An employee at facility for people with disabilities in Ome City, Tokyo was arrested on suspicion of injury for beating and injuring a resident man. The man subsequently died, and the Metropolitan Police Department is investigating the circumstances.
In fiscal year 2020, the number of people with disabilities who were abused at home or in institutions in Japan totalled 2,665 as identified by local governments nationwide. This was an increase of 267 from the previous fiscal year. The number of consultations and reports also increased to 9,421, 902 more than the previous year, both of which are the highest numbers ever, the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare (MHLW) announced the number on March 29.
The Japanese government Monday 7th March appealed to the Supreme Court to challenge a high court verdict ordering damages payments to victims of forced sterilization performed under the now-defunct eugenic protection law.
The suspect was arrested on suspicion of hitting a man in his 40s in the face with the back of his right hand between 5.21pm and 5.23pm on January 12th, causing his right eye to swell up and bleed under the conjunctiva, a minor injury that lasted about a week.
During an investigation where a female employee was arrested for assaulting a child with a disability at a welfare facility in Kurume City, Fukuoka Prefecture, it was discovered that several other employees were suspected of abusing the child.
According to the city, in June 2020 and June 2009, a staff member at the school abused a user who had gone into someone else’s rice field by making him stand for four hours with a 5 kg bag of sand in both hands with the consent of the facility director. In response to the city’s investigation, he said:
“I thought that if I didn’t let them understand their problematic behavior, they would have trouble when they go out into the world. I didn’t think it was abuse.”
On December 24th, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare announced the results of a survey that the number of cases of abuse of elderly people at home in 2020 increased by 2.1% from the previous year to 17,281 cases, a record high. There were 25 deaths, an increase of 10 from the previous year.
In 2016, Masakazu Shimizu (9 years old at the time), who was a short-term admission at a support facility for children with disabilities in Nakahara Ward, Kawasaki City, died while sleeping. It was judged that the act of a female employee in her teens was “abuse”.
On September 27th, suspicions emerged that at Kanagawa Prefectural Nakai Yamayurien, located in Nakai Town, Kanagawa Prefecture, that a staff member used violence to conceal a broken bone. It was announced that an investigation shall be carried out.
Defendant Mizuno apologized in the final statement, crying, “I never hated the residents and I don’t know why I did that.”
Barrier Free Japan