Hello. I am Luna's father, I would like to express what I have come to think from my contact with my son Luna.

    Luna was born severely premature, with congenital gastroschisis (inflammation of the stomach wall). Our obstetrician told us that there was a 90% chance he would not make it. In the two weeks after his birth, he underwent surgery three times. The stress caused an accumulation of fluid in his brain, and the pressure due to this resulted in damage to his brain. So from the beginning, he started out with far less compared to a normal child. Even then, in the beginning, despite his extremely small size, his appearance was that of a baby, so he did not appear to have any disabilities. Most importantly, after being given a 90% probability of not surviving, we were happy that he could live on. We did not think too seriously, and even though he was developing more slowly, we hoped that he would someday catch up with normal children.
    However, when he reached the age of two but still could not sit up, we started to become aware of reality. We thought we could not go on in the same way. Then, we encountered a certain book. It was written by Dr. Glenn Doman, and was a chronicle of his treatment of a brain-injured child. We started some programs from the Doman Method, thinking that no matter how small the chances were, we wanted Luna to get even a little better. The Doman Method program involved not only exercise of the physical aspect but also the health and intelligence aspects.
    In the intelligence program, the child is shown cards with words and sentences written in large characters, and images as facts, which were called "bits". "Images as facts" refers to -- for example for dogs, we show the child photographs or illustrations of an English pointer, a Dalmatian, a Doberman pinscher, a greyhound and an Irish setter. These comprise the input.
    The output consists of things such as speaking out, but as a brain-injured child has breathing difficulties, he cannot speak his intentions easily as he intends. In some cases, it is even hard for him to make a vocal sound.
    Here, a method called Facilitated Communication is used. Facilitated Communication is to use certain means to make the understanding of intention easier. If the subject cannot verbalize, then perhaps he can use a word processor, or even point at a syllable chart, a sheet of paper on which letters or characters are written. Some children write characters in the air with their fingers. In any case, it is a technique that makes communication easier.

    Through Facilitated Communication, we can catch a glimpse of the inner world of brain-injured children who did not have an appropriate means for output even if they had been receiving input. In many cases, we learn the difference between how we see them from the outside and what is really inside the children.

The case of Luna
    Luna first underwent Facilitated Communication at the age of five. Until then, he had made various utterances and noises, but because of his breathing difficulty it was not proper Japanese, so we, the parents, could not comprehend them as clear words. Even when we showed him books, we did not know if he was looking at them or not. We did not know if it was fun for him or if it was boring. We were not certain he really understood what was going on. When someone is having fun, his facial expression shows happiness, and when he is bored, it shows boredom. So if a book was interesting to Luna, we expected him to show through his facial expression that he was enjoying it. Because the facial expression we were expecting did not come, we did not know whether he understood or not.
    Later on, Luna said, "I had a consciousness even before I knew words." He says he had read all the vocabulary cards and books we showed him, and had a grasp of everything that happened around him, even before he was taught letters. Not knowing that, in the five years until then, we had treated Luna as "a child who did not understand anything" and we have nothing but deep regret for this. He describes that period as "the five years of silence".

The case of J
    J was an orphan. Couples who want children go to an orphanage and pick for adoption the child they are most attracted to. But because J was wall-eyed, they said you could tell at a glance that the child had a physical impairment. So no couple ever picked him.
    Then the hand of God reached out. Several months later, an American minister and his wife stopped before this child who used to just watch people pass him by. Later on, he said, "Before that, no one ever took me in their arms." He had been conscious even during that period.

The case of Y
    You could not tell just by looking at Y if he had a disability or not. However, he had difficulty breathing, so he could not utter words easily. Even when he tried to speak, it did not result in proper output, so to others, he seemed like a child who did not reply even when you spoke to him. Once he expressed his breathing difficulty this way : "My breathing in the late afternoon was the worst, and it was so painful that I anticipated death. The more I tried to live, the more painful it was, and all the little baby that I was could do was to cry out to my mother for help."

The case of T
    T was also one who suffered heavily from the gap between his own inner being and how he appeared to others. He also had difficulty breathing, and could not speak properly. Through Facilitated Communication, he said : "I can read quickly, but many people think I can't read much. Some people think I don't know anything. Because I have no strength, I cannot let them know."

    The above are extreme examples of brain-injured children. Because brain-injured children have difficulty breathing, they cannot move their bodies or speak the way they would like. Because of this, because they do not display gestures/facial expressions that indicate their intelligence and can be understood by people around them, people think they do not know anything.

    Luna is judged to be mentally impaired. That diagnosis was reached in this way : For example, they had blocks that were round/triangular/square, and a board with holes where the round/triangular/square blocks fit. He was told to put the round block in the round hole and the square block in the square hole. Even at the age of six, Luna could not do this, so he was judged to be mentally impaired. Because Luna has difficulty breathing, his body is stiff, and it is difficult for him to move his body according to his own will. Even though he knows very well that the round block goes in the round hole, he cannot actually move his own hand to put it in. The fact that at six he could not do as he was told resulted in his being judged as mentally impaired.
    Even if you tell a normal person to run 100 meters in ten seconds, they would not be able to do it, unless they were an Olympic athlete. They would understand what is being asked. But they would not be able to run that fast. But when they cannot run 100 meters in ten seconds as they are told, they are judged to be mentally impaired. It's just like that. It should not be called a test of mental impairment but one of physical disability.

    I have raised several concrete examples, and as extreme ones, I have presented the cases of brain-injured children. This was because it was the easiest way to show the gap between a person's inner mind and the way they appear to others. Children who are thought to know nothing actually have consciousness even before education. This goes for normal children, too. They are looked down upon as having lower intelligence than adults because their ability to express, their output, is undeveloped. The problem lies in the output. Children are not their parents' accessories. Even if they are related by blood, even if their faces look alike, they are separate individuals who have different personalities from their parents. It is important to have the heart to respect this fact. Age, gender, nationality, social position -- none of these matter. There is no need to have an arrogant attitude and look down at any person, and neither is there any need to put oneself down and put on a fake plastic smile. We just need to always see every person as an individual with an independent personality. Because all people are equal.

    Thank you.

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