Here is my ‘review’ – perhaps ‘appraisal’ or ‘observations’ would be a better way of describing it – of the documentary ‘Mark – A Call to Action’, about my friend, the late Dr. Mark Bookman, which I hope receives wider attention.
The place, Sophia University, Yotsuya Campus. The date, Sunday February 25th 2024.
The reason for this gathering was to watch ‘Mark – A Call to Action’, a documentary film about the late Mark Bookman, an academic historian and disability activist.
Barrier Free Japan is hopefully off to Tokyo by the time this podcast episode drops, or in the language of Douglas Adams, ‘will and have been’ to Tokyo, weather permitting on Sunday 25th February 2024, to see the film about the late Mark Bookman.
NHK reports that life begins to return to normal in Ishikawa Prefecture after the earthquake on January 1st 2024 and it seems that Barrier Free Japan will get to go to Tokyo and see the film about Mark Bookman!
Recent reports made by Japan’s Ministry of Infrastructure, Land and Transport regarding the elderly and people with disabilities are arguably a kind of good news/bad news situation.
Before he died, Mark was working on a new project with an organization that would help organizations such as governments & businesses include people with disabilities called ‘GLIDE’ or ‘Global Leaders in International Disability Education’. The documentary “Mark – A Call to Action” produced by GLIDE will premiere in February 2024 in Tokyo.
Registration application form to attend the premiere in Tokyo in February 2024: https://woobox.com/cg5e8w?fbclid=IwAR27Kqy-ObiWOJ1rhGEYDckuAqwbcVUWYIJK0YPngV4BrjoTZPBSUYf_PRM
GLIDE: https://www.glidefund.org
A male client suffered severe burns while taking a bath at a facility for the disabled in Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture. The staff neglected to check the temperature of the hot water.
Ibaraki City announced on February 5th that a male user in his 30s suffered severe burns to approximately 85% of his body after taking a bath at a municipal living support center for people with disabilities.
Two male employees in charge of bathing did not measure the temperature, so it is possible that the temperature was higher than that.
The man is being treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit.
A Japanese court on Wednesday 7th February recognized a transgender man’s petition to legally change his gender without having first undergone sterilization, after the country’s top court ruled the requirement unconstitutional in October.
According to a prefectural audit, the GH “Fuwafuwa Koda” in Koda Town has over-collected about 12 million yen in food costs from 25 users since its opening in July 2020. Although they collected 28,000 yen per person per month, it was revealed that only about 7,500 yen per month was actually spent on meals.
On January 30th, users of a facility for the disabled in Wajima City, Ishikawa Prefecture, which was hit by the Noto Peninsula earthquake, and their families evacuated to a facility in Aichi Prefecture, together with the staff who had been supporting them.
Barrier Free Japan