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The Dawning of a Society for Disability Studies(May 2004)

Written by Jun Ishikawa, Professor, the International Relations Department, University of Shizuoka, jointly translated by him and Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disabilities

The Japan Society for Disability Studies was established in Japan on October 11, 2003, chaired by Jun Ishikawa, a professor at the International Relations Department at University of Shizuoka. Professor Ishikawa, who has a Ph.D. in sociology, is also a blind person.

In Japan, disability studies were started in the late 1990s when a book entitled "Shougaigaku e no shoutai (Invitation to Disability Studies)" co-edited by Jun Ishikawa and Osamu Nagase was published. It received a greater-than-expected response from academics and the disability community in Japan. Since then, people's interests in disability studies have been rapidly growing and publications on this field have been gradually increasing.

The turning point of the disability movement in Japan came in the 1970s, prompted by awareness initiatives by a group of people with cerebral palsy. In this era persons with disabilities became aware of their human rights and acquired a radical social philosophy: in the 1980s, the Independent Living Movement came to attention; and in the 1990s, the Deaf Culture Movement. Activities were conducted to remove transport, architectural and information barriers, an Assistance Benefit System was launched, and efforts to establish anti-discriminatory law began. Much attention has been devoted to the forthcoming United Nations International Convention on the Rights of Disabled Persons.

In the meantime, a big change occurred in the academic world, sociology in particular, during these last 20 years. Perspectives such as feminism, lesbian and gay studies, cultural studies, post- colonialism, identity politics were presented, problems such as racism, sexism, heterosexism came to light and issues such as mental health, assistance to persons with disabilities, elderly care have emerged as important themes of sociology. In social philosophy, discussions that may support disability studies such as communitarianism, distributive justice and the theory of otherness have been attracting attention.

First convention of Japan Society for Disability Studies

Thus, the Japan Society for Disability Studies started activities. It is hosting the first convention of society for disability studies on June 12 and 13. Issues including social and cultural models for disability, identity politics, labor and recognition, distribution of resources and equality of consideration will be dealt with in the activities such as panel discussions, dialogues and general reports.

As expected considering the activities of the society, the idea of equal access to information for all will be valued in the convention: sign language interpreter service will be provided for deaf participants and remote summary scribe (a new method that combines the electronic conference system and the PC summary scribe) service will be offered to the hearing impaired.

Sofa beds will be available for persons with schizophrenia, so that they will be able to hear the reports while lying down and if, desired, privacy partitions will be installed. There will be beds in a resting room, where reports can be heard through a speaker.

Reporting materials will be posted on the home page of the society, so that blind persons can download them beforehand.

For blind participants, an escort service from the nearest station will be available.

Those already considered and those not yet considered

In his latest book, President Ishikawa writes as follows:

I would like to enlarge a little on the principle of 'equality of consideration'. There is a stubbornly fixed idea that "there exists a majority of people who do not need consideration, and a minority of people who need special consideration". However, the correct view is that "there are people who have already been considered and people who have not yet been considered". The consideration given to the majority is so much taken for granted that it is not even seen as consideration. In contrast, consideration for minorities becomes visible as something special.

For example, let us compare steps and slopes. Why should slopes be counted as 'consideration', while steps are not? Try taking away the steps, and the only people who could get to the second floor would probably be rock climbers or pole-vaulters. So surely steps are also a form of 'consideration'.

At a lecture, the lecturer is usually asked to prepare a resume or summary. Depending on the field, it is also normal practice to show slides. Thus I always show slides using my computer at information-related lectures. That is also consideration, and yet the audience feels they are being short-changed if they do not get this service. On the contrary, symposiums and lectures where summary-writers or sign-language translators are provided for hearing-impaired people are the rare exception. The provision of Braille resumes is just as rare.

And yet when such provision is made for disabled people at seminars and so on, the regular audience is impressed. Theoretically, this reaction is curious, but hardly anybody thinks it is strange. People tend to take for granted the consideration they receive to the extent that they do not even realize it is consideration, but at the same time feel that consideration given to other people is exceptional. They don't realize the contradiction.

Consideration provided through the market, whether it is called usability or service, is almost certainly not worthy of the title of consideration. Consideration which is not provided through depending on the market is provided piecemeal by the public sector, and the rest is left to expectations of people's good will and kindness.

However it is done, it is seen as 'special' consideration. The market is a place where the ruling mechanism is that unprincipled acts are rewarded and people who work with conscience are ruined, but still people regard the fruits of the market mechanism as 'natural', and think that the practices of the public sector and NGOs are 'special things' or 'goodwill'. It seems very strange that many people do not question this framework, either because they are not aware of the nature of the market or because they think it cannot be helped.

Another thing which can be said is this. It is not just a case of "the larger the minority, the more consideration they get, and the smaller the minority, the less consideration they get". In the same way, it is true that "the more people are able to do, the more consideration they get, and the less they are able to do, the less consideration they get". Similarly, "the stronger people are, the more consideration they get, and the weaker they are, the less consideration they get". Furthermore, it can be seen that "the stronger people's position, the more consideration they can demand, and the weaker people's position, the more consideration they have to provide".

Once you have grasped the view of "people who have already been considered, and people who have not yet been considered", your sense of equality improves in a single bound.