“Please watch over me and everyone at Tsukui Yamayuri-en from heaven,” Yukari Okutsu, who leads a community group formed by residents of the facility, said in a speech. Kiyomitsu Nagai, head of the facility, said: “Even after eight years have passed, your smiles are alive in our hearts. You will be always with us.”
The Japanese government decided on Friday to set up a task force to eradicate discrimination against disabled people.
The decision followed a recent Supreme Court ruling that the former eugenic protection law, which allowed forced sterilizations of disabled people, was unconstitutional. The first meeting of the task force will be held on Monday.
New COVID-19 cases reported from about 5,000 regularly monitored medical institutions across Japan have increased for the 11th consecutive week, health ministry data showed Friday.
In the early hours of July 26, 2016, a former employee of the Tsukui Yamayuri-en care home in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, broke in and killed 19 residents between the ages of 19 and 70 with a knife, injuring 26 others. In response to the incident, Kanagawa Prefecture has set a goal of “realizing a society where we can live together,” placing emphasis on a shift away from welfare policies that require people with disabilities to spend their entire lives in facilities, and promoting a shift to community living. However, in reality, there are many cases where attempts to open group homes (GHs) have been met with opposition from residents and forced to abandon plans.
Following the Supreme Court ruling that the former Eugenic Protection Law, which forced sterilization on the grounds of disability, was unconstitutional, the government has decided to create a new council with all cabinet members as members to eradicate discrimination against people with disabilities.
The government has decided to drastically revise the national exam system for certifying care workers in a bid to increase personnel in the field, particularly foreign personnel, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned.
The planned revision will divide the exam into three parts, so that repeat test-takers will only need to sit again for the parts of the test they previously failed.
More than half of Japanese elementary and junior high school students are “underhydrated,” a research team led by Niigata University has found.
Following the Supreme Court ruling that the former Eugenic Protection Law, which forced sterilization on the grounds of disability, was unconstitutional, the government has decided to create a new council with all cabinet members as members to eradicate discrimination against people with disabilities. It will be launched within this week and its first meeting will be held within the month. Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference on the 22nd, “We would like to proceed with preparations to establish the council as soon as possible.”
Kikuo Kojima, 83, of Sapporo was put up for adoption soon after his birth. He contracted polio, leaving him with a disabled right leg for which he was bullied. At age 19, when he was leading a desolate life, he was forced to undergo sterilization.
Kojima was handcuffed by a police officer in front of his home and put into a psychiatric hospital in Sapporo. It was one-sidedly determined that he was mentally ill, and when he was sterilized, a nurse told him that this had to be done “since it would be terrible if people like you had children.”
Among the victorious plaintiffs is Kikuo Kojima, 83, of Sapporo. He was put up for adoption soon after his birth. He contracted polio, leaving him with a disabled right leg for which he was bullied. At age 19, when he was leading a desolate life, he was forced to undergo sterilization.
Kojima was handcuffed by a police officer in front of his home and put into a psychiatric hospital in Sapporo. It was one-sidedly determined that he was mentally ill, and when he was sterilized, a nurse told him that this had to be done “since it would be terrible if people like you had children.”
Barrier Free Japan