Today we made a community visit to Atsugi City, organized by Prof. Ogawa, one of our committee members. We had a great opportunity to meet with an assembly member who is an electronic wheelchair user.
Because of his presence, more voice with persons with disabilities in this community is now heard and also there have seen many changes in accessibility in the city hall buidling. The height of speech table is ajustable and the spacious parking area with a roof is arranged for persons with disabilities, to name a few.
We visited a small scale workshop “Asunaro” where persons with different disabilities come to work together. They prepared delicious lunch for us and we enjoyed talking with the members. Later we visited two homes of persons with physical disabilities, both of which are reformed to meet the needs for their independent living. A participant from Sri Lanka experienced for the first time the lift transporting him from a bed to a toilet.
We were given much courage and happiness by both couples, hearing their stories and seeing their happy faces of walking a life together.