Student rejected for part-time job as a poll worker in Japan’s October lower house election because of hearing impairment, Hakodate City Election Commission admits

By Barrier Free Japan

December 10 2021

HOKKAIDO – The Mainichi Shimbun has reported that the Hakodate City Election Commission revealed that it had rejected an application from an 18-year-old male university student in Hakodate for a part-time job as a poll worker in the October lower house election because of his hearing impairment.

Japan’s ‘Law for the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities’ prohibits discriminatory treatment on the basis of disability and obliges governments and companies to take necessary measures, such as writing letters, to the extent that it does not become an excessive burden according to the individual’s disability.