By Barrier Free Japan
October 15 2023
JAPAN – Some issues and incidents regarding people with disabilities in Japan seem to keep re-appearing and re-occurring. They also often seem to keep happening in the same place. A lot of the recent cases of suspected abuse of people with disabilities seem to occur in Tsu City in Mie Prefecture, western Japan. Here is a timeline:
Abuse of disabled at a facility in Tsu-city: “We want to separate people from the perpetrators so as to protect the users.”
In facility for the disabled in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture, several employees who worked until the end of February at the facility, are accused of abuse after an internal investigation at the facility due to abusive behavior towards the users of service, many of whom have mental handicaps.
A former employee woman testified according to the interview of the Asahi Shimbun, “Abuse was routinely from over a year ago.”
The mentally handicapped were called ‘liar’ and ‘thief’ in acts of abuse at facilities in Tsu-city.
According to former officials, multiple female staff talked to female users with intellectual disabilities, saying, “Let’s try to see how fat it is” and said they had eaten bread and more than necessary. In addition, she said that she and her other female users were naked at a dressing room and were laughing with each other, saying “Which side is fat?”
In addition, as a punishment that meal manners were bad, there was an act of female users to prepare the onega instead of side dishes.
About these testimonies, NPO Shimazaki representative said, “I heard it for the first time, I do not know it.”
Former officials could not endure the work environment and retire. In order to preserve the evidence of abuse, we shot a part of the movie and provided it to Tsu City. “We want to separate people from the perpetrators so as to protect the users.”
Mie Prefecture city “did not take care” when examining disabled applicants
MIE – When Tsu City In Mie Prefecture employs people with disabilities, it effectively excludes people with mental and intellectual disabilities and people with visual and hearing disabilities.
On the 25th of September, a request was submitted to Tsu city’s city council. The request states that the city “did not take care. It wanted to improve it quickly” and it reflected it in the recruitment examinations.
The employee recruitment examination application form scheduled for hiring clearly states “office work (for disabled people)”, and as a precaution, “fill in correctly with a ballpoint pen or ink” “There are no tests using Braille or voice PCs”.
Mr. Shinji Matsuda (62), a representative of an association representing the disabled said, “This kind of wording is very disappointing and sad. I want you to change the lack of rational consideration and improve it, including the work environment,” said Tadanori Araki. I gave a request to the general manager. Mr. Araki replied, “I wanted to avoid the situation where I was employed but not working. I want to think about a job that makes the best use of the characteristics of individual obstacles.”
Left in a pickup truck, disabled person calls Mie facility on his cell phone asking to be dropped off
Tsu City announced that at Mukunoki Work, a welfare facility for people with disabilities in Geino-cho, Tsu City, a patient with disabilities was left behind for about 25 minutes in a pickup truck. It is believed that this was due to the fact that the staff did not know the number of people in the vehicle, and the city instructed the staff to take measures to prevent recurrence of such an incident.
Suspected Assault by Staff Member at a Mie Facility of Disabled Resident, Confirmed by Security Camera, Another Staff Member also Committed “psychological abuse”
In August, it was discovered that there was a suspicion that a staff member assaulted a resident at a facility for the disabled in Tsu City, Mie Prefecture.
According to Mie Prefecture Inaba-en, a facility for the disabled in Inaba-cho, Tsu City, there was a whistleblower report on August 25 that there was a suspicion of abuse. It was shown how to assault an adult resident with a disability.
Barrier Free Japan 
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