Umi's can-do attitude THE POWER OF ONE

The disabilities advocate is making the world a better place for people unable to speak up for themselves

Young women of influence

The Weekly meets two young women recognized in YWCA’s 2021 Y25 list of influential women in New Zealand, which celebrates 25 wāhine aged 25 and under who are doing great work in their communities.

Umi Asaka was 15 when her family fled to New Zealand after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck her homeland Japan, followed by a devastating tsunami and nuclear power station disaster. After the magnitude 9.0 quake hit in March 2011, Umi’s father Hidetake rushed to her school to pick up his only daughter, who was worrying how she’d evacuate on a flight of stairs in her wheelchair.

“It was very scary because my classmates were too young to carry me,” says Dunedinbased Umi. “We were in Tokyo, which is 200km away from the nuclear power station in Fukushima, so we drove further to the west to our friend’s place. I recall feeling like the world was ending.”

A decade later, the qualified social worker, who was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, still happily resides in Aotearoa and works as a Junior Research Fellow at the Donald Beasley Institute (DBI). Known for challenging societal stereotypes and stigma by speaking up in areas where the majority are non-disabled, Umi’s proud of her disability.

“When I was younger, I never wanted to be part of the disability sector because I thought that was kind of expected of you when you’re disabled,” tells Umi, whose fragile bones break easily.