Tokyo Tales – Day 5: Thursday, January 19, 2006


Nakahara-san sharing with us about Peer Counseling.

It was a busy day today. We sat through four sessions of lectures at the Human Care Association at Hachioji. The lectures were What is Peer Counselling by Nakahara-san, Needs of People with Intellectual Disabilities and Support for Them by one of the Human Care Coordinators, Needs of People with Psychiatric Disabilities and Support for Them by Takezawa-san and Support Services of IL Centre by another Human Care Coordinator.

This familiarisation of the various disabilities made us understand those apart from our own. Although the characteristics of our challenges are different, the issues we face are similar. Prejudice, discrimination and lack of support are obstacles that prevent us from being included into mainstream society.

Darkness descended upon the evening fast and early. It was already dark by 5.30pm. When we left Human Care Association, freezing wind chilled us right into the bones. I had to wear gloves to keep my hands from getting numb. It was impossible to hold the camera, let alone press the shutter.

When we reached the apartment, the digital display by the side of the road showed 2C. The temperature has been creeping down 1C each evening. It was really cold. I could feel the frostiness bite into my exposed cheeks. As we were relaxing, the power suddenly went off. Calvin tried to reset the circuit breaker but could not. We could feel cold slowly invading the apartment. The phone did not work too. There was no choice but for Calvin to go out and summon for help from the CIL Hino staff. Fortunately, Saito-san, the CIL Hino staff, came quickly and restored the power to the apartment. We wonder what would have happened to us if we have to sleep without the heater.

Author: Peter Tan

Peter Gabriel Tan. Penangite residing in the Klang Valley. Blissfully married to Wuan. A LaSallian through and through. Slave to three cats. Wheelchair user since 1984. End-stage renal disease since 2017. Principal Facilitator at Peter Tan Training specialising in Disability Equality Training. Former columnist of Breaking Barriers with The Borneo Post. This blog chronicles my life, thoughts and opinions. Connect with me on Twitter and Facebook.

One thought on “Tokyo Tales – Day 5: Thursday, January 19, 2006”

  1. Pete, just sleep with head under blankets when no heater. My nose used to bleed too with minus brutal winter temperatures. So I had to rub vaselines right into my 2 nostrils whole day and even to sleep! Yes, keep covering your face partially to breathe warmer air.

Comments are closed.