June 30, 2010 : Community Visit: Persons with disabilities living in the community
Training Report - Decent work course
Today the participants visited Atsugi city in Kanagawa Prefecture. Professor Yoshimichi Ogawa who is a member of our planning committee organized today's program. The purpose of this visit is to understand how people with severe disabilities make their own living by observing and interviewing three families.
Firstly the participants visited house of Ms. Matsuda who lives on the first floor of the public housing (provided by Atsugi City) and her house was remodeled to meet her needs to live independently. She uses personal assistant services everyday so that she does not have to depend on her family all the time. Her current life was not built in one day; she explained them that she had to visit City Hall many times to negotiate with government officers to get her services. She also showed the participants her paintings and gave them her postcards as a gift.
Then the participants stopped by the Comprehensive Welfare Center of Atsugi City to have lunch at a restaurant named “Donguri (acorn)” where persons with intellectual disabilities were working. Many of participants tried Japanese food there. We also had a chance to visit a consultation room in the same building, where consultation services for three types of disabilities, physical, intellectual, and mental are conveniently provided in one location for the citizens of Atsugi City and some neighboring municipalities.
In the afternoon, they visited an apartment of Mr. Jin'no who has quadriplegia due to traffic accident. He is an employee of a special subsidiary of company in the employment service industry in Japan. Instead of commuting to an office, he works at home by using a computer. The system of “employment at home” allowed him to live independently in the community. He explained about his work and life, and emphasized how important “to work” is for him. A staff from his company kindly came to explain why they started “employment at home.” The participants could learn about the company's efforts to employ persons with disabilities. Mr. Jin'no has just come back from his vacation from Okinawa where he enjoys his hobby - scuba diving. They enjoyed watching the video of his diving.
Before visiting the last house they made a short visit to “Asayake (morning glow), a small-sized community workshop for persons with disabilities. The director is a wheelchair user and he commutes to the workshop by driving his modified car. They were interested in seeing how he transferred from his wheelchair to his car.
Lastly they visited “a dream house” owned by Mr & Ms. Machida, the director of the workshop. It's a barrier-free house designed by them. The participants were so amazed with various assistive devices and automated equipments. The participant from Myanmar experienced to be carried by the electric lift from bedroom to bathroom.
From today's visit, the participants could understand how persons with severe disabilities live independently in a community and enjoy their way of lives.
