On July 8, an attempt to use virtual reality (VR) in training for people with developmental or cognitive disabilities to find employment or return to work was held at ‘Work Support Suginami’, an employment transition support office in Tokyo’s Suginami Ward.
In April, the app “shikAI” that supports the movement of visually impaired people about 200 meters between the exit of Tokyo Metro Higashi-Ikebukuro Station (Higashi-Ikebukuro 4) and the ward office (Minami-Ikebukuro 2) “started to provide voice route guidance.”
The so-called “digital disability certificate”, which is equipped with information on the disability certificate on smartphones, became available for use on JR and private railways nationwide from the 13th.
A Japanese government institution has developed a smartphone app designed to prevent elderly people from developing dementia amid restraints on going out and other activities away from home due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
“Mohammad Pashai, an Iranian resident of Japan who became paralyzed from the waist down after an accident at work, is expanding the horizons of his disabled compatriots back home by sending them secondhand wheelchairs and other assistive devices.”
“US IT firm Gartner predicts that in 2023 the employment opportunities for people with disabilities will triple. Opportunities will open not only to people with disabilities, but also to many people who have not been able to work for various reasons.”
A Kobe City based NPO draws on input from physically disabled people to develop new assist technologies.
“Japanese company ‘Whill’ produces smartphone-controlled wheelchair”
“The realization of a society in which physically disabled people can be transported on autonomous wheelchairs at such places as airports and shopping centers has moved a step closer with the start of trials in Tokyo by Yokohama-based venture company Whill Inc. together with Mitsubishi Electric Corp. and others.”
“Whill Inc. has raised a $45 million Series C funding round after quietly moving its headquarters this summer from San Carlos to Yokohama, Japan, where it began eight years ago.”
Barrier Free Japan