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It just hit me that one 'disability' that would've explained all the goings-on at Yamaku with regard to Shiina 'Misha' Mikado is that she's transgendered. She was born biologically male and is now physically female. It's the kind of thing that would have trickled through the Japanese system and turned out such a person. Okay, caffeine doesn't neutralise alcohol properly. Not in these quantities anyway.

brythain wrote:It just hit me that one 'disability' that would've explained all the goings-on at Yamaku with regard to Shiina 'Misha' Mikado is that she's transgendered. She was born biologically male and is now physically female. It's the kind of thing that would have trickled through the Japanese system and turned out such a person. Okay, caffeine doesn't neutralise alcohol properly. Not in these quantities anyway.

Except I don't think Japan even has Gender reassignment surgeries, since it doesn't even count transgendered people as their preferred gender.

Steinherz wrote:

brythain wrote:It just hit me that one 'disability' that would've explained all the goings-on at Yamaku with regard to Shiina 'Misha' Mikado is that she's transgendered. She was born biologically male and is now physically female. It's the kind of thing that would have trickled through the Japanese system and turned out such a person. Okay, caffeine doesn't neutralise alcohol properly. Not in these quantities anyway.

Except I don't think Japan even has Gender reassignment surgeries, since it doesn't even count transgendered people as their preferred gender.

First female-to-male was in 1998 and first male-to-female was in 1999. However, you are right about the legal aspect: a reassigned m2f is still male and f2m is still female by law (or at least, that was the case when I last checked). Misha's dark secret might be that her confidential school records show her to be male.

Is transsexualism a disability?

Munchenhausen wrote:Is transsexualism a disability?

To the Japanese...

brythain wrote:

Munchenhausen wrote:Is transsexualism a disability?

To the Japanese...

Japan is gonna love me if I go.

I still personally believe Misha to be a student interpreter for Shizune, since there aren't any others shown who understand Japanese Sign Language.

If I had to pin a disability on her, I'd probably go with... Well, I can't think of a fitting one. Misha is in the class with students who suffer from physical disabilities, and Yamaku doesn't necessarily accept mentally disabled students.

Just because Yamaku doesn't enroll students with mental disabilities does not mean that no one suffers with them.

PTSD, depression, anger issues, and all manner of other neuroses would be present. Hell, I'd argue that the physical conditions are easy to handle in comparison. Yamaku has to be a melting pot of pent-up mental conditions just waiting to explode.

Sharp-O wrote:Just because Yamaku doesn't enroll students with mental disabilities does not mean that no one suffers with them.

PTSD, depression, anger issues, and all manner of other neuroses would be present. Hell, I'd argue that the physical conditions are easy to handle in comparison. Yamaku has to be a melting pot of pent-up mental conditions just waiting to explode.

Oh, that's a given. It just means they don't accept students based solely on Mental Disabilities alone. Probably a good thing too, I can't imagine a route for a girl with Downs Syndrome would go down too well Just means that if some kid rocked on up with a bad case of PTSD and nothing else, they'd get turned away and referred to somewhere that could help... Which brings up that humongous topic of whether or not Hanako actually belongs at Yamaku, considering she doesn't really have too much in the way of a Physical Disability. But alas, that's a conversation for another topic, this is the Headcanon thread.

The way I take it, Misha's telling the truth; she really doesn't have a disability. She's there mainly for practice and experience using sign language and working closely with handicapped students, so she can get a job in the business later on in life.
Her ditziness and personality aren't side effects of any hidden problems, they're just her. Maybe a tidbit of ADHD, maybe some Bipolar, but nothing to write home about.

I imagine Hanako was referred to Yamaku by someone at the orphanage and while her condition might not be physically detrimental, emotionally it would be and I can imagine the higher-ups deciding she would be better off at Yamaku than at a regular school.

But yeah, Misha's totally bipolar. Though isn't the ADHD more of a personality quirk she adopted with the pink hair?

I wish I had more experience with people with body integrity identity disorder because I still think that someone suffering with that would be a fantastic character to explore in depth (by someone way more talented than I)

The goal of Yamaku is to be "a Normal High School with a large nursing staff on the side" and not "a Normal Hospital/Nursing Home with a large teaching staff on the side." This goal, while it helps those enrolled lead (and/or learn to lead) as much of a normal life as they are able, it would obviously limit the enrollment.

1. As mentioned above, those with severe mental disabilities (severe cases of autism, Down's Syndrome, etc.), would require a more controlled environment than Yamaku can give while staying within its mission. Thus, those students would be sent elsewhere. (Who knows, maybe the Yamaku Foundation has such a facility...)

2. Mental disorders (PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, etc.) that are similar to mental disabilities, in that if they are severe enough to send a student to a special school, it would have to be a school that provides a controlled environment (i.e. a "hospital with a teaching staff").

3. That said, Yamaku would need to have mental health professionals on hand. As Sharp-O said-O, kust because Yamaku doesn't enroll students with mental disabilities does not mean that no one suffers with them.

4. Also thinking about it, if the goal of Yamaku is to be a "high school with a nursing staff" and not a "hospital with a teaching staff", that would mean that there would be certain psychically disabled students they would be unable to admit (bedridden quadriplegics, for example).

Oscar Wildecat wrote:The goal of Yamaku is to be "a Normal High School with a large nursing staff on the side" and not "a Normal Hospital/Nursing Home with a large teaching staff on the side." This goal, while it helps those enrolled lead (and/or learn to lead) as much of a normal life as they are able, it would obviously limit the enrollment.

1. As mentioned above, those with severe mental disabilities (severe cases of autism, Down's Syndrome, etc.), would require a more controlled environment than Yamaku can give while staying within its mission. Thus, those students would be sent elsewhere. (Who knows, maybe the Yamaku Foundation has such a facility...)

2. Mental disorders (PTSD, Bipolar Disorder, etc.) that are similar to mental disabilities, in that if they are severe enough to send a student to a special school, it would have to be a school that provides a controlled environment (i.e. a "hospital with a teaching staff").

3. That said, Yamaku would need to have mental health professionals on hand. As Sharp-O said-O, kust because Yamaku doesn't enroll students with mental disabilities does not mean that no one suffers with them.

4. Also thinking about it, if the goal of Yamaku is to be a "high school with a nursing staff" and not a "hospital with a teaching staff", that would mean that there would be certain psychically disabled students they would be unable to admit (bedridden quadriplegics, for example).

Yamaku admits Disabled students that they can teach to cope with their disability and be successful later on in life. Every student there has a disability of some sort that they can learn to cope with and adapt to in order to live life independently outside of school.

I'm a visual person. When writting for characters or groups of characters, I like to have a picture I can look at. Often times that means I end up casting various actors or characters in the roles as I write them.

The only reason I'm bringing this up now is that I've recently got it stuck in my head that Hisao's dad is Dan Aykroyd. I don't mean he's actually The Dan Aykroyd, but if this were a live action movie, Dan would play the role.

Broken Yet Whole wrote: Yamaku admits Disabled students that they can teach to cope with their disability and be successful later on in life. Every student there has a disability of some sort that they can learn to cope with and adapt to in order to live life independently outside of school.

This would then exclude certain students that, unfortunately, require more specialized care (e.g. 24/7 medical supervision as opposed to the on-call supervision that Yamaku has). However, my headcanon is that the Yamaku Foundation does have another school/facility similar to Yamaku Academy that admits students that require 24/7 supervision.

EDIT: The comedic Dan Aykroyd or the dramatic Dan Aykroyd?

Comedic of course.


As for Hanako not belonging at Yamaku, significant deformity is legally considered a disability, so she is disabled, and it's quite obvious that she needs the extra care that Yamaku can provide. I don't see why anyone would even question why she should or shouldn't be there.

Oscar Wildecat wrote:As Sharp-O said-O, kust because Yamaku doesn't enroll students with mental disabilities does not mean that no one suffers with them.

I see what you did there, and I liked it.

That's why I added the character of Miss Tsunemori as a peripheral character to Monomyth. There was never any mention of a on-staff psychologist in the VN (and the Nurse can hardly count) so I figured I'd add one to the staff.