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.
The Emperor of Japan said:
“I would like to make this address in the hope that, through Disability Week, people’s understanding of and interest in disability and people with disabilities will further expand and that a truly ‘symbiotic society’ will be realised.”
At the Budget Committee meeting, Daisuke Tenbata, an Upper House member of the opposition party Reiwa Shinsengumi, said Mio Sugita’s comments reflect a bygone era of a totalitarian government that sought to ostracize people with disabilities and homosexuals as a worthless existence in society. Tenbata is disabled and uses a wheelchair.
Saturday 3rd of December was the UN International Day of People with Disabilities.
Japan’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has established appropriate facilities and equipment such as barrier-free toilets, parking facilities for wheelchair users, elevators in passenger facilities, and priority seats in vehicles so that those who “truly need them” can use them when they need them. The Ministry states that it will carry out a campaign to promote the use of these facilities and promote “barrier-free minds.”
“Barrier-free minds” is a phrase that various parts of the Japanese government uses often in its various campaigns to raise awareness of disability issues; and of course, raising awareness of the needs of people with disabilities within the non-disabled population of Japan is a positive thing. However sometimes the desire of the Japanese government to talk about “barrier-free minds”, seems to replace any talk or action about developing ‘barrier-free spaces’. It is all very well and good to talk about “barrier-free minds”, but sometimes, people with disabilities need accessible physical spaces, ultimately no ‘positive attitude’ will turn that staircase into an elevator.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism has established appropriate facilities and equipment such as barrier-free toilets, parking facilities for wheelchair users, elevators in passenger facilities, and priority seats in vehicles so that those who truly need them can use them when they need them. The Ministry will carry out a campaign to promote the use of these facilities and promote “barrier-free minds.”
Suspended prison sentences handed to the former head of a day care facility in southwestern Japan and a fellow staff member over the heatstroke death of a 5-year-old boy who was left alone in a bus in July 2021 have been finalized, the Fukuoka District Court has told the Mainichi Shimbun.
The man claims that from around July to October 2017, when he was in his first year of junior high school, he was bullied by six students in the same class, resulting in an adjustment disorder and obsessive-compulsive disorder, forcing him to change schools. The man is seeking approximately 12 million yen in damages from the school.
The incident arose after the then first-grade student ate the teacher’s lunch while she was absent from the classroom during a break. When the teacher learned what had happened, she attached a note of apology to the student’s back and walked him around the school for about 20 minutes.
Barrier Free Japan