■If locked up in a restroom…

When I was visiting Manila school for the Deaf in Sweden, I was involved in a horrible predicament. To tell you the truth, I was locked up in a restroom.

I had an uneasy feeling when I was going into the restroom. But seeing Ms. Akahori, who is also Deaf, come out without any trouble, I didn’t think twice. Alas, my premonition came true.

Let me reprint what Ms. Oka wrote, since she was also with me at that time.

A Deaf Person Gets Locked Up in a Toilet (by Ms. Norie Oka)

A Deaf person got locked up in a restroom. I knew there was someone inside, but I was at a loss of what to do in order to reach the Deaf person inside. So, I asked another Deaf person, who was with us, for help.

Seeing that the person inside was desperately turning the doorknob, the person outside did the same thing from outside. This way, the person inside realizes that there is someone outside who is aware of the situation, and that there is a person locked inside. It means that help is near.

Judging from the circumstances, a Deaf teacher of the school asked first of all, “Is the person inside deaf or hearing?” Knowing that the person inside was deaf, she immediately called a janitor to open the door with a screwdriver.

After a while, the door opened. Actually, the door could have opened if pushed and turned at the same time. We could have communicated by writing if there had been an opening of about one centimeter under the door. After all, it is a school for the Deaf.

It turned out that they have been having problems with that door for some time. Good grief! The person inside has not had much luck with restrooms her entire life.

Well, that unfortunate person in the restroom was me.

That hearing person, who was with me, seemed to have realized that the person who was locked up might be me, Kimura. Without knowing what to do, since I was inside, and without letting me know that “help was soon to come”, she went to get Ms. Akahori who was chatting with a Deaf teacher. In the meanwhile I was sweating with fear (literally) thinking I might be locked in the toilet for good. I felt my heart pound quickly.

After all, Ms. Akahori is “Deaf”. She knew exactly what to do first and she turned the doorknob. When I saw the doorknob turn in front of my eyes, I genuinely felt myself come to life again. At least it was certain that someone outside knew my existence. It must have been only a few minutes, but it felt like forever to me. I wouldn’t mind dying from unavoidable disasters such as big earthquakes, plane crashes and so forth. However, I refuse to die because of an accident in a restroom.

A Deaf is a person who sees, not a person who hears. Therefore, under the circumstances where a man of eye has a hard time grasping the situation outside, a man of eye can easily figure out what to do first in order to reassure a Deaf and can act instinctively. How about a hearing person?

I gave it another thought and realized that it is important for those hearing people who want to communicate with the Deaf to expand their imagination so that they can simulate the man of eye’s world and understand their views.

For example, I believe those hearing people who “knock on the door” of the room where only the Deaf people are inside, to be with poor imagination. They can’t see that those whom they wish to communicate with, don’t hear.

The Deaf, a man of eye needs to let the hearing people know and understand how the Deaf structure their world, otherwise a man of ear will never understand a man of eye. In short, I think making efforts reciprocally is indispensable.

* Translated from the e-magazine of September 18, 2006 (# 078)