Category: Disability

by Michael Gillan Peckitt July 3, 2023 Number of comments0
Disability Japan Media

Letter to the Editor of The Mainichi: Disability inclusion in Japan

People with disabilities continue to be neglected and marginalised, with fewer educational opportunities, poorer health outcomes, lower levels of employment, and higher rates of poverty. Discrimination is pervasive. It harms, hurts, and creates prejudices. The COVID-19 pandemic has only made the situation worse, and the United Nations 2030 Agenda calls for no one to be left behind. As the world reopens, things must fundamentally change.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 30, 2023 Number of comments0
Disability Japan Mental Health Work

710 Cases of Depression and Other Mental Health Issues Caused by Work in FY 2022, Japan’s Ministry of Health Announces

This was 81 cases more than in the previous year, breaking the record for the fourth consecutive year since the statistics began in 1983. Of these, suicides and attempted suicides totaled 67, 12 fewer than in the previous year. By cause, power harassment accounted for the largest number of cases (147), once again highlighting the reality of a workplace that is not improving.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 29, 2023 Number of comments0
Disability Eugenics Forced Sterilization Hokkaido Japan

Forced Sterilization of People with Disabilities in Hokkaido: A Brief Timeline

Between 1948 and 1996, Japan’s eugenics law authorized the sterilization of people with intellectual disabilities, mental illnesses or hereditary disorders to prevent the birth of “inferior” offspring. About 25,000 people with disabilities were sterilized under the law, including around 16,500 who were operated on without their consent, according to government data. A number of the court cases were filed and heard in the Sapporo District Court in Hokkaido.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 26, 2023 Number of comments0
Coronavirus COVID-19 Disability Elderly Japan

Japan may have entered 9th COVID-19 wave says virus expert Shigeru Omi

Japan may have entered its ninth wave of COVID-19 infections, an expert who served as the government’s top coronavirus adviser said Monday, stressing the importance of protecting vulnerable elderly individuals from the disease.

“A ninth wave may have started,” Shigeru Omi told reporters after meeting with Prime Minister Fumio Kishida to discuss the recent nationwide increase in infections after the government eased countermeasures, including downgrading the legal status of the disease to the same category as seasonal influenza in May.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 26, 2023 1
Abuse Crime Disability Japan

Suspects in 6 Year Old Boy’s Death in Kobe also Arrested for Mistreating Boy’s Wheelchair-Using Grandmother

According to the prefectural police force’s first criminal investigation division, Yumiko had been locked in the closet from the outside. She had meals regularly, but is believed to have been locked up several dozen times over the space of three months. She escaped when the four went out, and police took her into protective custody in Kobe’s Tarumi Ward on the evening of June 20. She was in a wheelchair, and suffering from eye and back injuries, but her injuries were not life-threatening, police said.

by Michael Gillan Peckitt June 24, 2023 1
Disability Discrimination Japan Media

Request to Cut Interview with Disabled Employee from Japan’s ‘Itoham’ Video Sparks Controversy

When a restaurant that employs people with disabilities was interviewed on Itoham’s official YouTube channel, the company instructed to cut out the part of the interview with a disabled employee. The controversy stems from a post by Hiromichi Shizume, a TV producer and writer in charge of production and appearances for the channel’s project, which has sparked controversy over Itoham’s response to the situation.