The Accidental Press

This story happened when we were traveling for the international day of people with disabilities. At that time, we, along with other people with disabilities, sailed using a war fleet, the Indonesian Navy warship KRI Teluk Peleng. On that ship, it wasn't just us, the visually impaired, but also people with various other disabilities: physically disabled and intellectually disabled. As it was my first time sailing on a ship, let alone a warship, I was very happy and eager to learn about all the equipment on board, and so were the other people with disabilities. The mentors and guides for the activity were overwhelmed by our questions, and in turn, each group of people with disabilities was given time to tour with the guides to be introduced to the equipment on the warship. Now it was my group's turn. I and several other visually impaired individuals were introduced to the equipment on the warship, with each of us given the opportunity to touch the items one by one. “This is called the ship's steering engine,” my mentor said, guiding my hand to the steering mechanism. We toured the interior of the ship, and then it was time to go up to the deck. The wind felt quite strong when we were on the upper part of the ship. Here, we were introduced to various tools for handling situations if the ship were to encounter undesirable conditions. We were introduced to life jackets, lifebuoys, and lifeboat rafts for emergencies, with each of us given the opportunity to touch these items one by one. My friends and I were very enthusiastic; we felt them, tapped them, and pressed them, because that's how we, the visually impaired, could understand and imagine the equipment being introduced to us. Full of curiosity, I walked around, touching things and asking many questions. Until one time, I found an object. Enthusiastically, I pressed and tapped an object located on the ship's railing, on the edge facing the sea. “Mr. Achmad, what is this device?” I eagerly asked Mr. Achmad, my mentor for the activity. However, the object I was pressing and tapping kept shifting and moving more as I pressed and tapped it. I asked again, “Mr. Achmad, what is this thing???” raising my voice slightly. Immediately, Mr. Achmad pulled my hand away, as he had been too busy explaining things to other people with disabilities to hear my question or notice what I was pressing and tapping. But when I raised my voice to ask, he finally noticed and immediately pulled my hand. “Shhh, what are you doing?!” “Do you know what you were pressing and tapping just now?” Mr. Achmad asked. “No, sir, that’s exactly what I wanted to ask! What was that thing I was holding? It felt like a lifeboat,” I replied innocently. Instead of answering, he just smiled and then chuckled, because the object I had been pressing and tapping was not emergency equipment on the warship at all. It was the backside of a large-figured woman who was standing at the ship's edge, looking out at the sea. I had been pressing and tapping her backside, which, due to her considerable size, felt soft like the rubber on a lifeboat.