“A world without sound” Thinking from Setagaya-Daita Station, December 21, 20:42
A certain station in Setagaya Ward, Tokyo.
Limited express trains and express trains do not stop at this station, and the number of people getting off at this station is increasing rapidly.
What the hell is going on?
"I started studying sign language."
Setagaya-Daita Station on the Odakyu Line.
There are many residential areas around, and in 2021 the number of passengers getting on and off was the 63rd out of 70 stations on the Odakyu Line, making it a quiet place.
However, the number of passengers in November increased by 22.7% compared to September.
In fact, this station is the filming location for the scene in a commercial TV drama where the female protagonist and her ex-boyfriend, who lost his hearing due to an illness, met again after a long absence.
On December 19th, when I visited for coverage, more than 30 groups took commemorative photos at the ticket gates and benches for an hour and a half.
Young women stand out, but a wide range of generations, including parents and children, were visiting.
Listening to the story...
23-year-old female
“My parents have difficulty hearing in one ear, so I paid extra attention to it. I was forced to
Some of them said that they started sign language by themselves.
31-year-old female
“I work in the hospitality industry and often have people who are deaf. I was told they could communicate in writing, but I realized once again the importance of words and communication, and started studying sign language. ”
You can see that they are thinking about each other.
"We don't care about our differences"
"Yuko" and "Totochan" have been delivering their family's daily life on YouTube for the past two years.
Her husband is deaf, and they communicate with each other through sign language.
The two met and got married while working at the same company.
Recently, it is said that there have been more discussions about what they were thinking during the dating period.
When I posted my impressions on YouTube, the post that talked about "anxiety about marriage" was played more than 900,000 times, and there was a great response.
When asked about the two of you so far...
“It doesn’t matter if you have a disability or not, it doesn’t matter if you say bad things or feel negative emotions when you are in a relationship.Because I felt that there is nothing more important than being with a partner! , I think we no longer care about each other's "differences".
"Not fiction"
“A deaf person is by no means a fiction,”
said Usasa, who has been deaf since birth and writes essays about her daily life without sound.
In the past, when a reporter interviewed me, the work that he introduced me to was depicting a situation in which only a faint sound could be heard.
"I hear sounds through hearing aids, but I can't tell what they are and where they come from." (from manga)
When I asked Usasa-san about it again...
Usasa: In
the drama, there was a line that said, 'Hearing aids are not all-purpose', and I thought it was true. As soon as I told them that I was deaf, some stood up and stood right next to me and spoke loudly in my ear. It's
It seems that Mr. Usasa also made a discovery this time.
It is said that he had never given much thought to the "half-deaf", who were born hearing but lost their hearing due to illness or other reasons.
“Because I knew the world with sound, I was surprised to find that there were many things that were difficult to accept. I didn't ask about it, so it's been a good opportunity for me to learn more about people with partial hearing loss."
'Too much has changed'
I also spoke with someone who is partially deaf.
This is Ponyo, who became deaf when she was a teenager and is now almost deaf.
After becoming deaf, he said he was stunned by the magnitude of the change.
“When I go to see a play or a movie, I have to inquire in advance and give up if I don’t get consideration. I was once refused at the hospital because I couldn’t be diagnosed without a sign language interpreter. Even though it shouldn't have been done, I can't help but compare it to the past."
The way people communicate with each other has also changed.
"Even if your appearance doesn't change, you can't talk in the way you used to. If you don't know someone very well, the communication will end quickly, but if you have a deep relationship, you'll want to talk and get involved. However, communication doesn't go well. Or just by reading voice recognition and mouth shapes, it felt like AI was just talking, and I started to feel a gap.”
"Because people tend to think that they can walk, move, and just can't hear, and that they have past experiences and memories of hearing, they tend to think that there is no problem with hearing loss, but the mental changes are very, very big. The change in communication from 'can't hear' to 'can't hear' is a big change that can't be explained."
"Why don't you speak with your voice?"
When I asked the production staff of the drama about it...
Producer of Fuji TV drama "silent" Ken Murase -
"Are we facing diversity in a true sense? While meeting many people and listening to their stories, I realized that the differences between hearing people I learned that there is a big difference between the deaf and the partially deaf.”
I also applied for an interview with Motomi Nakajima, who helped teach sign language.
Nakajima was found to have sensorineural hearing loss when she was in junior high school, and she lost her hearing completely during her first year of high school.
Until then, I was able to hear sounds with hearing aids, but I rarely understood the words clearly. I couldn't say I wanted it.
She didn't understand the other person's conversation, so she rarely had her own opinion.
She says she struggled with being "neither inaudible nor inaudible."
After he became partially deaf, he was often asked these words.
"If you could hear me before, can you speak?"
"I want you to
speak with your voice
. "
Motomi Nakajima:
“There were times when I couldn’t imagine myself doing sign language, so I couldn’t accept it, but when I actually saw the deaf sign language, I still remember being very moved by the words “I can see it with my own eyes.” The reason I don't stick to vocal conversations is because sign language allows me to say things in my own way."
On the other hand, Mr. Nakajima looked back on his experiences so far and conveyed his candid thoughts.
"I don't want you to think that all hearing-impaired people have the same way of life. People who can't hear think like this!" I hope that more people will look at things with a broader perspective.”
Learn about the current situation of hearing-impaired people through Q&A
What is the current state of hearing impairment?
It was compiled based on the data and the voices of the parties concerned.
Q. Who has difficulty hearing?
A.According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, it is estimated that as of 2016, there were 341,000 people nationwide who had a physical disability certificate for "hearing and speech impairment."
On the other hand, according to hearing-impaired organizations, there are many cases where people with "difficulty in hearing" do not meet the criteria for disability certificates, but they do not want people to know that their hearing is declining, so they start talking about it. It means that some parties are hesitant.
Q. How popular is sign language?
A.In order to promote the creation of an environment in which sign language is easy to use, the enactment of "Sign Language Ordinances" to clarify that sign language is a language is underway nationwide.
According to a summary by the All Japan Federation of the Deaf, as of December 16, 425 municipalities and 34 prefectures nationwide have enacted "sign language ordinances."
Q. What kind of communication means do you have?
A.According to members of the Tokyo Intermediate Deafness and Hearing Impairment Association, sign language is difficult to learn, so people who have actually lost their hearing use "reading" to read the mouth movements and facial expressions of their family members to establish a conversation. It is said that there are many things.
In addition to using smartphone apps, we sometimes rely on “summary scribes”.
"Summary writing" is a welfare service provided by a "summary scribe" who has specialized knowledge and skills, by summarizing the contents by entering them on the computer screen with a keyboard, etc., and conveying them in writing on the spot.
Q.What is important in communication?
A. According to members of the Tokyo Intermediate Deafness and Hard of Hearing Association, the key words are "equal relationships" and "psychological safety."
Many people who are partially deaf are troubled by being asked, "Why can't you hear when you can speak?"
A trusting relationship where you can feel safe even if you can't hear.
Sometimes even without conversation, they are always with me, and treat me in a "normal" way.
He said that he wanted to create a society in which people do not have to give up on communicating with each other.
(Wakayama Broadcasting Station reporter Mayuka Fujita Network press department reporter Yuki Ishikawa, Chuya Sugimoto, Yutaro Ikeda)