Redefining Disabled
A wheelchair can’t confine Dara Fukuhara. After graduating from the UH journalism program, she wrote for MidWeek and is now a successful public relations account executive. She’s also an eloquent advocate for the disabled
By Alice Keesing
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Dara with mom Pearl, dad Glenn and sister Teri
ing after big clients like Macy’s and Chevron.
“She’s a ‘yes-I-can,’ ‘yes-I-want-to’ kind of person,” says Comm-Pac CEO Kitty Lagareta.
Lagareta has noticed how Fukuhara has a knack for quickly getting people to see past the wheelchair.
“The first thing when you think about Dara is not her challenges,” Lagareta says. “The first thing you think is that she’s a great member of our team and she serves our clients well.”
Fukuhara matter-of-factly finds ways around the obstacles posed by everyday life. She types out her e-mails by holding a pencil between her palms and punching the keys one at a time. She uses the speakerphone and hands-free headsets for phone calls. She also has a personal care assistant, Darleen Daoang, whom she calls her arms and legs, who helps with her personal needs and office tasks like filing, faxing and driving to client meetings.
Fukuhara gives a lot of the credit for her can-do attitude to her parents, Glenn and Pearl.
With Kitty Lagareta before Dara’s Washington Place speech
“They never treated me as disabled,” she says.
Fukuhara still lives with her folks in Aiea, although she’s starting to think about a place of her own. She also draws a lot of support from a close group of journo friends. And she confesses that a favorite form of stress relief is shopping. Fukuhara has earned something of a reputation for her accessorizing, be it her beautifully manicured nails, her fun footwear or her fashion phone.
The Muscular Dystrophy Association’s Li points out that Fukuhara’s accomplishments are remarkable when you consider the daily challenges she faces.
“The very basics, just getting out of bed in the morning is very difficult,” Li says. “Just those things we do on a daily basis that we don’t think about, like brushing your teeth, combing your hair or jumping in the car and driving to work. Dara can’t exactly do that so you just have to think, ‘Wow, how does she fit everything into her day?’ “
And she does fit a lot into those days. Along with work, Fukuhara mentors youth with disabilities. And in 2005, Lagareta nominated Fukuhara to the governor-appointed Statewide Independent Living Council of Hawaii. At the young age of 26, Fukuhara was recently elected chair of the board. She’s the youngest person ever appointed to the position and has been credited with breathing in new life and energy.
Dara reviews notes with personal assistant Darleen
Daoang
When asked about Fukuhara, “awesome” is the word that springs to mind, says SILC vice chair Diana Tizard, who has been impressed with the leadership qualities in someone so young.
“She has just identified what needs to happen and has plowed ahead, determined to make it happen,” Tizard says.
The Statewide Independent Living Council promotes what is known as the independent living philosophy, a movement that aims to help people with disabilities gain control over their own lives.
Fukuhara is thankful that she lives in a time when the Americans with Disabilities Act has paved the way for people with disabilities, but there are still obstacles that leave many trapped in dependence, she says.
In a speech at Washington Place late last year, Fukuhara talked about the way the system can actually encourage people with disabilities to stay at home and collect welfare. That’s because earning a paycheck can jeopardize the benefits they need to get through the day, she says.
Fukuhara herself lost some of her benefits when she went to work for Comm-Pac. She still qualifies for her personal care assistant, but points out that she could lose that help if she gets a raise. And that help would be cut off well before her paycheck reaches the point where she could afford to pay for a personal assistant on her own.
The alternative for Fukuhara in that situation would be to stop working. And that’s an unthinkable thought given all the things that she has planned for the future. Along with her PR career, she’s got half an eye on a political career, and she’s talking about opening a gym for people with disabilities.
This year Fukuhara also becomes the public face of the Muscular Dystrophy Association and will represent the organization at various events including the annual Jerry Lewis MDA Telethon during Labor Day weekend.
“Definitely my 2007 is going to be very, very busy,” Fukuhara says. “But I’m looking forward to all the excitement.”
Just try to stop her.
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