Understanding by Dividing, Understanding by Connecting: A Mini Book Review of "Yasei no Shisso" (Kohei Inose)
Kohei Inose's “Yasei no Shisso” (Wild Dash/Disappearance) (Mishimasha, first edition published November 20, 2023) was a learning experience. It is a book in which an anthropologist thinks "together" with his older brother, who has autism and an intellectual disability. It was a book that cherished a unique "in-between" space, reflected in a title that uses the ambiguous term "shisso"—which could mean disappearance, a dash, or something else entirely.
The central theme is the author's brother suddenly running away from home and going somewhere. Objectively speaking, this is the disappearance of a person with a disability. But the author interprets it differently: it is his brother starting to run, racing through this world—in other words, a dash.
Changing how we perceive things in this way. Shifting our perspective. That is the lesson I was able to glean from this book.
What remains in my memory is one person's interpretation of the brother's characteristic of suddenly letting out loud voices (when viewed from the perspective of a neurotypical person).
"He lets out a loud voice when he feels anxious because there are strangers around. He calms his heart by listening to his own voice. I used to do that when I was little, so I understand it well."
There was no tension in that tone, loosened by alcohol. However, everyone listened intently to those words. Even those who had been looking at the brother with puzzlement now had convinced expressions on their faces.
After a brief pause, the owner continued.
"Well, I don't know what the truth is, though."
When he said that and laughed, the brother also laughed, "Hehehe."
This is different from answering the question "Why does he shout?" by saying, "Because he has a disability." If you bring up a disability as the reason, while it may explain the situation, it takes on the appearance of a certain kind of division. Saying, "It can't be helped" because there is a disability. Saying that he and I are different.
Instead, this person (the owner) perceives it as "wanting to feel at ease by listening to his own voice," just as he himself once did. Trying to interpret it that way.This way of answering makes it possible to connect the brother and the owner, transcending the divide between disability and neurotypical (non-disabled) status.
Of course, as the owner admitted, we don't know if the brother really wants to feel at ease by listening to his own voice. We don't know, but this way of thinking carries a faint kindness that does not make the brother and the owner "different things." It might be meddlesome, or perhaps an unwanted favor.
I thought this was related to the "provisional understanding" written about in a book by a specialist I read previously.
A provisional understanding is not the correct answer. It is not accurate either. But once we have a provisional understanding in hand, we gain a clue for staying and engaging with someone with whom we cannot easily communicate.
Living with a disability can also be called a "series of negative forms." A series of ruptures and divisions. As long as the majority of people living in this world are non-disabled and neurotypical, that is an oppression that is difficult to avoid. The book also describes this in various places.
There are people who hesitate to go out on public transportation with a child with an intellectual disability who cannot sit still because they are worried about the eyes of those around them—even before anyone says anything, their actions are restricted. They are chased by paperwork to receive welfare services. Before they know it, they begin to control their own desires so as not to be criticized by those around them.
People with disabilities and their families end up suppressing themselves and isolating themselves. Inevitably.
But there is a different way of being, as the owner showed.It resides in a certain kind of stubbornness that refuses to dismiss a "shisso" simply as a disappearance.
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