Japenese Community

Your book synopsis sounds intriguing! Should we wait for the movie or buy the book?

50K should suffice depending on your lifestyle...BUT once you sell the movie rights & screenplay you won't have anything to worry about!

PH

Regarding your question concerning island views of disabled person, I have not observed any social attitudes that would indicate any reason for concern. However, if your son is wheelchair-bound I have noticed that MANY establishments and, indeed, most of the sidewalks, are not accessible.

I really hope someone can answer your question concerning the existence, or not, of a Japanese community. I personally have not met anyone on-island of Japanese descent. Of course, I have only been here for a short time.

Hello William,

There is not a large Japanese community but there are a few individuals. There are also some individuals from other countries in Asia like China, the Philippines, Korea and a fairly large community from India.

There are not stereotypes or negative beliefs engrained into island culture toward the disabled or handicapped if that is what you meant. Unfortunately there are people who will gawk or stare. In school environments there can be teasing and provoking toward children who are mentally or physically handicapped. I mention the latter because for quite some time the public school on St. Thomas for handicapped children (mentally and physically) was combined with a "regular" k-6 grade elementary school so there was interaction between students as they shared a campus - I don't know whether there is a separate school now.

--Islander

Thank you all very much for your responses. I would definitely encourage you to buy the book, otherwise it may never be a movie! I'm not sure how distribution works to the VI, but would assume anything that can be ordered off of Amazon, Barnesandnoble.com, etc, could be shipped.

If not email me and we can arrange a signed copy.

We still haven't made a decision about moving, although we have to soon. Our pattern seems to be to decide 'no', instantly regret that decision, then discuss it some more, decide 'yes', instantly worry about that decision, decide 'no', etc, etc.

Then we look at pictures of VI, look at it snowing here outside (expecting 10 inches today)...

I wish I would just get fired. That would simplify everything.

Hmmm...

Hi William,

As you might gjuess from my handle, I am a person with diabilities who uses a wheelchair. (That is the prefered teminolgy, btw -- as opposed to "Wheelchair bound", which sounds like we're never able to leave our chairs. Taking the chair with me when I snorkel would be a bit challenging!)

While I haven't been to St. Croix, I have spent time on both St. Thomas and St..John, and had mostly courteous, friendly and extremely helpful encounters with the folks who lived there. Even the St. John taxi driver took breaking down my chair and tying to the back of his vehicle ( it wouldn't fit in between one of the rows of seats) completely in stride, and seemed shocked that we tipped him well for his "extra" service. Not once did I ever feel any discirimination and there were no more stares down there than I get here In Washington DC.

Accessbility can be a challenge in the USVI as there are limited curb cuts and a lot of low steps to get into businesses (and some pretty narrow doorways, too), but my husband was able to pop me up into most places (the shopping center on St. John, Mongoose Junction, is the big excpetion -- nothing but steps everywhere). We even had many folks offer to help get me and my chair onto the beaches and then help assist me in and out of the water. It's by no means an accessbility paradise, but if you follow the general advice on these boards about island etiquette and survivability (e.g. be friendly and say Good morning/afternoon/evening, plan on being patient, and maintain a sense of adventure and a sense of humor), I'm sure your son and the rest of your family will have no problems that can't be solved.

BTW, the USVI paratransit system comes highly recommended by the GimpOnTheGo.com web site. The site owner (a quadriplegic who uses a big powerchair) says it's a $25 lifetime membership fee (which includes your first ride for free) -- then you pay for each trip, which he says is comparable to the rates charged by taxis. I believe you can even have one person ride along at no additional cost. The Gimp on the Go says that all of the drivers are very knowledgable and friendly, and the equipment is used but very reliable. This should give you some additional options in helping your son get around the island.

Hope this helps -- feel free to write me if I can help research anything else that will make your son's move and island life even a little better.

The HipCrip

Hi Hip,

Actually, it's my daughter I'm talking about. She doesn't use a wheelchair, but is in a stroller-like chair that we push. She lacks the functionality to operate anything herself. She is 23, and totally disabled, so we take care of all her needs. It really isn't much different from pushing around a large stroller, except heavier.

Her name is Jennifer, and my wife has been her primary caregiver for the past 23 years, with never a complaint. She's a true American hero, even though she's not American.

Reading this message board is getting me excited about VI again. We're being dismissed early today because of the snow.

I'll check in again later.

Sorry, Willam -- my apologies for referring to Jennifer as your son!

As one who is on the receiving end of a lot of assistance from my husband to get by every day, I know what you mean about being American heros -- he is definitely mine. You and your wife both sound like amazing parents who love their kids very much.

Good luck with the snow -- hopefully it will be the last you see before you are in the VI!

The HipCrip

There is a company here (St Thomas I believe) that rents & sells wheel chairs that are beach/sand friendly with over-sized inflated tires, some you can roll right into the water. I forget the name of the company, but it does exist.

PH

My fault on referring to your daughter as "son." I was thinking about my uncle's girlfriend's son (and his experience on STT), when I responded.

Bill:

My wife and I (I, a caucasian born and raised in the mid-west. She, a Japanese lady, born and raised in Okinawa, permanently coming to the US oh-so-many years ago at 18 years of age) visited STX exactly a year ago this month to investigate the possiblity of relocating to that island at sometime in the near future. We had dinner one night at the only Thai restaurant on the island and had a lovely time chatting with the Thai owners. They kindly informed us, at that time there was only one permanent resident of Japanese origin on STX, a lady that owns a local jewelry store, (she was off-island at the time, so we didn't get a chance to meet her) and that there were 6 Chinese families consisting of a total of 15 persons. With them being the only Thai family on the island, they said that was the total extent of Oriental population at that time. My wife was excited about the idea of possibly being 1 of only 2 Japanese on island. 🙂

Coming from heavily oriental populated Southern California, I was amazed that you could count the oriental population of STX on 10 fingers and 10 toes, (and still have two left over) until you consider the overall population of STX is not much more than 50,000 total.

Good luck on your decision. We're gonna make the move at the first opportunity. We're convinced STX is the place for us, but we, too, have a young adult son that is not yet capable of fending for himself, and we don't want to burden him or us with relocating at this time. But definately very soon after he's capable of living on his own.

Who knows, maybe eventually, between us, we'll increase the Japanese population on STX to a grand total of 3.

Tom,

If you'd send me your phone number, my wife will call your wife.

wvitanyi@msn.com