Eight Years Pass Since ‘Sagamihara Stabbings’ at Care Home for People with Disabilities in Japan, Group Homes for Disabled Still Often Opposed

By Barrier Free Japan, Kyodo via Yahoo! Japan

July 26 2024

SAGAMIHARA – In the early hours of July 26, 2016, a former employee of the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care home in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, broke in and killed 19 residents between the ages of 19 and 70 with a knife, injuring 26 others.

Later sentenced to death, the killer believed he didn’t deserve such a harsh sentence and that people with disabilities that are unable to communicate can only “create unhappiness in society.”

In response to the incident, Kanagawa Prefecture has set a goal of “realizing a society where we can live together,” placing emphasis on a shift away from welfare policies that require people with disabilities to spend their entire lives in facilities, and promoting a shift to community living. However, in reality, there are many cases where attempts to open group homes (GHs) have been met with opposition from residents and forced to abandon plans.

“We won’t let them do it unless everyone agrees.” At an information session for a GH for people with disabilities scheduled to open in Kanazawa Ward, Yokohama, residents repeatedly voiced their opposition.

The Act on the Elimination of Discrimination against Persons with Disabilities includes an additional resolution from the Diet that requires the national and local governments to “thoroughly avoid seeking the consent of surrounding residents” when approving facilities.

However, a survey conducted in 2020 by the National Federation of Hand-in-Hand Nurturing Associations, made up of parents of people with intellectual disabilities, found that in the past 10 years there had been 95 cases nationwide where residents had opposed the construction and start of operation of homes such as home health centers in which members were involved. Of these, roughly one-third were unable to open.