MUCHU FAN BOOK

Englsh edition

 

 

​

■Cover

Title: Muchu Fan Book

Subtitle: A Guidebook to support your activities at the CIL Muchu

Issued by NPO Center for Independent Living Muchu

 

 

■P.2

CREDO　（Our spirit）

 

We're striving to make the CIL Muchu heartwarming place for everyone.    

 

We value independent living in the community, where each person's choices are always respected.

 

We continue to give the voices of people with disabilities to build a society where no one is left behind.

 

We value the interaction with local people in order to live independently in the community.

 

In order to build a diverse society, we are committed to connecting with people from various regions and different fields, including local governments, educational institutions, companies, and domestic and international organizations.

 

Our joy is to bring smiles to the faces of people living in difficult circumstances and those who are feeling hard to live.

 

 

■P.3

Philosophy of the CIL Muchu

 

We are not alone.

We have a bond of

friendship that makes us

strong, kind and also fun.

 

 

■P.4

RAISON D'ETRE

（VISION, MISSION and FOCUS）

 

Vision - What is our image of society we aiming for?

The CIL Muchu is a place where all people can live the life with dignity and peace of mind.

We aim to create a society where people can live as we are and support each other.

 

Mission - What are we going to do to achieve our goals?

Our mission is to create our society for living together where no one suffers from discrimination, and values diversity.

 

Focus - What should we focus on in our activities?

The CIL Muchu's activities are focused on people with disabilities.

In order to build a discrimination-free society and build gentle people and town, we believe it is important to stand at the view point of people with disabilities from diverse backgrounds.

 

 

■P.5

MESSAGE

（Message from President: Kozo Hirashita）

 

The independent living movement is about empowering the people with disabilities who are in a tough situation.

We believe that this is the value of independent living (IL).

 

I believe that independence, in my view, begins with independence from parents, with or without a disability.

However, people with severe disabilities tend to be denied their independence.

They have been forced to live in a facility or under the care of their parents.

I also have an experience of living in a facility.

Many of the seniors I met at that time were forced to live in facilities for their entire lives.

Taking these conditions seriously, I became involved in the independent living movement.

 

Speaking of the people with disabilities, “If you walk down the street, you’ll often encounter some discriminations.”

In short, it's easy to get caught up in troubles with discrimination in our society.

That's why the world is full of social barriers.

The independence of the people with discrimination is to be prepared to take up the fight against such barriers.

It is also a challenge to social change.

 

In order to promote understanding among the local community, we hold events, participate in safe guard activity for the school children, and engage in warm interaction on a daily basis.　

 

We, the CIL Muchu members are committed to advancing the movement for independent living with these people's readiness.

We can change our society by continuing to create independent people with disabilities.

We do our best to commit to such activities.

 

We hope that as many people as possible will be inspired from this booklet to empathize with the philosophy of CIL Muchu.

 

Mr. Kozo Hirashita, President of the Center for Independent Living Muchu

 

 

■P.6-7

CONTENTS

 

●What is the Center for Independent Living Muchu?

 

It is a specified non-profit corporation with four business entities and activities as its main pillars: “Pit-in”, an agency for dispatching caregivers, “Suminoe-ku Core Consultation Support Center”, and “Space-Shuttle”, a day care center for the people with disabilities.

 

Illustration: The content is represented by 4 large circles.(1●~4●)

　 The circle in the middle (blue・1●) is the Center for Independent Living.

The circle in the upper left (yellow・2●) is “Space-Shuttle”.

The circle in the upper right (red・3●) is “Pit-in”.

The circle in the lower left (green・4●) is the Suminoe Ward Core Consultation Support Center for People with Disabilities.

 

　 A description of each piece of content and the page number of the article to which it belongs.

In addition to them…

The greeting from the president …page 5

The history of the CIL Muchu …page 8

The message from the executive director …page 35

 

 

1●　CIL

～　The Center for Independent Living (CIL), which produce the independent people with disabilities in the community.　～

 

  The Independent Living Center is an energetic center that supports everyone, no matter how severe their disability, to live a life of their own in the community.

　There are 122 centers in Japan and more than 1,000 in the world.

　The CIL Muchu is a center for the people with disabilities, which is operated by staff members with disabilities.

　At the CIL Muchu, 28 people are currently living vibrant lives in the community.

　There are 60 male caregivers and 60 female caregivers to support their lives.

 

Credo (Our spirit) ...page 2

　Philosophy...page 3

　Vision, Mission, Focus...page 4

　The charm of the CIL Muchu...page 24

　Part 1 – Stories of the independent people with disabilities...Page 9

　Part 2 – The Challenge of the CIL, and the advancing of human rights protection...page 17

　         Independent Living Movement – Independent living in the community, and communicating the value of Independent living...page 18

　　　　　 International support and networking...page 19

　　　　　 Inclusive Education...page 20

　　　　　 Noah’s report of his campus life and activities in U.S.A.

　Part 3 – The Women's recruiting Project –

“Women’s Summer Camp” report...25 pages

　Support for women's work and activities...page 33

　Volunteers' voices...page 33

　Messages from professors...page 34

 

 

2●　Day Care Center “Space-Shuttle”

～　A place where we can be with our friends, as the way we are.　～

 

　The livelihood care service “Space-Shuttle” was established as a daytime place for the people with disabilities.

　We are also working to eliminate discrimination and prejudice by allowing local children to become involved with people with disabilities from an early age.

　Three times a year, we hold “Shuttle Kids Fair” to create opportunities to interact with children and participate in the safe guard for school children team, hoping that the presence of people with disabilities in the community will become normal.

　Day care center “Space-Shuttle”, fair and exchange activities...page 23

 

 

3●　 The Help Center “Pit-in”

～　Supporting the lives of the people with disabilities　～

 

　The Help Center “Pit-in” dispatches caregivers to their homes of people with disabilities living in the community.

　There are about 120 caregivers at “Pit-in” to support the independent living of people with disabilities.

　Help Center Pit-in ...page 16

 

 

4●　Suminoe ward Core center of Consultation support for PWD

～　Consultation support services for the people in Suminoe, OSAKA　～

 

　Suminoe ward Core center of Consultation support for the People with Disabilities is commissioned by the Osaka City to play a central role in providing consultation support to the community.

　We receive consultations from the people with disabilities and their families in Suminoe ward and provide a variety of support, including assistance in using welfare services, peer counseling, protection of human rights, and provision of information about specialized agencies.

 

 

■P.8

HISTORY of the CIL Muchu

 

March 2002: Established the Center for Independent Living Muchu.

April 2002: Opening of the Center for Independent Living Muchu.

July 2002: Started peer counseling for women by women.

November 2002: Mr. F (cervical spine injury) started his independent living program. This was the first case for independent living support of the CIL Muchu.

January 2003: National Action “Abolishing of the upper limit of the support cost system” in Tokyo

February 2003: Mr. M (cerebral palsy, the first independent person from an institution) started living independently.

April 2003: The CIL Muchu acquires the status of a non-profit organization.

The support cost system. Help Center Pit-in was established.

 

June 2004: National Great Action against integration with elderly care insurance system.

October 2004: National Great Action in a storm

November 2004: Osaka Midosuji Demonstration “Action against Grand Design”

February 2005: We started accepting the Duskin trainees from Cambodia.

April 2005: The Muchu Independent Living Seminar “Independent Living Movement and I”

September 2005: Opening of “the Space-Shuttle” as a workplace.

December 2005: Support for the “Taiwan Seminar for People with Disabilities” through the Asia Support Program.

 

August 2007: Participated in the Korean TRY.

October 2007: Action against “the Services and Supports for Persons with Disabilities Act”

January 2010: Acceptance of DUSKIN 11th trainees from the Philippines.

May 2010: Published the picture book “Take the Youkai (Racist demon) Barriers down!” with the president Hirashita brothers as the model.

June 2011: Participated in Asia TRY 2011 in Mongolia.

October 2011: 10,000 people gathered for the enactment of the Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities Act.

July 2012: Project to Send Parties to the Stricken Area

August 2012: Participated in the Michinoku (North east part of Japan) TRY

 

January 2014: Japan ratifies the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

July 2015: Participated in ADA25 tour of the United States. (Every year we participate in since then.)

March 2016: Participated in Nepal TRY

April 2016: HAPPY BIRTHDAY (Congratulations on the enactment and implementation of Act for Eliminating Discrimination Against People with Disabilities.) parade at Osaka's Ougimachi Park

March 2016: Participated in Cambodian TRY

September 2016: One of the women's recruit and retention project, “Women’s Summer Camp" implemented every year since then.

 

July 2019: Completed and previewed “Independent Living” a documentary film about the independent living movement that the CIL Muchu helped producing.

January 2020: Theatrical release of the movie “Independent Living” begins.

 

【Trivia: What is the Center for Independent Living?】

The Center for Independent Living (CIL) is the first organization in history that is both an activity group and a business entity, and is operated by the people with disabilities themselves!

In a society where it is easier to live for people with severe disabilities, there are good services that are easier for everyone to live in.

The most efficient way of providing services is for the government to support those who set up their own entities for the services they need.

 

 

■P.9

Part 1

Independent Living is to live your life as a protagonist for in your one life.

 

Part 1’s content

Stories of People with Disabilities: Talking about Independent Living Now

 

For us, it is a natural right to live a life of our own in the community.

In the first part, we will introduce the independent living movement, which CIL is most passionate about as part of its mission, through the voices of people with disabilities ourselves.

 

 

■P.10-11

Interview with Noboru & Miho's Independent Living!　

～Why did they want to do their independent living? ～

 

We introduce you to Noboru Sakaguchi and Mihoko Okamae, who have been living independently for quite some time now.

These two are activists have been passionate about independent living since before the institutionalization of assistive services.

Even though it's a new era, it will be a hot message not only to the younger people with disabilities, but to all those who want to live independently.

 

・Noboru Sakaguchi

Born in 1965 in Hirano-ku, Osaka.

The diagnosis is cerebral palsy. After graduating from special needs school at the time, he was institutionalized for five years from the age of 20. I got involved in the CIL Muchu from the launch preparatory group and started living independently at the same time.

 

・Mihoko Okamae

Born in 1966 in Higashi-Osaka City. She has loved festivals since she was a child.

The diagnosis is cerebral palsy. In 2007, she became a member of Space-Shuttle and started living independently.

 

 

Noboru:

I think it's great that I'm living in a society where many people are supporting for me.

 

Mihoko:

It took a lot of courage for me to decide living independently.

 

 

●How do they felt when they were in the facilities?

 

Q: How long did you stay at the facilities?

Mihoko: I had been in the facilities for five years.

Noboru: I think it's been five years too. I didn't have a place to go because my high school was also special needs school, so I joined there just for the sake of functional training.

Q: Why did you want to live independently after five years in the facilities?

Noboru: At the facilities, I did rehabilitation in the morning, and at noon I put bacteria of the raw shiitake mushrooms on logs and sold the finished product, shiitake mushrooms.

And I was working in the field. It was so cold every day. I've been working on it after lunch.

Mihoko: I felt myself at the facilities boring and annoying.

Q: What was that made you feel uncomfortable?

Mihoko: It's about human relationships. And awful meal. Speaking of the meal, it was made at the early in the morning. That's why it's so cold. When we went into the facilities, they took our pension or bank book.

We couldn't spend the money on ourselves. The facilities have heaters, but the director was stingy. The director of the facilities was a doctor of internal medicine at the hospital, and he was building the facilities on his private land. The most unpleasant thing was when I was taking a bath in February in the middle of winter. Suddenly, the hot bath has turned into a water bath! Maybe hot water supply system broke down or something.

Noboru: I remember! Everyone got a cold.

Mihoko; That's right! I’d never want to do it again.

 

Q: Why did you want to live independently?

Noboru: Because the facilities tended to be closed, there was a sense of fear that no matter what was done to me, and it wouldn't be able to understand it from the people outside. When I was in school, I went to school from home, so I had a certain amount of freedom to play. But once I was in the facilities, there was a daily program, and everything was set at a certain time. I didn't want to do that at that time.

Mihoko: I went in to another facilities after I left the facilities I was in with Noboru. I was working on a sewing machine. And then, I went to the group home. They asked me to move out of that group home too. At that time, I met my friend who knew Shacho (the president of the CIL Muchu), and Shacho and Noboru also knew each other, and my mom was also in trouble, so we made a connection and I went to live independently.

 

●Now leave the facilities and start independent living of their dreams!

 

Q: Did things go smoothly after you decided to start independent living?

Mihoko: My mother thought that even if I did live independently, I would be back home in a week in disgust.

Q: I wonder if your mother thought so much about you, that it also became a barrier to starting an independent life.

Noboru: Yes, yes. A kind of a barrier.

Q: How old were you when you started to want to be independent?

Mihoko: Of course, I was in my twenties! I couldn't wait to do it, because I wished I could! But I didn't know what to do. I didn't even know about the support system.

Noboru: We still didn't have the support system that we have now. The caregivers were available only a few hours a day.

 

Q: When did you first meet Shacho of the CIL Muchu?

Mihoko: We met Shacho when he was working at a wheelchair company before he established the CIL Muchu. When I left the facilities and wandered around the exchange festival in East-Osaka (Higashi Osaka fureai matsuri) with my volunteer, I met Shacho and Noboru. And then, I connected with Shacho and other people. You only get one life. That’s just the way we are. So I wanted to have fun and live independently. I was staying at my parents' house for about 17 years after I had left the facilities where I had been in with Noboru. It took a lot of courage for me to try to live independently.

 

Q: Did you have any problems in actually living independently?

Noboru: Looking for a room to live! When I said I was going to live on my own, the real estate agent said, “Are you sure you're safe?”.  I said, “I'm OK,” but it doesn’t matter that even if you have a disability or not, when you’re in real danger, does it? That's why I often got into a lot of fights with the real estate agent. I remember I went to about 20 real estate agents.

Mihoko: I'd been looking for a room with Johnny (the coordinator of the CIL Muchu)! The room I finally found was in a convenient place to live. So I still live there. The most convenient place for me right now I think, because the post office and the bus stop are near my house! (lol)

 

●Difficulties and fun in independent living

 

Q: Have you had any problems since you started living alone?

Mihoko: It was difficult to give instructions to the caregiver. Because she's not like my mother. I've been thinking about how to give the message well.

Noboru: I've never really felt a hardship. My body used to be more movable than it is now. After my body became unmovable, I felt myself in trouble using caregivers. I started to think about how I should say it so that the caregivers would understand. It's difficult to communicate with just my words. And then there's human relations. Of course, we're all human, so there’re both cases that we'll get along or not. It is natural that, when I ask the same thing, there are some people who can do it right away or some people who can't. I think I've been able to experienced that in the last 15 years.

 

Q: What are the things that make you happy about living independently?

Mihoko: I'm so happy! I can go everywhere! If I save up money, I can go on a trip! Tokyo! Yokohama! Kumamoto! I've already been to a lot of places. And we can go on a trip with taking a boat, too! And also great fun to go to nearby elementary schools for the sake of exchange with kids!

Noboru: Speaking of what I'm glad to live independently…let me think. My parents have already passed away. If I wouldn’t live independently and my parents had passed away, I'd probably be in the facilities again. I would hate to think that. I'm happy that my brothers are making a living for themselves. If I hadn't lived independently, they probably would have tried to take care of me somehow. I think it's great that I'm living in a society where many people are supporting for me.

 

●Messages to their old self before independent living.

 

Q: What do you want to tell yourself when you haven’t lived independently yet?

Noboru: It's been like more than 10 years ago... Hmmm.... Is there anything what I want to tell? (lol) I'm grateful to have met so many people and to have the cooperation of so many people! That’s the independent living that is supported by many people. I am grateful to have met Shacho and Yachan of the CIL Muchu. Thank you for all my encounters.

Mihoko: My family was the most supportive of me. And my mother's siblings. Not only that, but I think I'm supported by everyone in the community. I want to say thank you to all of my friends, the CIL Muchu, and everyone in the community! I would like to say thank you to my mom for giving birth to me. I guess I can say that now. And Mihoko! who have not lived independently yet, “you're gonna have to try harder than that!” (lol)

Noboru: That's right. Me too. “Noboru! You've got to do better than that.” (lol)

 

Q: Thank you so much for your long interview.

 

 

■P.12

Let's enjoy!

Full of hobbies in the independent living!

 

Independent living is so much fun!

On what evidence can I say that? It’s because people in independent living can devote themselves to what they want to do as much as they want.

I asked the members who lead the independent living about their hobbies as a theme.

 

◎Maakun

His hobby is bowling.

“I'm working hard to improve my score.”

Q: What is your hobby?

A: Bowling. I got my own ball.

Q: What's the score?

A: If I'm not in the good condition, it's around 60 to 70. When I’m in good, it's around170.

Q: Thanks to Your Ball?

A: I don't use my ball.

Q: Why not?

A：It's important to have a place and a direction for the shooter, but my ball doesn't have a hole in it, so it always has a different center of gravity.

Q: What are your goals?

A: I’ll aim for a score of 200!

 

 

◎Chokki

His hobby is going to live shows.

“Actually I prefer to stay at home and do things more than anything else.”

Q: Chokki, what is your hobby?

A：I often go to live shows these days.

Q: Whose?

A: Okazaki Taiiku, Uchikubi Gokumon Doukoukai, The Lethal Weapons,

 And LiSA.

Q: Who do you like the best?

A: I think it's Okazaki Taiiku.

Q: Do you have any particular insistence?

A：Speaking of my insistence, I don't go on live show tours, I don't buy their goods too much, and I go out to see interesting entertainers.... I have these rules, but I break easily because I love so much about Okazaki Taiiku.

Q: You used to have an image of staying at home, but now you're going outside.

A: Yes, I have a hobby to go out, but if I don’t have anything to do, I'd tend to be a stay-at-home person.

 

 

■P.13

◎Sanae-san

My hobbies are cooking and bathing.

“I want myself to stay healthy forever.”

Q: What is your favorite thing to do, Sanae-san?

A: Cooking and bathing.

Q: Your mother is a good cook, isn't she? Does she have an effect on you?

A: When I lost about 10 kilograms, my mom came to cook it for me. I don't want to bother her. If I make her worry too much, it's not the independent living. So I started practicing to cook my own food and eat it.

Q: Because cooking is directly related to your body, and also you don't want your mother to worry yourself, right?

A: My mom is quick to notice about myself when I lose weight or catch a cold.

Q: Do you have any plans to do more in the future?

A: I'd like to stay healthy and happy without getting sick.

 

 

◎Hayabu

“I made my own chabudai (Japanese low table for dining) and enjoyed the party for the cherry blossoms with it!”

Q: What's your hobby?

A: I think it's woodworking. I've been learning it for about four or five years now.

Q: What's your best work?

A: The first low table, chabudai I made. We even took it out to the park and held a “Ochabu-kai (the party with chabudai)” like a cherry blossom viewing party.

Q: What do you want to do now?

A: I'd like to make more and more furniture for my room. Like a chest of drawers.

Q: Do you aim to sell it somewhere?

A：It's nice to have a stall, but I think it's also nice to have a handmade corner at the Space-Shuttle fair for kids that we're running now.

 

 

◎Goisu

My hobby is reading.

“I feel pachinko game is more fun, though.”

Q: What kind of hobbies do you have when people ask you what your hobbies are?

A: No.1 is pachinko (Japanese pinball game machine as a gamble), isn’t it? Next is reading.

Q: What kind of books do you read?

A: Basically, these’re light novels. Well, a fantasy type.

Q: How much do you read a year?

A: I read about 10 books a month, so I'm probably over 100 books a year.

Q: How did it become a hobby?

A: When I was a teenager, 7,000 yen became 200,000 yen, and I’ve started pachinko from around there. Reading has been a hobby of mine since I was a child. When I was in elementary school, I was like a master who spent all my time in the library.

Q: No. 1 is pachinko and No. 2 is reading. Why is reading losing to pachinko?

A: Because pachinko can be done only occasionally, it becomes fun when playing it. Reading, I never get tired of reading, but I can read every day.

 

 

■P.14-15

NEW FACE Interview　Assu　＆　Ricky

 

Assu, who has just started to live independently.

Ricky, who seems to be starting to live independently.

～They are moving forward at their own pace, toward the future! ~

 

Assu has just started to live independently.

Ricky is in a time of various preparations before his independent living begins in earnest.

We asked the fresh pair what they would like to do in their independent living and what the future society would look like!

　　

●ASSU

～After starting of my independent living - My dreams, My future～

 

Q: You've lived independently for about eight months. What's it like?

Assu: It’s fun!

Q: What do you enjoy doing?

A: It's fun to play games as much as you want, but my life can be tough, sometimes.

Q: What is the hard part?

A: I'm not good at cleaning. I don't know how to give instructions to the caregiver.

Q: Oh, I see. When you start to live independently, you are able to see many things. There are fun things to do, and there were some very difficult things to do.

A: That’s right.

Q: What kind of independent living do you want to live in the future?

A: Independent living without getting sick.

Q: Oh, I see. So, if you could live on your own without getting sick, is there anything you would like to do when you live independently?

Hmmm...I want to go to “Nabana no Sato”.

Q: That's good on you! That kind of dream is going to come true soon. Guess, what would you be doing, if you were in 10 years after?

A: Ten years from now...um...um...I want to go around Japan (lol)

Q: I see. Anyway, you want to go somewhere, don’t you? Travel around Japan... and you want to go around the world too?

A: Oh yeah!

Q: Do you think you want to go to space too?

A: No. In space, I hate to float myself in the air. I'm scared.

Q: Oh, I see. Your dream now is to stay healthy, travel around Japan or all over the world. Do you have any dreams?

A: ...It used to be, but I don't know now.

Q: What did you want to do before?

Ah: I wanted to be a nurse. When my grandfather was sick, so the nurse helped him a lot. At that time, I wanted to do something useful for people.

Q: So, I'm going to change the subject. Your independent living, does that mean that caregivers will come into your life, doesn’t it?

I'm sure you have a lot of various caregivers on your life. What kind of caregiver do you think is easy to use?

A: “Do you want to do that?” “Do you want to do this?” I like caregiver who can ask me what she should do.

Q: So, what do you think the being of caregivers on your independent living?

A: Someone who can help me with things I can't do.

Q: The person who makes various suggestions and helps you do what you say “yes” is the caregiver that you think is all right.

Okay, I'm going to change the subject again, but what do you think the society will look like in the future?

A: I want Japan to be able to understand people with disabilities better.

Q: Are you sure it will?

A: Oh yes, it will! I believe in it.

Q: That's great. You'll have to work hard to make that happen.

 

●Assu’s words to herself in the future!

“Let's keep moving forward, even if you would be on hard time!”

 

 

●RICKY

～Looking forward to my independent living: My Dreams, My Future～

 

Q: Now Ricky, you are preparing for your coming independent living, talking to your family, doing a trial independent living before you start your living independently in earnest. What do you want to do when his independent living starts?

R: I'd like to do something I can't do at home living with my family... First, I'd like to get all the painting tools I need to build a model.

Q: I see, that's good. Do you have a general vision of what it will be like after your independent living starts, enjoying hobbies and games?

R: That’s right. I'm an indoor person from the bottom of my heart. I aim to be content in my own new territory.

I'm thinking of looking into new things if I have the strength to do so after making the basis of my life.

Q: What is the image of a caregiver?

R: It's hard to say, but... how do I put... it's very familiar. I don't feel uncomfortable in being in the same space with him.

Q: This may seem sudden, but what do you want yourself to be in 10 years after?

R: I'd like to be able to make anything. And I'd like to use a 3D printer to put Hayabu-san on a mini 4WD.

Q: Do you have a dream? Something like “I really want to do it in my independent living!!”.

R: I want to go out to eat something delicious.

Q: It looks like a lot of fun. Nowadays, there are many stores that allow wheelchairs to enter. But according to the senior people with disabilities, it didn’t seem to be like this at all. It's just that things have changed a little bit over the last 10 or 15 years.

What do you think our society in the future is going to be like, Ricky?

R: It's going to be tough as ever, but I think it's going to get better. I wonder if it's getting better little by little, both software and hardware, in terms of feelings and buildings.

But there are some things that bother me a bit. There are more and more games that move your body, and sometimes it's hard for me to play them. I want to play games with just using the controller at hand.

Q: Games like that are released, and they're popular. But I feel like they should think more about ourselves, don’t you?

R: While technology seems to be advancing, it can actually be going backwards. I can't do it at all for the wheelchair user. I can't play the Ring Fit Adventure of the Nintendo Switch, because using legs.

I wish they'd come up with a way to make it wheelchair playable, even if it's a game that uses your body.

 

● Ricky’s words to himself in the future!

 

First of all, I want myself in the future to be able to use a 3D printer. If my skills improve more, I try to do various projects I'd like to do.

 

 

■P.16

Help Center Pit-in

～　It’s a Caregivers’ Center for Supporting of Independent Living. ～

 

The Help Center Pit-in dispatches caregivers to the homes of people with disabilities living independently in the community to help them.

 

●What is “Pit-in”?

The role of Pit-in is to realize stable dispatch of caregivers so that people with disabilities can do their own activity and live in their own way.

 

●How do we dispatch caregivers?

The coordinators create caregiver’s shifts and match them to the needs of the people with disabilities so that they can live in their own way.

 

●What if something troublesome happens?

If a person with disability has a problem in the independent living, the senior people who have been living independently and the Pit-in staff will work together to solve the problem.

Also, if a person with disability is having trouble with the relationship with a caregiver, coordinators will go in between a caregiver and a person with disability to sort out the problem and listen to them carefully so that they can have a good relationship with the caregiver.

 

◎We are looking for caregivers!

There are 120 helpers, included male and female, at Pit-in to support the independent living of people with disabilities.

If you are interested in supporting for people with disabilities to live independently at their own pace as they want,

Call here! (06-6683-1064)

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■P.17

Part 2

We want to bring smiles back to the faces of people who are still in a difficult circumstance.... This is the mission of the Center for Independent Living.

 

ALL FOR ONE, ONE FOR ALL.

 

Part 2’s content

CIL's Challenge: We do our best to protect the human rights.

Our blue T-shirts have the words “ALL for ONE, ONE for ALL” in them.

 

We are always mindful of the way we look at people who are still in the difficult circumstances, and we don't just end up living independently.

In this part 2, we introduce our various activities that CIL is engaged in.

 

 

■P.18

Independent Living Movement

- Living in the community, Communicating the value of Independent Living

 

The Independent Living Movement is to protect our rights to live freely, in our own way and in the community.

 

Regardless of the severity of our disabilities, we are committed to living in the community in our own way.

It is important not only to provide specific support for people who want to live independently, but also to make the community better and build a society where people can live together.

Now, we are taking three actions to tell the value of independent living.

 

You have only one life, decide for yourself and create your own life.　

3 Actions for INDEPENDENT LIVING

 

1.Support for the independent living, and community exchange

We support those who want to live independently so that they can live independently.

At the same time, since independent living is carried out in the community, it is important to have local exchange that promotes understanding of the local people. We regularly hold festivals and social gatherings, as well as stalls at local festivals.

 

2. Awareness-raising activities through the film

In order to convey the Independent Living Movement to a wide range of people, we have fully cooperated with its production, including appearing in “Independent Living,” a documentary film about the Independent Living Movement today, and have supported its screening activities.

 

3. Making the voices of the people with disabilities heard to the government

In order to live independently, it is necessary to inform the government about the specific time assistance how much we need, and what kind of discrimination is happening in reality, and to work to solve the problem.

We also negotiate with the government every year, and we get the opportunity to give the people with disabilities’ voices.

 

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