Page 18 - Community Living Magazine 33-4

international

Kasahara, associate professor at the
University of Sophia in Tokyo; Marin
Fujino, a PhD student whose brother has
learning disabilities; and Azusa Omori and
her 18-year-old son, Shun, who has a
learning disability, who are together
campaigning to improve self-advocacy
and further education.
Each exchange lasted five days and was
built around visits to organisations and
services, research presentations,
workshops – and lots of eating
and drinking.
The UK visit, the first, prompted
Japanese colleagues to reflect upon the
complexity of translating the term
“belonging” into Japanese and difficulties
in building capacity for self-advocacy and
inclusive research in Japan.
This exchange indicated some
Our friends across the Pacific differences between the two countries
that we were keen to explore when we
visited Japan, notably employment rates
What is life like for people with learning disabilities in Japan for people with learning disabilities and
how welfare is organised.
and how do they experience ‘belonging’? A visit allowed We had a full agenda in Japan. We
people to swap stories and find out, says Jan Sunman visited three universities, a “work centre”
(that provided training and some work), a
group home, a social club for people with
hree jet-lagged academics, a weeks later, the Economic and Social learning disabilities and their families and
self-advocate and a family carer Research Council called for projects to day services, including one in a rural area.
Tsped bleary-eyed down a highway support the establishment of UK/Japan We met people with learning disabilities,
from Kansai airport into Osaka. Our research networks. their support workers and family carers.
impressions on arriving in Japan were of a Our project addressed three questions: We gave presentations at seminars and
densely populated country, every scrap of ● What does “belonging” mean to people workshops with our Japanese colleagues.
land used and small flats cheek by jowl with learning disabilities and their Our working relationships were cemented
with businesses and industry. families in Japan and the UK? during conversations over wonderful
We observed how unfailingly polite and ● How can family and self-advocates work meals and visits to shrines.
helpful Japanese people were. The young together in the two countries? As a family carer, I was keen to learn
man deployed to support our self-advocate ● How are services organised in both whether Japanese social policy has
colleague as part of the airport’s disability countries, and what good practice can lessons for us. How do people’s daily lives
assistance programme looked after us all, be shared? compare with ours? Do people with
guiding us and helping us buy bus tickets. We wanted to learn how cultural learning disabilities and their families
Our visit was part of a research project differences affected these issues. have a strong voice in developing social
to explore experiences of “belonging” for Our Japanese colleagues were keen to and healthcare policy in Japan? How does
people with learning disabilities and their explore inclusive research as there is no Japan support the human rights of
families in the UK and Japan, led by the tradition of involving people with learning disabled people?
Open University and funded by the disabilities as co-researchers in Japan, so
Economic and Social Research Council. we set up inclusive teams of academics, A lot in common
It came about after Hiromi Moriguchi, a family advocates and self-advocates in As family carers, we have a great deal in
researcher at Tenri University, gave a both countries within this project. common. We are united by the same fears
presentation on self-advocacy in Japan at The UK team were: Liz Tilley, an Open about the future of loved ones when we
the Open University’s 2018 Social History University researcher; Sara Ryan, a parent pass away. I met an older carer who had
of Learning Disability Conference. A few activist and University of Oxford academic; battled to get her son moved from a
myself, a parent activist from Oxfordshire group home far away to one closer to her
Family Support Network; Ian Davies, home. She did this with the support of a
founder of Northamptonshire People First group that met in Tokyo, comprising social
and the National Forum of People with care workers, advocates and family carers.
Learning Disabilities veteran, who has a Younger families I met were beginning to
learning disability; independent researcher press for greater inclusion in education and
Jan Walmsley; and Liz Ellis, a researcher at much more personalised support, although
the University of Highlands and Islands. there was still reticence about advocacy.
Moriguchi’s team included: Japanese Culturally, pressing for the rights of the
social policy expert Hiromi Tanaka; Chie individual went against the grain.

18 Vol 33 No 4 | Summer 2020 Community Living www.cl-initiatives.co.uk