ways to navigate which may not familiar by screen reader user/ braille display user.

We’ve been trying our best to fix this issues and hope it will have better accessibility in the future time.

Attached photos were taken during regional training for media sensitivity conducted by us.

Voluntary Teaching in ThammasakonHatyai School for The Blind, Thailand.

“Life is learning, Learning is sharing, Sharing is happiness”

From November 2014 until January 2015, I became a voluntary teacher in Thammasakon Hatyai School for The Blind in Southern part of Thailand.

It’s my first experience to teach English for primary kids and it was unforgettable precious experience. English for primary kids are quite easy to teach, but it became different situation when your students have different native language with the teacher. All of my students were Thai and speak English very limited due to their age & knowledge as primary kids. In other hand, I have no ability in speaking Thai.

Thus we were having time together to learn each other language.

I love origami and the kids loves it too. We made birds, lily and stars together.

From this experience, I learned that language actually is not a main barrier in communication, we could overcome and reduce this barrier through deep understanding and positive attitude toward others.

Communication is not only about speaking in the same language to get mutual understanding but also consist of many other aspects & variables such as gestures, tone, facial expression and willingness to communicate.

Besides teaching English, I was also taught Basic Japanese Braille for the Braille production staff and braille teacher in the school.

It’s quite surprising for everyone and also by myself remember that my braille ability was not excellent, but I loved to share what I got from Japan. It’s like opening the small treasure box which I brought from Japan.

I would like to send my gratitude to GOD for this opportunity and big appreciation for CFBT (Christian Foundation For The Blind in Thailand) for this arrangement.

In 2015, there are some activities that I involved with (both passed and running) :

• Regional Workshop Toward Sustainable Development by NED in Pattaya, Thailand.
• Participated in AICHR: Public Debate & Discussion “Business & Human Rights Guidelines for ASEAN Community Post-2015”(Sept 1st)
• Committee member for ADF: FGD on “Selection Criteria for Indonesia representative for AICHR” (Indonesia National Commission on Human Rights, 7th Aug)
• Presenting “Communication in Counseling for Assisting Process session in HWDI (Indonesian Association of Women With Disabilities) capacity building training (Bogor, 3th -5th July)
• Participated in ”National Consultation on Formulating Civil Societies Inputs to The ASEAN Post-2025 Visions by HRWG (Jakarta, 15th May)
• Committee member for ADF Regional Media Training: Building Media Sensitivity Towards Disability, Bidakara Hotel (Jakarta, 24th - 28th March 2015)
• ADF 5th Conference in Kuala Lumpur Malaysia (visit http://myadfconference2015.org/)
• Research Study regarding Sexuality & Reproductive Health for PWDs

Currently I am also working in mainstream industry as a language assistant and translator in a private company in Jakarta for Wednesday till Friday until December 2015.

I am translating documents, emails, text and other necessary needs rom English to Indonesia and Indonesian to English. I am also assisting the employees in composing/replying emails, phone conversations or other language assistance needs when it’s necessary.

Here are some leisure photos:

Taiyaki parfait:

Katsu curry@Coco Ichibanya in Jakarta