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 November 22nd, Kanagawa Prefecture made a statement about an accident in which a man got bread lodged in his throat and fell unconscious in October last year at the prefectural facility for the people with intellectual disabilities “Nakai Yamayurien” or “Nakai Town”. The prefecture announced it would pay about 26 million Yen to settle the matter. The man, who was a resident at the facility, is still in the hospital as he is still unconscious.
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.”
Barrier Free Japan