Aqeel's Final Report l Report | Duskin Leadership Training in Japan

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Aqeel's Final Report

Final Report

Living abroad is an amazing way to see and experience the culture of another country. This is an opportunity for me to learn more about Japan. At least, that is the way I felt about Japan

When you start a life in another culture, it’s amazing the things that you have to learn in order to respect the other people with whom you are interacting and to keep your Self-intact. It involves a lot of reflection and adjustment. When I came to Japan, I was aware of a lot of the cultural differences beforehand. I knew a little about the proper way to bow, about pragmatic styles, and about the concept of face.

One of the strange things that happened to me while I was here was that in many ways, I became “too Japanese”. For instance, one of the rudest things you can do is to blow your nose in public (however coughing and hacking for men is still acceptable). During my stay in Japan I caught the flu in Tokyo. On the train I had to blow my nose. I found myself getting up from my wheelchair. At the beginning of my stay this was done primarily out of courtesy for Japanese public behavior. However, three months stayed in Japan, I noticed that other things were starting to change. In the India I was not a particularly assertive person, but in Japan, I found that I no longer had the ability to express my own opinions. I also found myself overly concerned for the feelings of other people and their reactions to tense situations. Simple things like changing the way I stood on the train platform, covering my mouth when I spoke and even changing the way I laughed pointed to another fact - I was losing my Self in this new culture. Slowly my personality, needs, and desires were taking on a different form - that of someone else. Luckily through some major reflection, I could step back from my situation somewhat and find my Self, respect the Japanese style of interaction, and find a relatively happy medium between the two.

Experiences

I have surprised to see that Japanese people are very helpful to person with disabilities. Tokyo is very accessible place for person with disabilities. You can go particularly anywhere with ease on trains, buses & taxi. Station staff is very supportive towards person with disabilities. It is a wonderful thing. Special taxis are available for wheelchair user in Tokyo. It’s really a fantastic experience for me to travel in the taxi. The barrier free environment is excellent in Tokyo. I visited different part of the city.

What I like most is accessible pathways. Gratings & tactile marking on the road surface for visually impaired are excellent. Curb ramps are very well designed. The power operated door is very accessible for wheelchair user. 　I also like pedestrian push button system & music for crossing the road. But this system is not everywhere in Tokyo. There are guide strips, which helpful for visually impaired people. But I don’t like the roads here, because it’s very up & down type of surface. It’s really very difficult for those who are using his manual wheelchair.

Japanese Classes

The Japanese language classes are a great fun because people from different countries learn the language & everybody have very different accent. Sometimes we cannot pronounce words properly. But I think the teaching method is excellent. I am very impressed by the way teachers teach. They use very little English when they teach Japanese. I enjoyed my class & understand well.

Individual Training

I learned DAISY Production, Web Accessibility and Assistive Technologies for person with disabilities at Daisy Information Center. I also developed two manuals, How to access windows and how to access email. I feel that this technology will make a change in the person with disabilities life. With the help of this technology, visually impaired & others persons with disabilities will be able to learn various things. We are living in the era of information technology; I feel this technology makes a lot of help for person with disabilities. I also believe in information. Information makes great changes in the life of disabled people in the world.

I learned so many things from kawamura sensei. For example, How to utilize Internet? Internet is the biggest library in the world. One day he told me “leadership means Facilitator not dictatorship”

I learned about universal design for people with disabilities and elderly people. Accessible transportation facilities are available in Japan. Trains, buses and ships are accessible for people with disabilities. But still there are some stations don’t have elevator. Some buses are inaccessible for people with disabilities. I also learned about Independent Living in Human Care.

Duskin Leadership Program

The Duskin leadership program is an opportunity for young people with disabilities from different countries to meet each other, enhance their leadership skills, and develop a greater under-standing of disability issues and advocacy. The duskin leadership program is a cross disability program. I learned a lot from all my friends. This is really an excellent learning experience for me. It’s really difficult to explain myself how much I learned in Japan. I have no words to explain myself how much I learned in Japan. I am really very grateful to DUSKIN.

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