- Social Majority Study : Co-creation of Communication Study
- Author and editor: AYAYA Satsuki
- Authors: Sawada Tadato, Fujino Hiroshi, Furukawa Shigetom,Bonot Mayumi, Uranot Shigeru, Asada Kosuke, Ogiue Chiki, Kumagaya Shinichiro
- Publisher: Kaneko Syobo (Japan)
Redefine the meaning of face-to-face communication under Covid-19 pandemic
At present, the world seems to shift its phase for Covid-19 pandemic, gradually resuming face-to-face activities. Under the circumstance, I have been thinking about the value of face-to-face communication. Are there any things that we have to meet physically….?
After reading this book, I re-assessed the value of face-to-face communication; I was amazed to find that a large part of communication was removed in on-line communication. Furthermore, the book argues that the rules of communication, which majority of people take for granted, are merely made by society. This notion was an eye opener for me.
Minority questions majority’s rules
Above all else, I was attracted by this unique viewpoint. The viewpoint of problems of handicapped people are mostly fixed to them. Even if “normal” people who are in the opposite side see the problems, the problems are unrelated to the “normal”: understanding them as own issue is difficult.
In this relationship between the handicapped and the “normal” society, the society’s rules are made with the standard of the majority of the “normal” people. Yet once this relationship is turned upside down, the rules of the “normal” and “ordinary” are merely made by the people there. A series of studies introduced in this book convinces readers of this point.
With this experience of reading, my perspective suddenly expanded. I began to feel the issues of the handicapped with ownership. It was a delightful moment of re-framing.
Mildly uncomfortable at first, but not painful
Each chapter is fulled with overwhelming amount of information in a rather compact text, in which gives me immersion. At times, when I began to feel the sheer amount of information as dis-comfortable, an illustration or a summary appears, which I can switch my attention at the right moment. It was like a stretching exercise: it should be mildly uncomfortable at first, but it should not be painful. Besides Q&A and a summary at the end of each chapter gives a chance to reflect the contents.
While the books is written by multiple authors, each chapter is in a similar degree of coherence and cohesion, which is also comfortable for readers.
Difficult to reassess the “normal” and “ordinary”
Having read this book, I was convinced that no “normal” or “ordinary” standard is absolutely right. Yet it is extremely difficult for the “normal” people change their perspective. I felt the significance of borrowing the perspective of the people of developmental disorder. In the process, the issue of the handicapped which had been felt as the other people’s issue was transformed to my own issue. When we observe human communication, this kind of understanding is an encouraging. ■