On October 28, 2022, we invited Ms. Saki Shimamura (Academic Specialist, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo), who is a hearing-impaired person, a supporter, and a researcher while raising two children, to give a public lecture moderated by Professor Hiroshi Fujimoto of the School of Human Sciences. 71 people from inside and outside the university attended.
Ms. Shimamura wears a mask that shows her mouth in consideration of one of the participants.
Ms. Shimamura began her lecture by sharing a story about her own childhood experience with hearing loss. She spoke about how she had never met anyone with a hearing impairment until she graduated from high school, and how she had no opportunity to objectively understand her own hearing difficulties and was unable to verbalize them.
She also shared her experience of working as a speech-language pathologist after graduation, as well as recognizing the need for support during her undergraduate years at the university.
Currently, while studying at graduate school, she is also focusing on raising children and supporting students with disabilities. In relation to the theme of the lecture, “Choice,” she said, “Ideally, I would like to see a society in which people do not have to explain why a choice is necessary for them to the extent that it becomes burdensome for those involved”; “I hope that more and more people will be able to communicate flexibly with others without being too fixated to their own values”.
For many participants, it was an opportunity to think for themselves about how to realize an inclusive society in which diverse individualities are respected.
