No One's Perfect by Hirotada Ototake, translated by Gerry Harcourt He was born in 1976 without legs, feet or hands, and some parents would have been dismayed to have him. Ototake's father did not show him to his mother until he was three weeks old, for fear she would be dismayed. She wasn't. Ototake's parents raised him to be himself, to see his differences as only that- differences. Ototake did not see himself as disabled until he was 20- his classmates, parents, and teachers allowed him to be himself, a normal kid. They found ways to include him- baseball included the Oto-chan rules, whereby Oto-chan could hit a homerun if the ball made it out of the infield. His favorite class was P.E. Oto-chan was popular, and his disability did not cause him to be teased or taunted. His childhood was the popular sort that many children only dream of. Unable to choose a profession, in college Ototake realized that there was one he was most suited for- barrier free access advocate. The inability to go places and do things because they were not wheelchair accessible or because those in wheelchairs were considered a burden had hampered Hirotada, and he began to speak against it.
On the back of this book is a box with
What people are saying, and one says, "Bless him for being so brave." This person has missed the point: Hirotada has not been brave. His life as a disabled person has not been heartbreaking, it has been a normal life. He does not feel disabled or disadvantaged. In his epilogue, Hirotada Ototake states,
It was to send this message-you don't have to be born perfect to be happy-that I chose the English title No One's Perfect. Some people are born able-bodied but go through life in dark despair. And some people, in spite of having no arms and no legs, go through life without a care. Disability has got nothing to do with it.
Gerry Harcourt has translated this book well; the Japanese flavor of Ototake's narrative is preserved, and the Japanese cultural differences are noted where needed, but for the most part the narrative goes on seemlessly.
Question: Ototake argues for inclusion of disabled people into mainstream activities. Is he right? Is there a difference in how people with different disabilities should be or whether they should be, mainstreamed?
Happy reading.
