Animal therapy, designed to heal people through contacts with animals, is spreading in Japan amid the COVID-19 crisis.
A university in Tokyo has hosted a session to introduce therapy dogs to students and alleviate their loneliness attributed to the prolonged novel coronavirus crisis, while facilities for disabled people are developing environments that allow residents to live with animals.
A Kanagawa Prefecture Third Party Committee, which is considering the ideal way of welfare for persons with disabilities, has put together an interim report stating that support should be enhanced so that people with disabilities can live in the community.
On October 15th, a training for suspicious persons was held at Tamonji, Kazo City, Saitama Prefecture, at the “Group Home Tsukushimbo”, a communal living support facility for persons with disabilities, with the cooperation of the Kazo Police Station. They learned from the how to respond when a suspicious person invades and how to have a sense of crisis.
Nakai Yamayurien, a prefectural facility for the mentally disabled located in Nakai Town, was found to have locked two residents in their rooms for more than 8 hours on multiple occasions in February of this year, which was recognized as abuse as it was more physical restraint than necessary. It was also found that there was a case where a child was confined to a private room for more than 20 hours, although it was not recognized as 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.
While new COVID-19 cases are on the decline in the 19 prefectures, medical systems are still burdened there, government officials said.
Takasaki City announced on September 7 that 17 people, including residents and staff at a facility for the people with disabilities, were confirmed as infected with the coronavirus.
Defendant Mizuno apologized in the final statement, crying, “I never hated the residents and I don’t know why I did that.”
An independent committee established with the approval of the city of Kobe recently compiled and released a report on the Rokko Tsurujuen, a social welfare corporation in Nada Ward, Kobe City, which has been found to have provided inappropriate care to the elderly and whose employees complained of power harassment.
The Mainichi Shimbun has learned that the rules of an unlicensed childcare facility in Tokyo’s Setagaya Ward that offers sports education include a statement to the effect that children with developmental disabilities may be asked to leave the facility if they have trouble living at the school. This may be in breach of the Disability Discrimination Act, which prohibits discriminatory treatment of people with disabilities.
Barrier Free Japan