The Tochigi Prefectural Board of Education has decided to abolish boarding schools at both Tochigi and Nasu special needs schools in March 2025. The decision was made public at an information session for parents that began on July 10th. These were the only two boarding schools for intellectually disabled children in the prefecture, so all such schools will be abolished.
Kyoto police arrested two men on Thursday for allegedly forcing a disabled coworker into an industrial washing machine and turning it on, injuring him. On March 26 at around 2:30 p.m, the two suspects reportedly told their coworker, a 50-year-old man with an intellectual disability, “You stink! Get in the washing machine.”
They allegedly proceeded to force him into the machine and turn it on, resulting in injuries that required two weeks to heal. The victim sought medical attention a few days after the incident. The doctor who treated him noticed bruises and other injuries all over his body and reported the case to the police.
On May 31st, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare announced the estimated number of people with intellectual disabilities living at home or elsewhere nationwide as of December 2022, is reaching 1.14 million.
This is an increase of 178,000 from the previous survey in 2004 and the largest number ever. The Ministry analyzes that “one of the factors may be the increase in the acquisition of the Rehabilitation Certificate, mainly for infants and children.
A 69-year-old male resident of a facility for the disabled in Yodogawa Ward, Osaka, lost consciousness while undergoing treatment for a cavity and later died.
He is said to have suffered acute respiratory failure due to pressure on the chest and other areas. At the time, five staff members at the facility were holding the man down to prevent him from moving during treatment, and the police are currently investigating the details.
Japan’s key organ transplant network has invalidated the organ donation wishes of all individuals officially recognized as being intellectually disabled, the health ministry said Wednesday.
According to the operational guidelines of Japan’s organ transplant law, if a mentally disabled individual aged 15 or older lacks the capacity to express valid intent, organ removal should not be carried out.
However, the guidelines also state that an individual’s attending physician should assess whether their disability prevents them from expressing meaningful intent.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government has found that the executives and other staff members of a social welfare corporation “Tokiwa-kai” in Kodaira City, Tokyo, had abused several mentally disabled patients, and that the corporation’s workshop and group home had received excessive compensation for welfare for the disabled even though they did not meet the personnel standards and other requirements. The corporation operates 13 facilities in Kodaira City. According to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, the overpayment of remuneration occurred at the “Asayake Workshop,” the main facility of the corporation, and one group home.
Whilst reading about the ranch operator in northern Japan’s Hokkaido who admitted in court on March 12th that they had not paid intellectually disabled workers for decades, giving them only “snacks and juice,” Barrier Free Japan went back to their blog and re-read reports.
As soon as the second episode of the ‘Shog-A.I. Shimbun’ was uploaded a report by The Mainichi Shimbun on a similar theme – that of people with disabilities not being paid for work – was published, so this is kind of a ‘Shog-A.I, episode two: evening edition.’
A ranch operator in northern Japan’s Hokkaido admitted in court on March 12 that they had not paid intellectually disabled workers for decades, giving them only “snacks and juice.”
Three mentally disabled men in their 60s, all living in Hokkaido, have filed suit in the Sapporo District Court against the operators of the Endo ranch in Eniwa, Hokkaido, plus the municipal government there for some 94 million yen (about $635,000), alleging decades of abuse and poor working conditions.
In Japan, 176 babies died on their day of birth due to abuse between 2003 and 2022, but even basic facts such as the ages of their fathers were rarely known, with the blame frequently pinned solely on mothers.
According to statistics from the Children and Families Agency, all 176 babies were born outside of a medical facility, and 161 had their bodies dumped. The place of abandonment was the mother’s home in 79 cases and other places in 82 cases.
Barrier Free Japan