Extract from The Mainichi Shimbun’s Interview with Yasuhiko Funago, Diet Member with ALS [Podcast Episode]

By Barrier Free Japan

March 24 2025

TOKYO – On March 15th 2025, The Mainichi Shimbun published an interview with Yasuhiko Funago (67), a member of the House of Councillors of the Reiwa Shinsengumi, who has amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and is severely disabled, attracted a great deal of attention when he was elected for the first time in 2019. About five and a half years have passed since then, and Funago says he feels that the reasonable accommodations being promoted in the Diet for people with disabilities are being mistakenly interpreted as “giving charity from above.”

In the podcast is an extract from the interview, rendered using text-to-speech software:

Episode Notes:

‘Member of Japan’s House of Councillors with ALS, Yasuhiko Funago Concerned that Reasonable Accommodations in the Diet Mistaken for “giving charity from above” ’:

Member of Japan’s House of Councillors with ALS, Yasuhiko Funago Concerned that Reasonable Accommodations in the Diet Mistaken for “giving charity from above”