Diversity and InclusionDEIThe Promotion Headquarters held a special lecture entitled "Even If You Can't Hear - From Having a Child with a Rare Disease to Quitting a Large Corporation and Starting Your Own Business" (Wednesday, December 4, 2024, Clark Hall, Large Assembly Room 1) to coincide with "Disability Awareness Week" from December 3 to 9. A total of 75 people participated (45 in person, 30 online), including students, faculty, and staff, as well as representatives from higher education institutions across the country.
Ms. Yukako Makino, who served as our lecturer this time, is a person with a disability, having been born with severe hearing loss. However, she studied in regular classes with her friends throughout elementary, middle, and high school, rather than in special education classes. After that, she went on to university and found employment at a company through general recruitment. She then founded a company that supports children with hearing loss, and is currently based in the United States, where she continues to build her career.
In her lecture, she shared her own experiences and discussed issues that arise in university, which differ from the learning environment of elementary, middle, and high school, as well as challenges she noticed while working in a company.
During her university life, Ms. Makino described the difficulties she faced due to her disability, particularly in general education courses where she had to explain her requirements to different instructors each time, the challenges of required foreign language classes, and the difficulty of receiving prompt assistance with note-taking. She also mentioned that although she communicates by lip-reading, since becoming a working adult, she has realized that she is missing out on a lot of information that others unconsciously gather from everyday sounds and conversations. For example, she explained that it is difficult for her to understand things that others do without much effort, such as knowing her boss's mood or her colleagues' preferences.
On the other hand, in facing these difficulties, she spoke about the importance of asking for help from those around her and the strategies she uses to communicate in a way that is easily understood. It was also revealed that she constantly thinks about and acts on how to advance her career, how to achieve her goals and aspirations while facing her own unique characteristics.
In this interview, Ms. Makino shared her experiences living abroad, balancing work and raising a child with a serious illness, and her entrepreneurial ventures. She discussed her career development, leadership, and work-life balance from various perspectives, including those of a person with a disability, a woman, and a mother.
From the participants
"I felt that the person's personal experience is helpful in life, regardless of whether or not one has a disability. It made me want to live each day without fear of failure."
"Regarding the tendency for parents and those around individuals to anticipate and provide accommodations and support in order to reduce barriers to disability, I realized that it's also incredibly important to let the individual experience things first and then make their own choices."
"I learned that we need to be aware of the information that hearing people unconsciously acquire, information that cannot be filled through effort alone."
"I was really encouraged to see that even if you can't hear, you can live positively like Ms. Makino."
We received many comments like these.
Regardless of disability, this provides many hints for having a positive mindset to forge your own life and career while continuing to take on challenges, as well as insights into university life from the perspective of people with disabilities.DEIThis provided an opportunity for every faculty member, staff member, and student at our university to consider the meaning of this initiative as something that concerns them personally.
[Lecturer] Yukako Makino
- Author of "Even If I Can't Hear: My Own Way of Life Found in a World with Zero Hearing Ability" (KADOKAWA, July 2, 2024)
• YouTube channel "DeafSupport Channel" https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChitc-o2VfWz5cgT-rMRIjQ
・DeafSupport Co., Ltd. https://nannchou.net/
Mass Driver Co., Ltd. https://massdriver.net/
