Before landing in Japan I had only a small dream to be a Duskin trainee. But, now my dream has become much bigger! Now I have a dream to change the system. The wonderful experience and unforgettable memories, the impression, inspiration, the struggle and achievement of disabled Japanese friends will always give me energy throughout my life to create a society for all.

I am not worried that I cannot speak Japanese like Japanese people, instead I am happy that my Japanese language did not become a barrier in my personal training period. I felt happy to say that using limited vocabulary and simple sentence structures, I managed to speak with people from Hokkaido to Oita and made a lot of friends and shared ideas with grass-roots leaders to university professors. In every place I visited, I enjoyed talking. Language was not a barrier to have a conversation, to share ideas and to express the feeling. I hope I can fulfill the basic purpose of the three-month Japanese language training.

I feel extremely happy and lucky that I got the golden opportunity to have home stay programs in a beautiful place like Hokkaido, with a warm family. The scenery was truly what I had dreamed to see with my own eyes. Another interesting thing is that I had two loving host families; the Sato family and the Nishimura family. I was lucky to get love, care and unforgettable memories from both families. I still remember the day when Sato-san provided me an opportunity to have the extraordinary ski experience by where I sat in a plastic boat, pulled by a snow plough. I highly appreciate Sato-san’s attitude towards my disability who considered it normal. It is rare in the Japanese society to allow a disabled person in such an event because of safety issues. In the Ｎishimura family, I played Japanese chess (shogi) for the first time and enjoyed it a lot. I would like to express my gratitude to the Sato family and Nishimura family for the care, love and the good times.

To break the stereotype thinking about disability, provide the opportunity and develop close relationships with the Duskin staff and all the members who helped to make the Duskin programs happen, this ski program was really very good. For someone like me who love sports and who have not got any experiences of playing with snow, the skiing was a really wonderful experience which I could not explain in words.

I am lucky that I got an opportunity to study about universal design from a world-class leader like architect Dr Yoshihiko Kawauchi, who himself is a wheelchair user and very famous in the universal design movement. He did not only teach me the concept of universal design but also so much about valuable strategies and introduced valuable networks to start the concept of universal design in my country. The one-week training in Hyogo Assistive Technology Research and Design Institute of Kobe with Dr. Hiroshi Kitagawa was also very fruitful in order for me to understand the participatory approach in the universal design process. I conducted a field study with other university students at Akashi Kaikyo National Government Park in Awajishima, the new Itami train station and Kobe Airport. I also heartily respect the personal struggle of Mr. Imafuku to have promoted the barrier-free movement. He and I checked the Shinjuku area together for accessibility.

This is the first IL centre where I started my individual training with what little Japanese language skills I had. My thanks go to Nomura-san who taught me about the history of disability movement, in an easily understandable way BUT without compromising the depth of it. The vocabulary I learnt, which is frequently used in the disability field, became a foundation for me to talk on many good occasions later on. During the training period, a local newspaper in Ube wrote about me and my training. I also got a chance to have one-week training in the Simonoseki IL centre which gave me another chance to understand the different approach and to see new places in a short time.

My thanks go to Nomura-san and Kondo–san, who arranged such good programs which helped me understand the Japanese lifestyle.

They believe in action! They are samurai for discrimination!! They are emerging as a model IL centre in Asia for global justice for persons with disabilities. They are hard like a stone for social injustice yet at the same time, soft like a flower for friends who are struggling against social discrimination and injustice. Their fame and popularity have already crossed the international border. To understand this you have to have a close relationship with them, know some of their historical background and have an analytical quality to judge the disability movement. You can learn from their action and activities. This is why I highly appreciated the training period at Mainstream Association. Some of the experiences that I gained at Mainstream Association gave much meaning to my personal life as well. I highly appreciated the leadership quality, the warm and open heart and sprit of Kadota-san and his team to make the mainstream one of the most innovative and creative IL centres of Japan.

One of the biggest and most successfully run IL centres whose approach is widely employed at the top government level to top private companies. AJU has created many jobs for people with intellectual disabilities. One of the most important aspects that I appreciate about it is its watchdog role for making Nagoya City a fertile land for universal design. There are so many interesting projects like Nagoya Airport, Ferry　Ferris Wheel and EXPO 2005 in which AJU demonstrated a good leadership quality. I am very much impressed by Yamada-san who made a good social networking and run the business in favor of the Disability Community. During the training at AJU I made a case study of Nagoya Castle, Nagoya Port and Ferris Wheel with a viewpoint of an architect/disability activist and promoter of universal design.

This is a young organization but it is on the right track. Looking back at its activities it seems as mature as other IL centres in Japan. This is one of the IL centres in Japan which have done accessibility check of famous spots in their cities. The community and civil society involvement in the accessibility issues was one of the most impressive activities that I learnt in Oita. The easy-going friends, the delicious food and lots of natural beauty made my training period in Oita unforgettable. My thanks go to Hidekazu Yasutomi-san, my co-coordinator, for his care and support during the wonderful training programs. Thanks also to all the friends of Oita who gave me a wheelchair who supported sending it to my country. I highly appreciate your help and will remember the good times for as long as I live.

I made an observation study of the Japan Disabled Sports Association and Yokohama Rapport : Sports and Cultural Centre for the Disabled. At JDSA I made lots of friends who helped me send two tennis wheelchairs to start wheelchair tennis in my country.

The values about time, punctuality and responsibility are very important in a job; I had only read these words in a book in Nepal but after coming to Japan I realized these things highly and believed crucial secret behind the development of Japan and quality of Japanese people. I don’t claim that I fully developed above three qualities but I can say without doubt that I have internalized this secret in my heart and will apply it in every aspect of life after returning to my country. Thanks to Japanese people and Japanese culture!

At last, I think physical barrier is nothing compared to the attitudinal barrier from which every disabled person suffer around world, whether you live in Japan, Jamaica, America or Afghanistan. Attitudinal barrier is more dangerous and painful and a common enemy to all disabled people around the world. Once people start to recognize us as humans and our rights as human rights, change will begin to take place. So I believe in diverse approaches to drive the disability movement. For this I want to create a collective force, gathering people with determination and commitment to make a colorful society for all. Physically, it may be a small department of the CIL Kathmandu, the DPO or just a group of freelancing people. But in any case it would be a collective force solely committed to make a barrier-free society for all. It may be a daydream for a country like Nepal where there is not even a single toilet in the heart of the city, but I do know very well that WITHOUT A DREAM NO REALITY CAN BE ACHIEVED. Commitment, determination and hard work are only tools to finally emerge from any difficulties.

Finally I would like to thank the Duskin AINOWA foundation for running this wonderful program to develop freedom fighters for equality and social justice. Thank you to all the co-operative and ever-smiling staff of the JSRPD to make this training program happen. Thank you also to all the people who directly or indirectly helped me have this wonderful training period in Japan. Thanks to all.