I had such a wide variety of experiences in Japan. When I was in Pakistan, I did not know Japan was a barrier-free country. In Japan, I could use a wheelchair and go anywhere I wanted. I could live by myself and it made me very happy.

For the first 3 months in Japan, we studied Japanese. I was eventually able to say simple words and speak Japanese. I would like to say thank you so much, to my Japanese teachers.

My swimming training was great fun. I did not know how to swim at all at first, but our teacher taught us. By the end of the training I was able to swim 50 meters.

I also experienced skiing for the first time in my life. I was terrified at first. The most difficult thing for me was my legs getting very cold. But my teachers and I worked on skiing very hard. It was a very good experience. Afterwards, we also went to dip in a Japanese style bath. It gave me a lot of energy.

At Mainstream Association, while I had training there, the staff of Mainstream Association kindly took me to many famous places, like Kyoto, Hiroshima and Kobe. We also went to a zoo and examined how barrier-free it was.

I also had training at Center for Independent Living “Partner” and visited Nagoya with their staff. We joined a parade celebrating the enactment of Disability Discrimination Act.

After our group training, I visited many centers for independent living as part of my individual training, including Mainstream Association, Human Care Association, Center for Independent Living “STEP-Edogawa”, Independent Living ”MUCHU” Center, A.J.U. Center for Independent Living and Center for Independent Living “Partner”.

I met the leaders of disability movement in Japan, including Mr Kadota, Mr Nakanishi, Mr Sato and Mr Hirashita. I also had opportunities to meet many other leaders. After they taught me many things, my views changed. All of the leaders told me “We are all working hard towards a friendly society”. This idea inspired me very much. The leaders also told me about how to create a barrier-free society, about the history and mission of the independent living movement, and the system of Japan’s centers for independent living. It is important for people with disabilities to think for themselves, take action, and change society. The leaders also told me that once people with disabilities got together, they can generate great power.

At the center for independent living, I had wanted to learn how people with severe disabilities lived in Japan. I had training at Mainstream Association in Nishinomiya for 2 months and met many people with severe disabilities. They taught me many things and we became friends.

There are many reasons people become severely disabled. It could be muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, or a traffic accident.

Children with muscular dystrophy are born just like able children. However, over time, their muscles get weaker. When they are small they can walk but they get tired quickly. And gradually they will be unable to walk. At this stage, they rely on personal assistants for 2 to 5 hours. After that, if their muscles get weaker any further, they will use wheelchairs. At this point they will need about 10 to 15 hours of assistance. Once their internal organs get weaker, they will rely on many medical devices, like respirators and aspirators, to continue on with their lives.

Some people with severe disabilities are always on oxygen masks. At first I could not figure out what they were saying, but over time, I began to understand. Some people get severely disabled from traffic accidents. Once they have cervical damage, they will be paralyzed from neck down.

Some people with severe disabilities have difficulties being heard, but I saw such people speaking about disability movement at various colleges.

I also saw many people with severe disabilities enjoying a variety of sports. During my training at Mainstream Association, I enjoyed bowling with these people. I had never bowled before. Playing with everyone else made it even more enjoyable.

What truly stunned me is the fact people with severe disabilities in Japan lived alone. They can do so, relying on assistance around the clock.

People with severe disabilities in Japan also had big goals and confidence. They were thinking about what to do 5, 10 years later.

Why was I able to observe the lives of people with severe disabilities like this? Because I stayed at the home of someone with a severe disability. It was a very effective way to learn about their lives. They let me stay at their house and showed me how they lived. Until then, I had no idea how they were going to the bathroom, or how they went to bed, but I saw them doing these things fine and learned from it.

During the training at Mainstream Association, I had help from a personal assistant for the first time. I can have a bath or cook by myself, but it takes a long time. With the help of personal assistants, the lives of people with disabilities become much easier.

First, I would like to build a center for independent living for people with disabilities and create a program in the center to support their independent living. The center’s aim is to help people with severe disabilities use personal assistants so that they can live on their own.

Once the personal assistance system is in place, it will bring in three good things.

1. Suppose there is a family and one of the family members has a disability. If the only help they get is from the family, it will be hard work. It will help the family if there is a personal assistant.

2. If there is a personal assistant, the person with a disability can do anything he / she wants. He / she can go to the bathroom alone, go shopping, or cook himself / herself.

3. This system will create more job opportunities. People looking for work can be trained and become personal assistants.

How then, will people with severe disabilities and their families, pay the fee of personal assistants? Here are my ideas below.

I am a freelance IT consultant, so I can teach IT technologies to people with severe disabilities. I think IT will enable these people to work, in ways that accommodate their disabilities. I will start an IT company to support the operations of a center for independent living for people with severe disabilities. I will teach web design, programming, animation and other skills to these people, over a course of about six months. I will then go and talk to many companies and ask them to give us work. People with disabilities can then do the job, using the skills they learned, and get paid. This enables them to live independently. On the other hand, companies can support people with disabilities to live independently, and fulfill CSR, Corporate Social Responsibility. This is a win-win relationship for both parties.

In Japan I saw many social businesses for people with disabilities. Do-will and Shimamura Store became the models of the social business I envision.

I would like to say thank you from the bottom of my heart, to my teachers and everyone at my training locations, who taught me many things during the training.

I also want to express thank you from the bottom of my heart, to the staff of the Duskin AINOWA Foundation, Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities, and Toyama Sunrise. I have been given so much. Thank you so much.