Residents with mental and intellectual disabilities have faced difficulties finding and staying at evacuation centers in disaster-hit areas of Ishikawa Prefecture.
The shelters are not equipped to provide the special needs of these quake victims, and other evacuees have complained about their new disabled neighbors.
A mentally disabled woman who was forced into prostitution was given a six-year prison term for fatally stabbing an elderly client she was trying to steal from at a Tokyo love hotel.
The Tokyo District Court on Feb. 20 convicted Haruka Fujii, 26, of injury resulting in the death of the 82-year-old customer in Tokyo’s Ikebukuro district in 2022.
Prosecutors had sought a nine-year prison sentence, but the court took into account Fujii’s mental condition that made her vulnerable to exploitation and prone to involuntary criminal activity.
At a daily-life care facility for people with severe intellectual disabilities in Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture, a staff member was found to have posted a photo of a user defecating on a LINE group used for business communication. The pictures of users’ faces had been doctored in a manner that could be interpreted as teasing. The city’s Disability Welfare Division is investigating the possibility of abuse.
Three men with intellectual disabilities filed a lawsuit asking the ranch owner’s family and the city to pay a total of approximately 94 million yen in damages, alleging that they were abused at the ranch where they lived and worked for many years (in Eniwa City, Hokkaido). The first hearing was held on November 28th at the Sapporo District Court (presiding judge Yuji Fuse). The defendants, the manager’s family, and the city requested that the claim be dismissed, stating that they were not aware of any abuse.
On Tuesday 1st January 2024, at the Sapporo District Court, the second oral arguments will be heard. The Japanese Public Law Litigation NPO ‘Call4’ is raising money to pay for plaintiff’s legal fees
.
The ‘Call4’ fundraising website points out that when the abuse of the three people with intellectual disabilities on the ranch was discovered “it covered up the fact and left it as it was. This seems to have been influenced by the fact that the ranch was run by a former Eniwa City Council member (chairman). This lawsuit seeks to hold Eniwa City responsible for concealing and neglecting the abuse of people with disabilities.”
Three men with intellectual disabilities filed a lawsuit asking the ranch owner’s family and the city to pay a total of approximately 94 million yen in damages, alleging that they were abused at the ranch where they lived and worked for many years (in Eniwa City, Hokkaido). According to the complaint, all three men are in their 60s and had been living and working at Endo Farm in the same city for 18 to 45 years. As a general rule, there were no days off, and he woke up around 3:30 a.m. and worked from dawn until dusk, milking cows and doing farm work, but he was not paid.
It was learned on October 1st that a 31-year-old woman with a mild intellectual disability living in a group home (GH) in Kanagawa Prefecture gave birth to a boy and wanted to raise him, but had no choice but to place him in an infant home. They were not accepted at GH, and it was difficult to receive sufficient childcare support outside of the GH.
It was learned on the 1st that a 31-year-old woman with mild intellectual disability living in a group home (GH) in Kanagawa Prefecture gave birth to a boy and wanted to raise him, but had no choice but to place him in an infant home. They were not accepted at GH, and it was difficult to receive sufficient childcare support outside of GH.
A jury trial began on September 20th at the Okayama District Court for a mother accused of strangling and killing her 8-year-old son, who was severely intellectually disabled, in Wake Town, Okayama Prefecture in June 2022. The mother admitted to the indictment, saying, “There is no doubt.”
Under the system, welfare and other workers assist in defense lawyers’ activities in the investigation and court hearing stages and propose rehabilitation support plans suitable for the defendants in terms of their disabilities and characteristics.
The system, dubbed the “Osaka Model,” has achieved some results, but seems to have reached a turning point as it faces challenges to secure welfare and other personnel.
Barrier Free Japan