A Silent Voice: Disruption and the Careless Remedy
Have I ever mentioned that I am currently studying for my Bachelor of Social Work right now? I was actually just reading my textbook the other day and one section that popped up actually tackled the topic of 'disability'. And oh man, my heart melted with how much the ideas resonated with 'A Silent Voice'.
This story that Yoshitoki Oima wanted to tell is unbelievably messy; For Japan, a country that protects its social order, I would imagine that tackling issues of disability and bullying -- Two prominent factors of social disruption -- Would itself be disruptive. Many should know our author had to even fight for her story to be published, even needing the support of the Japanese Association of the Deaf. This is, euphemistically speaking, a delicate subject. And I do not even need to be a social worker for me to understand that every country needs to tread it carefully.
It is with this idea of 'delicateness' do I want to analyze 'A Silent Voice' today; More specifically, analyzing the most prominent scene of 'social disruption' -- When Shouko invaded the 6th grade class.
Disclaimer: So the scope of this essay will be incredibly narrow; So narrow in fact that I wouldn't even be touching a lot on Shouko herself. That is because this will not be the only essay I will be writing. In fact, you can rest assure that I have A TON of things to discuss for this manga/anime, and I will not shut up so long as I am still learning the theories and nuances of my profession. This can even be considered as my first long-term project in my blog, and I will pace myself for this marathon.
On the note of manga/anime, keep in mind that I will mostly refer to the manga due to its greater breadth in details, but I will incorporate screenshots and delineate towards the anime due to how much I loved Kyoani's portrayal as well.
Being Caring is Not as Easy as it Seems
An interesting social theory that we can consider when dealing with the special needs is the 'Lifespan Perspective'. A point that I read in my studies worth considering is this:
"Entry into school is an experience of disruption in the development process of the child and the family. The difficulties encountered will depend on the nature and/or the degree of willingness and flexibility of the environment to accommodate to the special needs."
I want to focus on the second point today, which is the flexibility of the environment to change for someone with a disability. The 'lifespan perspective' considers not just factors of how the environment influences the disabled, but also factors of how the disabled influences the environment. These can be broken down to a bunch of sub-groups; For example if we consider the marital and parental subsystem; How does the disabled influence the marriage of a couple and how does it influence their resources, their parenting style and their own emotional wellbeing? Another group more relevant for our discussion today is the extra-familial subsystem -- Consideration not just in the immediate family but towards the disabled's friends, school and community.
I have seen a few arguments that harbored disdain for the way Shouko was treated in her new class. Those arguments spoke of how Ishida and the rest of the kids were, for a lack of a better word, horrible and how the teachers were useless. I am not here to dispel that; In fact, I mostly agree on the incredible lack of empathy that was present in that environment. However I do want to take on a more nuanced discussion; Instead of classifying black-and-white, I want to consider the perspectives of the bullies and the otherwise useless teachers.
As much as we can say that it may be the responsibility of the rest to act for the social good, the thing is being caring is not as easy as it seems. And that is because Nishimiya is, unquestionably, a burden to everyone. In communicating with her, one has to slowly write it out alphabet by alphabet. Her act of initiating in group conversations disrupts it to begin with; Everyone can no longer just exchange casual banter and now have to pass a notebook around. Every time she raises her hand, the teacher has to provide special attention. Every activity that she participates in, namely the singing competition, she pulls the others down. She is even shown to have a parasitic relationship with others, especially on her 'buddy'. Her 'buddy', in my own unique term, is someone who is always beside her to care for her; The buddy needs to copy notes for her, take the time to translate all interactions and in a sense, be inseparable from the otherwise incredibly needy; The buddy holds a pivotal responsibility, one that is stressful and taxing -- In the class, that role fell to mainly two people; Ueno and Miyoko. It can't be understated then that the result of that is Ueno being an unwilling participant in something she couldn't persist with and Miyoko, having to suffer ostracism.
Now, are all these reasons enough to justify their bullying? Of course not. But personally if you ask me, these reasons do at least justify their discrimination. Shouko, to their eyes, is just some random girl that popped up one day and proceeded to throw their environment into disorder. Everything seemingly had to bend to her needs, from special treatment to heavy responsibilities. Their homeroom teacher had to give them lectures on 'morality' and described her as someone 'you have to deal with'. It is with her presence that an innocent girl had to even leave school. Shouko entered as a problem, and nobody expected the sheer social disruption a single girl could've caused.
Once again, that doesn't justify bullying. But honestly, who can blame 12 year old kids from being unable to understand that? A disability is not just a sensitive topic but it is a topic that many kids don't ever need to touch upon in their life. It is not as if their families have someone who requires special attention, nor are the streets filled with people of such. It is even with the rarity of interacting with the special needs does most schools leave its education for the distant future, or if any at all. This shouldn't be confused with something like "respect the unfortunate and take care of the elderly" type of moral education. This has to be lessons that are highly specific; Dealing with someone who is blind for example is very different from dealing with the deaf. To communicate with Shouko effectively, it isn't just being "nice", but learning all the big stuff like an entire language, to the smallest details like tapping on a railing to acquire her attention. When it comes down to those specifics, even the kindest soul may be left scratching their heads.
It is because of my profession now can I confidently say that I will help Shouko. But if I consider the 'me' when I was 16 years old, I will say that I will probably just be like Ueno; Someone who initially cared but soon gets overwhelmed and disinterested. I will not pretend that I have the moral capacity to care enough here, and I think no one should ever judge another's moral capacity until they themselves are faced with the same responsibilities; Let alone that of 6th graders.
Being Caring Requires Professionals
A possible point of contention would be the teachers. Shouldn't they be held accountable to their posts? After all, it is and has to be the teacher's responsibility to take care of their students; It is inescapable. I agree to a large extent, but I will begin to draw a line when it comes to 'special needs students'. As I have mentioned before, communicating with them requires a lot of effort. Afterwards, you may even need to burden the responsibility of care, just like Ueno and Miyoko. Now imagine this responsibility but amplified to an entire class of students.
Integrating someone with special needs is highly complex; You need to care not just about the child with the disability, but how he/she affects the rest of the students. A common concern in the sibling sub-system is that the parents would neglect giving the rest of their children attention in favor of the special needs; And that in itself is dangerous as a normal child already posts enough of their own problems. While it isn't expected of Takeuchi Sensei to baby the rest of his students; I think the sentiment still runs parallel -- He has an entire class to care about, not just one needy girl.
Even if he is shown to be extremely enthusiastic in such a mission, it should be noted that his aptitude has to be questioned next. For such an example we can just look at Kita Sensei. She was extremely enthusiastic about trying to integrate Shouko into the class. However her methods revealed how amateurish she was; She tried to include her into the singing competition, which itself became a catalyst for extreme bullying; And she tried to force sign language onto all the students, which she herself was neither knowledgeable or a good role model for.
While Takeuchi Sensei might have prioritized the rest of the class over Shouko, it can be said that Kita Sensei prioritized Shouko too much. As I have prefaced, understanding the dynamics of the environment is just as important as understanding the special needs. A failure to do so can lead to a case when she tried to applaud Miyoko for volunteering. The repercussions of that were that a few students begun viewing Miyoko as a sycophant and bullied her. Because she failed to understand the potential dynamics of 6th graders, she failed to anticipate such a reaction. Imagine a different approach; She, instead of forcing sign language, simply asked for volunteers, didn't play up the 'specialness' of such a treatment and said: "Those interested in sign language just find me at the office after class".
A point of contention would of course be that I possess hindsight that is 20/20. I don't disagree. However without coming off as overly critical, Kita Sensei fails on some level to understand that normalcy cannot be forced, neither upon the rest of the students nor on the special needs themselves. She argued with Ueno that she was just "finding a reason to be unhappy" regarding the sign language; Her mindset of approaching the delicate issue is while more benign, exactly the same as Takeuchi Sensei: "Its just something you have to deal with".
There are much more complex considerations to be had as well. When I say that 'normalcy' can't be forced, I am talking about on Shouko as well. It has to be acknowledged that regardless of how necessary it is to make the special needs feel 'normal', it should not be done so haphazardly. Shouko will never be able to sing properly. That is an undeniable fact of her biology; And it is because of that that she shouldn't just be shoved into a singing competition. It may have been done with good intentions, however the reality of such is carelessly burdening Shouko with the animosity of her entire class. While the need to include her is important, it shouldn't take precedence over the bigger picture; Making the class accept her presence.
Well-meaning intentions, if done carelessly, can even cause more harm than good. It is with this logic do I want to say that being kind isn't easy. Moreover, being kind to someone who has a disability is incredibly hard. So hard in fact that there are countless professionals out there doing research and gathering data; Countless sociologists crafting complex theories, frameworks and guidelines; Files upon files of cases, anomalies and factors to sift through and test; And with so much professionals invested in the field, a single social worker will still find it hard-pressed to handle a single family with special needs, let alone dozen others. This is not the duty for a teacher who is neither well-equipped with resources nor knowledgeable on the intricacies of social dynamics to handle.
I want to shine a light on just how many factors a social worker might need to consider when dealing with someone of the special needs; Take for example, even before Shouko steps into the class, numerous preparations already will be done. They will first give briefings and memos to the teachers involved; Telling them of the possible challenges that may prop up and which resources they can consult to resolve them. For the students, it is less of a lecture of "deal with it" or "morality" but more of a need to emotionally prep the students as well; They will inform them on the possible assistances Shouko may need. They may even encourage them to do so, maybe through telling them a little about Shouko and her hobbies etc. There will be a need to choose a 'buddy' as well, someone who actively volunteers to help. This will allow people like Miyoko to be the first point of contact instead of Ueno who was an unwilling participant. Afterward, the social worker will work very closely with the buddy to make Shouko feel accepted. Let's not forget that the class dynamic has to be closely monitored as well; How has things change, are people receptive of Shouko? Which individual shows uncomfortableness towards her presence?
There is a heap of things that a social worker has to do. It is for such a copious task does special needs school exist after all; They are built and catered specifically to respond to all the needs of people with disabilities, rather than forcing the entire school to warp and change themselves for a single student. It is for that reason why I am skeptical about Shouko transferring to a normal school as well, rather than a dedicated SPED school. The help of professionals with adequate resources is less of a luxury but a necessity.
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