全国優勝スピーチ “The Disabled” / 全英連第8回全国高等学校英語スピーチコンテスト (National English Speech Contest)

全英連第8回全国高等学校英語スピーチコンテスト
優勝・文部科学大臣賞受賞スピーチ
"The Disabled”
I have a short arm. How would you describe me? I think most of you would call me a “障害者”. Which means “a person with a disability”. I have always been called this since I was born. But why do I have to be called that? I think many people think a person with an impairment is a person with a disability. But I think this is wrong. For example, my impairment is my short arm but this is not my disability. I can study, I can ride a bike, I can swim, and I can tie my hair perfectly, I can do anything by myself. Then, why do I have to be called “a person with disability”? I am completely able!!
In England, a person with an impairment is called a “disabled person”. There I came to know that there are mainly two disability models: the "individual model" and the "social model". The "individual model" locates the 'problem' of a disability within the individual. I think most of you are familiar with the idea of the "individual model", but how about the "social model"? I think many of you haven't heard of it before, but I believe it's very important to know about it as it will help you better understand what a "disability" is. The "social model" is an idea that is starting to become popular in England and is based on the idea that it is society that makes people disabled and not their impairments. You might wonder how a society makes someone disabled. But please think about it. Have you ever been to a foreign country and couldn’t make yourself understood? Then you were “disabled” in that society. Those who are wearing glasses or contact lenses, you would have been disabled without those inventions. And if there weren’t any stairs or steps, a person on a wheelchair would not be “disabled”. I agree with the idea of the "social model". So, what exactly is "society"? It's people. That means we may be the one to create disabilities.
As I said at the beginning, I can do anything by myself. But there are some things which make me feel disabled. I feel disabled when people stare at me, when people label me as disabled without knowing me. When I was nine years old, I went to a swimming club to join a swimming class for racing but they didn't allow me to join the class. They said I could only join the class specially set for the disabled. They just saw my short arm and thought I couldn't swim like everyone else when I actually could. That was when I felt disabled for the first time in my life. The swimming club made me disabled.
Now I'm a swimmer and I recently came back from the Asian Para Games held in Incheon. I won two silver and two bronze medals. So if you are not able to swim, I can teach you how, then you will no longer be "disabled" in the sea.
I am aiming to take part in the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games and I hope this game will be a great success. As you know, the London 2012 was an amazing success. I think this was brought by the non-disabled people's understanding of Paralympic athletes. How many non-disabled will be a real advocate for "SHOUGAISHA"? I think this will be a very important factor for Tokyo 2020 to have the kind of success London 2012 had.
I hope you came to understand the idea of the "social model" and start to look at disability from a new perspective. So with only 5 years left until Tokyo 2020, I hope this idea spreads. I think the important thing is not to judge people without knowing them and try to know and to accept that everyone is deferent and special in their own way. If society is the one that's making people disabled, society can also be the one to stop making them disabled.
…
Mei Ichinose Instagram
/ mei_ichinose
Edited by Jinya Nishijima
/ nishijimajinya
一ノ瀬メイ／Mei Ichinose
1997年京都府生まれ
1歳半から水泳を始め、史上最年少13歳でアジア大会に出場。2016リオデジャネイロパラリンピックでは8種目に出場し、現在も7種目の日本記録を保持。現役引退後は障害やヴィーガンに関する情報を積極的に共有し、自分や社会、地球にとって心地の良い生き方を体現・発信している。

[@manuketakashi5143]

まさに当事者なの強すぎだろ

[@markcrilley]

A wonderful speech, very powerful and enlightening, and so perfectly delivered!

[@user-fx5st7fe6j]

一ノ瀬さんと同じ欠損症の娘がいます。現在小学一年生です。
障害（と呼ばせてもらいます）を理由に保育園に入園拒否をされた事、心の育ってない小学生に「そのオバケ、You Tubeで金儲けに使えるじゃん！おじさん良かったね」と言われた事。
不愉快になった事なんて数え切れません。
社会には少数ではあるものの確実に差別が存在します。
そのような人達と接する事は娘にとって糧になると思いませんが、このスピーチを聞いて発信する事の大切さに気付かされました。
今後も指標にさせていただくとともに、活動応援しています(^^)
駄文失礼痛しました。

[@mei_ichinose]

コメントありがとうございます！
娘さんがハッピーなことを心から願っています。
少しずつしか変化は起こせないかもしれないけど、少しずつでも前に進み続けることが自分を守ってもくれると感じています。
娘さんが自分の素晴らしさを理解し、自分を大切にし続けられますように☺️
きっとこんな素敵なお父さんがおられるから大丈夫ですね✨

[@onigiriponko2_88]

伝説のスピーチ動画UP有難う御座います。😊
メイさんがなんでも出来るのはショート動画で証明済です。もっと、もっと社会が優しくなって欲しいですね。

[@3moe26]

初めてコメントさせていただきます🥹
すごくグッとくるスピーチで6分間見入っていました⭐️
このスピーチは大人だけじゃなく、子供たちにもぜひ聴いていただきたいな〜と思いました😊
これからもご活躍を応援しています📣

[@mei_ichinose]

嬉しいです。ありがとうございます！！

[@mei_ichinose]

@@3moe26 ありがとうございます！嬉しいです😌✨