For disabled people, who cannot do without daily life support, it is difficult to refuse the wishes of the facility looking after them. Depopulation has advanced in areas where group homes are located, and the facilities people can use are limited.
On December 18 the ‘group home’ operated by Asunaro Social Welfare Service Corporation in Esashi, Hokkaido, admitted that it had made sterilization a condition for mentally disabled couples for more than 20 years.
Eight couples underwent sterilization procedures in response to the operator’s suggestion.
The operator of the group home, a social welfare corporation, insists it never compelled anyone to become sterilized nor required sterilization operations as a condition for continued use of its services.
Approximately four hours after Hokkaido and Esashi Town officials entered the group home shortly before 1:30 p.m. on December 26, they loaded cardboard boxes, believed to contain materials from the facility, into a car.
Hokkaido Governor Suzuki said, “If it is confirmed that the operators are not providing proper welfare services for persons with disabilities, we will consider necessary measures such as recommendations and orders based on the Comprehensive Support for Persons with Disabilities Act”.
According to the corporation, its homes have since the late 1990s asked male residents to undergo a vasectomy and female residents to use a contraceptive ring if they want to marry or live with a partner at these facilities.
On the 4th of December, the Hokkaido facility held an information session for the residents’ families, reported the abuse, and apologized. In the future, it is said that an “abuse verification committee” will be set up to consider measures to prevent recurrence.
The officials have confirmed that six male workers were involved in 38 cases of physical and mental abuse on 13 male residents.
The abusive acts included leaving naked residents unattended for long periods, forcing the residents to eat food that had been spilt, and forcibly moving wheelchair users’ body parts that had stiffened.
At Muroran Kotosen Gakuen in Muroran City, where children with intellectual disabilities and others are enrolled, a cluster of new coronavirus cases broke out at the end of February, forcing the staff of the isolated facility who tested positive for the virus, to provide care to those students who tested positive for the virus.
The Sapporo metropolitan government announced that cluster was confirmed at a welfare service office for the disabled, where six people were infected, including four employees and two clients.
Barrier Free Japan