Courageous Rumi by Kaori Zivney
Rumi Ishikawa
"I need my wheelchair just like other people need glasses." - Rumi Ishikawa
I would like to introduce you to one of the strongest people I've ever met. She is a 29 years old woman who lives in a wheel chair. She has Cerebral Palsy and both her legs and right hand have been paralyzed since birth. We met her in her hometown of Utsunomiya, Japan, but she lives in Sweden most of the time. She is currently studying at the education department of a university there. Before she was accepted into the university she studied Swedish for five years.
People in Japan have never heard that it was possible for a handicapped person's school graduate to study abroad. However since my husband James and I met her in person we had to admit that anything is possible if you try.
She told us that she has been writing to pen pals for years. At one time she had 160 pen pals! When Rumi was studying in Japan she made friends with people in other countries through letters. She learned about studying in Europe. She decided to move to Norway since she was a big fan of the pop group A~ha. She found Norwegian friends through a pen pal club and lived there for a year studying the language. By the way when she went to the opening ceremony of the Lillehammmer Olympics she was sitting only 1 meter away from the lead singer of A~ha, but she was to excited and nervous to talk to him.
Writing letters to penfriends improved her English reading and writing a lot, she said. Now she has to study with the other students in English or Swedish only. When she doesn't understand what the teacher said she can ask her assistant that accompanies her to class to help. She has 3 assistants and whenever she needs help she can call them over. In Sweden the government provides this service for free. Even though she is not a Swedish citizen she can enjoy the benefits of the welfare system there.
She said she was lucky that can study how to speak Swedish from her helpers. However she sometimes feel homesick and lonely living by herself in Sweden. She has lots of friends there so when she feels down likes to spend time with them and forget her troubles. Sweden is a beautiful country, she said. She is thinking about moving there for good. She also mentioned that Sweden is a country where she can forget that she is handicapped.
She always had a difficult time living in Japan. She told us that to ride the train in Japan a person in a wheelchair must make an appointment one month in advance for each station that she uses. For example if she went to the airport and her flight was canceled she would not be able to return by train, or even take a taxi to a hotel since most taxis won't take passengers in wheelchairs. Rumi said that is why you see very few handicapped people in public in Japan. People in wheelchairs are basically forced to stay home or attend special schools and have little interaction with the general public. That lack of contact also causes non handicapped people to not see that there is an access problem for people with special needs.
Everyone says “Barrier Free” these days here. I think that not only houses and public facilities should be that way, but we also need to open our minds and break down our own invisible barriers. Rumi said that most people have no idea about handicapped people. Maybe they are even a little afraid too. The same is true for handicapped people too since they have so little contact with regular society. For all kinds of people to live together comfortably we need to make an effort to learn about each other.
Contact her at the address below she will be your great friend.
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