S. 6. Ep. 4: Accessibility when studying abroad (Craig Duffeck)

Angie and Kimberly sit down with Craig Duffeck, a close friend of Kimberly's and a recent college graduate who spent a semester studying abroad in Japan. Craig is blind and has cerebral palsy, and he came back with plenty to say about what actually works over there and what doesn't.
The JR trains and subway system turned out to be one of the easier parts of the trip. Tactile paving runs through stations and along sidewalks. Braille shows up on public facilities in places you'd never find it here. Craig connects a lot of that infrastructure to how Japanese culture treats its older population, which changes the whole calculation on what gets built and why.
Getting there was another story. Craig walks through the back-and-forth of setting up accommodations, why talking directly to the university mattered more than any official process, and the odd reality that a Japanese public restroom was more accessible than the airplane that flew him across the Pacific.
His advice for anyone thinking about it: pick up some basic Japanese before you go, and get away from the tourist stops if you want to actually experience the place.