Japan’s Local Govts Increasing Disabled Job Applicants to include those with mental or intellectual disabilities

From Jiji Press

June 8th 2019

TOKYO — An increasing number of prefectural governments and ordinance-designated major cities in Japan are expanding the scope of disabled people qualified to take exams for regular jobs at the public-sector offices to include those with mental or intellectual disabilities.

Previously, the job exams had been available to people with physical disabilities.

Local governments are moving to open their employment exams to more people with disabilities, following the revelation last year that central government agencies had padded their numbers of disabled workers.

Prefectures including Iwate, Tokushima, Saga and Kumamoto, and such ordinance-designated cities as Chiba, Niigata and Hiroshima will allow people with mental or intellectual disabilities to take their exams from the current fiscal 2019, which started in April.

The prefectures of Kanagawa and Shimane began to do this in fiscal 2018, while Tokyo and the prefecture of Tottori launched the move earlier.