Experience and learning materials are important when considering education for students with visual impairment, who may have learning difficulties because they cannot imagine things due to their vision problems. For example, just an oral explanation can hardly make blind people understand anything. In order to solve this problem, we need to contemplate how to help them understand what we say. I myself have had a similar experience during my Japanese language study. I too wanted to learn how to write Hiragana and Katakana. But how could I, who was totally blind, understand the shape of these Japanese alphabets? This was a big challenge. After thinking so hard, my teacher cooked spaghetti. She then made Hiragana and Katakana chart boards, on which each letter was formed by a cooked noodle. By touching the three-dimensional letters, I could learn all the Hiragana and Katakana letters. It was also great fun to touch them. Moreover, on another occasion I went to visit Tsukuba Special Needs School for the Visually Impaired, where the teachers were crafting most of the learning materials for their students. Such creations made by my Japanese language teacher and the teachers at Tsukuba would not have been possible unless they were interested in and cared about their students. I too would like to be interested and involved with others with disabilities.

DAISY is a system for those who have difficulty in reading ordinary printed materials. When I was a student at university, there were no textbooks available in braille or audio, so it was my aspiration to create books accessible to everyone. Accordingly, I went to ATDO to learn how to make DAISY books. After that, I met with many volunteer workers at Nippon Lighthouse and observed them converting books to DAISY. I plan to practice my newly acquired DAISY skills in my country, and will hopefully start producing DAISY books. I wished I had been able to study DAISY more, but I ran out of time.

I enhanced my understanding of human relations as I went through various training sessions and other activities. Notably, I attended the peer counseling workshop at the Human Care Association. For the first time, I sat conversing with people whose disabilities were different from mine. When I had previously learned about peer counseling in Indonesia, all the participants either came from very similar backgrounds or shared a type of disability. I found the Japanese system, where people with differing disabilities and backgrounds mix together, more interesting. As you see, the Japanese and Indonesian peer counseling systems are different. However, they share some key elements – first, you spend an equal amount of time in listening and talking, and second, the focus is set on emotional emancipation. Both of these are very important in peer counseling.

I have also learned about cross-disability communication. In Japan, I lived with my fellow trainees with different disabilities. As I was blind, I had to work out how to communicate with my friend who was deaf. I realized that communication through writing and signing was necessary. So I learned the basics of Japanese Sign Language in order to speak with her. But, how about communication with people with deafblindness? How can a blind person like me talk to them? One option is finger braille. You place your fingers on the backs of the fingers of someone you want to speak to. Then you use the index, middle, and ring fingers of your both hands to type braille codes on her fingers. These experiences made me think about the diversity of communication methods. I figured out that I would always need to ask people about their preferred communication method, so that I could work out how to interact with them.

Lastly, I was introduced to sports for people with disabilities. I played volleyball for the blind for the first time in Japan. I have never seen people with visual impairment in Jakarta playing this sport. It was so much fun and enjoyable. Sports are good for your health, and also help to strengthen interpersonal relationships, as many of them require good teamwork. So we should all be encouraged to play sports.

I went to Centers for Independent Living (CILs) in Tokyo and Osaka, where I was taught the idea of Independent Living. Previously, I had interpreted Independent Living as a way of living alone and doing everything by yourself without help from others. But the concept of Independent Living was slightly different in Japan. It was centered on the principles of self-choice, self-decision making, and self-responsibility. So you choose, you decide, and you take responsibility. This is called Independent Living in Japan.

I have discovered a number of treasure boxes in Japan. What I have found in these boxes are taking interest in other people, DAISY techniques, strengthening interpersonal relationships, and the new concept of Independent Living. Underlying these four items is the willingness to be useful, kind, and understanding. I am going to take these boxes with me back to Indonesia and share them with my peers. I plan to form a voluntary group to teach computer skills to those with disabilities and help them gain opportunity for better education and better life. My goal is to enrich our society.

I have learned so much in Japan. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to everyone I have met through training as well as to the Duskin AINOWA foundation. Thank you very much.