"Bookman Mark: A Call to Action"(English)

On Sunday, February 25, I attended the Sophia University premiere of "Bookman Mark: A Call to Action" at the Yotsuya Campus of Sophia University.

I am ashamed to say that until today, I had never heard of Mr. Bookman Mark.

He passed away suddenly on December 16, 2022 at the young age of 31. After graduating from Villanova University in the U.S., he received his master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Pennsylvania, and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Tokyo College (It was established by the University of Tokyo to provide a place where leading researchers and intellectuals from around the world are invited to come and learn with all citizens.) from 2021 to 2022.

He studied disability rights, movements, and policies not only in the U.S. and Japan, but globally.

For a long time, civil rights and survival rights for people with disabilities have been repeatedly improved by many activists and others, but while they were effective for some people with disabilities, they meant nothing to many people with disabilities.

He has struggled to pursue its fundamental content and put an end to it. He worked not only for local governments, public administrations, and corporations, but also as a consultant for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics, and as a disability policy consultant for the United Nations.

A film depicting his life was shown, and I was convinced that what is needed as a disability leader is something that attracts many people and a strong ability to communicate.

In short, it is not enough to make one-sided appeals for various rights.

After the premiere screening, Mr. Bookman Mark's real father, Paul, his stepmother, Wasna Dabbagh, and Osamu Nagase, who is active in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, were there and I asked them the following questions.

Me: As "Nothing about us without us" says, it is obviously necessary for people with disabilities to be at the center of final decisions, but what are the actions that are absolutely necessary for the process to reach that point in Japan?

Mr. Nagase: You already have connections within the company that should be leveraged.

Me: I could tell from the movie that Mark-san had something that attracted many people. After all, a leader with a disability must have something that engages others, right?

Ms. Wasna: That's right. If people are not interested, they will pass by unnoticed.

Me: I would have liked to have met Mark-san.

At the end of the day, I shook hands strongly with Mr. Paul and Ms. Wasna and left for home.

For more information on Mr. Bookman Mark, please refer to the following website where Mr. Tadashi Haneda, President of Tokyo College, has written an article.

https://www.tc.u-tokyo.ac.jp/weblog/8301/

You can also check Mr. Mark's research at the following website.

https://bookmanresearch.com/ (English only)

Sophia University Building #2 at Yotsuya Campus