Oita’s people with disabilities voice concerns as care providers close amid helper shortage

From TBS Newsdig via Yahoo! Japan

August 11 2026

OITA – As a shortage of helpers supporting the daily lives of people with disabilities becomes increasingly severe, an emergency public meeting was held in Oita on August 11th, where supporters and others voiced their concerns over the difficult situation.

The meeting was organized by two groups made up of people with disabilities and supporters in Oita Prefecture to raise public awareness of the shortage of helpers providing home-visit care.

People with disabilities and representatives of service providers spoke at the meeting, reporting on how their daily lives depend on support from helpers and describing the rapidly worsening labor shortage.

One user of helper services said:

“I never dreamed that the helper station I use would actually close.”

A representative of a home-visit helper service provider said:

“We absolutely have to solve the problem of the shortage of helpers.”

According to the organizers, since the revision of long-term care service fees in 2024, service providers have been withdrawing from the sector and suspending services one after another. The groups said they plan to call on the national government to improve working conditions and take other measures to address the problem.