The Narratives of a Researcher with Disability as Interventions in Local Disability Policy-making.

Abstract

This study examined the role of the narratives of a researcher in a residents' meeting on municipal disability policy. The research focuses on sessions from 2013 to 2019 of a local meeting spanning approximately 20years in Yao City, Osaka, western Japan. As an advisory staff member and researcher, I recorded the meetings and analyzed them through the KJ method (a bottom-up qualitative procedure developed in Japan) and text mining. As a result, I suggested that the annual symposium should be an opportunity to promote people's awareness of disability issues. Appropriate topics for the symposium were considered to be the Disability Discrimination Act and the hardships experienced by people with disability following a disaster, because these covered various aspects of their lives. I asked them to respect the diversity of their disabilities. I also remarked that they could support people with and without disabilities during a disaster. I assert that my role was to promote awareness and narratives in members about aspects of themselves about which they were unaware, such as their potential roles as supporters. However, they gradually recognized the uncertainty and new difficulties, which generated productive narratives.