Kagawa Prefecture presents draft report on how to make disability support facilities barrier-free

From NHK

November 18 2024

KAGAWA – As Kagawa’s prefectural disability support facilities are aging, a study group of experts was held at the prefectural office to make the facilities more comfortable for users, and presented a draft report that includes the prefecture’s plan to make the facilities barrier-free.

A total of 13 people, including experts and facility representatives, attended the study group on the 18th and exchanged opinions based on the draft report compiled by the prefecture on the future of prefectural disability support facilities.

The study group has previously visited aging facilities and held repeated discussions on the role that facilities should play and the future direction of their efforts.

Based on this, the prefecture presented a draft report on the two intellectual disability support facilities in the prefecture, which includes the formulation of plans to provide private rooms and promote barrier-free access when renovating or rebuilding the facilities.

Regarding this, committee members expressed the opinion that “it is important to design facilities so that private rooms can be changed flexibly to double or triple rooms depending on the user’s situation.”

The prefecture plans to conduct specific studies after compiling the study group’s report within this fiscal year.

Professor Nozaki Akihiro of Shikoku Gakuin University, who serves as chairman of the study group, said, “Even if private facilities are no longer able to provide support, prefectural facilities need to maintain their function of protecting the rights and livelihoods of users as a last resort.”