Choosing a Side

Takeharu Imai
Nov 4 · 2 min read

I have always thought that handicap and disability were synonyms, however, after learning that handicap is experienced by the society and the environment. I realized that I am also handicapped in certain situations.

I remember how when I was in my first year of college, I didn’t drink any alcohol. This was mainly because I was afraid of the consequences of breaking the Japanese law and because I wanted to stick with the oath of not drinking as a minor. However, not being able to drink alcohol as a college student made me handicapped, because it was societally and community accepted for college students to drink alcohol despite their age.

According to a data collected by Japan Academy of Public Health Nursing 59.2% out of 395 university students who are underaged drink alcohol. I believe that in certain universities like the university I belong to, drinking is even more prone due to the school traditions.

In many times, I would spend time alone while my friends were drinking at the dorm I live in. This prevented me from hanging out with my friends in many occasions. Although, I was the minority, I thought that people who drank underage were ignorant and were little minded of the possible consequences. However, I wanted to be apart of the drinking atmosphere at the same time. This is because handicap that is created by the environment and people around you makes a solitary atmosphere.

The greatest change that happened to me was when I transitioned from a handicapped to a non-handicapped when becoming twenty years old. I remember being excited as I was no longer restricted to the law and the oath I made; I remember being more apart of my friends and my fellow college students. However, as drinking became a habit and something less special, I started to forget about the time that I didn’t drink alcohol.

As a result, I would sometimes force other people to drink. This shows how when one is no longer in the handicapped cohort, one tends to completely separate them self from that group. In times, I lost sympathy for people who cannot drink and are handicapped, possibility putting them in a discomfortable situation.

This made me think twice of how we should respond to those who are handicapped; because you can be both the person who suffers from the segregating environment, but also the maker of the handicapped environment.