Student club aile shares joys of learning with people with disabilities at 1st Open Heart Campus

Official student club aile hosted the 1st Open Heart Campus at Science Tokyo’s Yushima Campus on May 17. The aim of the project was to provide opportunities for people with severe mental and physical disabilities who dream of going to university to experience the campus environment and interact with friends of the same age.

Six participants, all in their 20s, attended the event. They arrived at Science Tokyo in wheelchairs and were warmly welcomed by members of aile. After receiving their handmade student ID cards and attending an entrance ceremony, they participated in a lecture with Science Tokyo students. Instructing them was Yuta Watanabe, a 1st-year master’s student in Systems and Control Engineering who gave a lecture on light using polarizers and spectroscope sheets. Following the lecture, the participants were tasked with the exercise of creating kaleidoscopes. The “new Science Tokyo members” looked nervous at first, but their expressions gradually relaxed and they enjoyed interacting with students from the Institute.

During the event, respective caregivers provided various forms of medical care to the participants, while Dr. Toshiki Ohya, the head of the Kamisagi Kids Clinic, supervised, creating a safe and comfortable environment.

Many participants said that they truly enjoyed the event and wanted to come back for more learning. The families of the participants also expressed their warm thanks to the students who organized the event.

Members of aile were also pleased. “Through the experience of the lecture on light, I felt that this was not only a learning experience and a visual stimulus for the participants, but also a good opportunity for everyone to think about how we can communicate in a way that is easy to understand, how we can share our feelings together, and how we can learn about each other,” one member commented.

Attending university is not always an option for people with severe mental and physical disabilities. The goal of aile's activities is to facilitate opportunities for such people to visit university campuses, interact with young adults of the same age, and create a meaningful time for each other.

aile currently consists mainly of students from Science Tokyo's School of Engineering, Faculty of Dentistry, and Faculty of Medicine. It also includes a diverse group of international students, and students from Ochanomizu University and the University of Tokyo. The student club will continue to plan and hold more Open Heart Campuses in the future.

• At first, I was slightly worried about how to communicate with our new friends, but through this event, I felt that we became close. After attending the lecture, selecting kaleidoscope designs, and writing our reactions on paper together, I realized that the participants communicated their intentions through eye movements, hand movements, and slight changes in facial expressions.
• I felt that students could learn a lot from attending lectures together. When I was younger, I had almost no opportunity to interact with classmates with disabilities because classes were either divided or in different schools. Initially, I was anxious about communication, but through these activities, I felt that the more we could meet, the more natural we would become. Through the experience of the lecture on light, I felt that this was not only a learning experience and a visual stimulus for the participants, but also a good opportunity for everyone to think about how we can communicate in a way that is easy to understand, how we can share our feelings together, and how we can learn about each other.
• I was struck by the brightest expressions I had ever seen on the participants’ faces when they first set foot on campus, and when they met students of the same age for the first time.
• I learned that there are many ways to communicate. If you pay more attention to the other person, you will often notice things you did not see before.
• I am happy that we were able to create a place of learning together!

• Science Tokyo Fund
• aile (Japanese)