Disability, stigma, and development: A Japanese case study

1. Disability, stigma, and development: A Japanese case study Misa Kayama & Wendy Haight School of Social Work University of Minnesota, Twin Cities

2. “Disability” is a cultural concept • Conditions that impair physical and mental functioning are universal. • Cultural variations: • What conditions are to be considered “disabilities” • e.g., definitions of disabilities • How societies/people respond to such conditions • e.g., available services/accommodations

3. Japanese category of “Developmental disabilities” • Caused by deficits in brain functioning • Not caused by environmental deprivation or mental retardation • Symptoms are present from early childhood • High functioning autism & Asperger’s syndrome • Specific learning disabilities • Attention deficit hyperactivity disorders (ADHD) • Disabilities involving language, etc. • Different from clinical diagnostic criteria in the U.S.

4. Why study Japan? • Importance of Japanese cultural perspective • Group orientation • Holistic education • Education in peer groups • Minimize stigmatization of individuals with milder disabilities • Almost no research published in English on special education • New formal educational support began in 2007 • Shift in perspectives on children who are “difficult” or “slow learners” • “Japanized” practices borrowed from other countries

5. A child with a developmental disability • Full member of a peer group, family, and community • Interpersonal challenges with peers • Ability to make friends • Challenges in learning certain academic skills • Reading • Writing • Reasoning • Math calculation, etc. • At risk of secondary disabilities

6. Sociocultural model of disability • Disability is “created” through the interactions of children with disabilities and others • Beliefs, norms, and expectations at school • Relationships with educators and their peers • Negative/positive reactions to children’s struggles • Meanings of “disabilities” change over time • Cultural beliefs are a tool to understand/describe children’s “world” at school • Outsider & insider perspectives

7. Research Questions • What are the socialization beliefs and practices of Japanese educators pertaining to children with developmental disabilities? • What are the perspectives of Japanese parents of children with developmental disabilities? • What are the understandings and experiences of Japanese children with developmental disabilities?

8. Methods:Ethnography • Policy review • Greenleaf Elementary School • Case studies of 3 children with disabilities • Dai: 3rd grade, Yusuke: 5th grade, Kakeru: 2nd grade • Individual interviews • Children with disabilities, parents, and educators • Participant observations • General education classrooms • Challenge Room (special support room) • Rainbow Room (special education classroom) Playground

9. Attitudes & beliefs about disability • Adults’ descriptions of children’s disabilities focused on the children’s social and educational functioning in peer groups rather than the neurological aspect of their disabilities. • “Being different” can be a source of stigma • “This is the society where you are called ‘stranger’ if you are a little different from others.”

10. Dai’s mother: Sensitivity to “difference” • Dai’s mother has accepted that Dai has a disability, but it took nearly a year until she accepted Dai’s special needs. • I didn’t think it was necessary to pull him out, because he’s been doing well “normally.” • A teacher’s observation: It seems that she doesn’t like to talk to me on the 1st floor [hallway], I mean, she looks away, so may be she doesn’t like [other people to find] her talking with me [because they will] find out that her child is different from others

11. Educators’ socialization practices • Educators tried to avoid stigmatizing children • Support provided to children with disabilities is embedded in their social contexts • “Raise” other children: Acceptance and awareness • Involve peers in support for children with additional needs • Create supportive environment • Facilitate children’s voluntary learning • Help parents to accept their children’s special needs

12. 1st grade classroom teacher: “Raising other children” • This teacher explained to children about their peer’s disability using a metaphor, a cup of tolerance. • Someone has a large cup, but there is someone who has a small cup. We can’t change the size of our cups easily. So, there is a person who wants to “tolerate” but can’t. • It was a child with ADHD …When the child melted down or got upset, other children said, his cup had overflowed.

13. Dai: Home-like environment • Classroom teachers make an effort to create classrooms where children with disabilities are welcomed and able to participate by involving their peers. • Mrs. K explained to children that she wanted to make their classroom like their “home,” where children say, “Okaeri-nasai (Welcome back)”, and Dai says, “Tadaima (I’m back).” 3rd grade classroom

14. Kakeru: Transition to the Rainbow Room • He noticed that he had been working with “300”% of his ability/energy. • Special interests of bugs: Source of pride & motivation • A boy [entering classroom, and addressing children]: “I have a question to Kakeru. Can you teach me the name of the crab you found the other day?” • Kakerusaid the name immediately. [After they left] • Ms. A [to Kakeru]: “You know very well!”

15. Yusuke: The worlds of play and study • World of play where he re-connected with peers • Play motivated him to cope with hardships • Yusuke was the first one who pretended to be a train driver. Since then, other children began to recognize the tricycle as a train. • When he was alone, he still was a train driver and drove around the room. Yusuke’s “train”

16. Yusuke’s mother: Safe environment • Educators guide parents to accept their children’s disabilities and special needs. • I thought I didn’t have anything to talk with a psychologist about at first. They knew what to do. Mrs. S [a school nurse] told Mrs. J [a psychologist] to help me. It started like that, and then she called me and arranged that I was able to make an appointment, naturally. • Mrs. S and his classroom teacher [in his 4th grade], all of them made a route for me to go to see Mrs. J.

17. What we can learn from the Japanese case • Stay close to children’s kokoro (hearts/minds) • Sensitivity to children’s emotional and intellectual readiness for change • Create a supportive social ecology • Use peer group membership as a tool to intervene and facilitate the development of all children • Guide parents to accept their children’s special needs voluntarily Minimizing stigmatization

18. Strengths and limitations Strengths • Insider and outsider perspectives • Dual roles as a teaching assistant and a researcher • My wheelchair as a tool to initiate relationships Weaknesses • General sensitivity to differences • Limited variability of participants • Interviewing children and parents

19. Yusuke’s Graduation Ceremony

20. For more information… Japanese socialization and educational practices at elementary school • Kayama, M. & Haight, W. (2012). Cultural sensitivity in the delivery of disability services to children: A case study of Japanese education and socialization. Children and Youth Services Review, 34, 266-275. Children’s experiences and perceptions of disabilities/special education • Kayama, M. & Haight, W. (in press). The experiences of Japanese elementary-school children living with “developmental disabilities”: Navigating peer relationships. Qualitative Social Work