Dissa Ahdanisa's Stories

My dad had stroke 7 years ago, and still is on his way to recover, so he needs cane to support him walking. I am currently in my last month of pregnancy so I may not be able to walk too long, climbing stairs and have to use the restroom frequently (yes, no shame!) . Two of us travelled together with 7 other members of my family, including my husband, for a week around Beppu and Yufuin. My parents, my brothers and my sister in law flew from Indonesia to visit us here. So we planned everything accordingly. However, over the course of one week, we experienced traveling in a whole different level. The visit of my family gets me to think, how accessible Beppu really is for people with special needs. 1. Accessible Toilet - Location matters! Sometimes when we think of travelers with special needs or with disability, we tend to think of ramp and accessibility for wheelchair users. However, after traveling with my dad, I realize it is more than that. My dad walks using cane, thus ...

Fingertalk team, represented by the founder Dissa Ahdanisa, won the first prize, Grand Prix, of Asahi Shimbun annual Daigaku SDGs Action Awards in Tokyo on 20 February 2019. After passing the first round of document application, Fingertalk, representing Ritsumeikan Asia Pacific University, was selected to be one of 12 finalists.  As suggested by its name, the competition was open to undergraduate, graduate students and researchers from universities all around Japan to come up with ideas that will help achieving any of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The goals cover areas such as poverty eradication, high quality education and social justice. Accordingly, finalists ideas ranged from providing educational program for young Japanese students to creating affordable and portable toilet for underprivileged communities in Southeast Asia. Dissa presented Fingertalk most recent project, Plushindo. It empowers underprivileged Deaf community by creati...

I love learning sign languages because of how diverse they are. Sign languages also use facial expressions, gestures and body movement. Although I am not an expert and nowhere near the interpreter level, I am always interested in learning more and more words in sign language. Since I am now in Japan, I have been very lucky to have several opportunities to learn about Japanese Sign Language (JSL) or 手話 (literally means ‘hand talk’!) while also shared my story about Fingertalk with local communities! 1. Hirumachi Nihongo in Beppu “Hirumachi Nihongo” is a monthly activity in Beppu to bring people of Beppu together. It creates a place where people, especially international students, can practice their Japanese language skill with the local citizen of this hot spring city. The gathering has different theme every month, and last year’s December theme was “shuwa” or Japanese sign language. I was invited by my Japanese sensei to come and share my story with Fingertalk. Of course...

Last Wednesday, 16 January 2019, I had the honor to speak at TEDxAPU with other inspiring speakers. The talks topics range from mental health, self-esteem, social media to inclusion for people with disability. I had the honor to share my story about turning the values I am raised with and influenced by, into an idea that make a difference, Fingertalk. The best part is, I was able to deliver the talk in front of both hearing and Deaf audience. Yes, for the very first time ever, TEDxAPU offered sign language interpreters and opened its doors for our Deaf friends to attend! I am always curious of learning sign language of different regions and countries. Since I am in Beppu, Japan now, I am exposed to Japanese sign language more than ever. Thus, when TEDxAPU team contacted me to join the event as one of the speakers, I immediately thought of the local Deaf people, the Oita Deaf community! As I planned my talk to include how diverse sign languages are, how I learned so much from ...