Since the Tokyo Games, however, such support has been scaled back. Corporate sponsorship for the Japanese Para-Swimming Federation totaled only about ¥40 million this year, a 50% decrease from 2020.
International Paralympic Committee President Andrew Parsons heaped praise on the way last year’s pandemic-delayed Tokyo Paralympics were conducted, lauding the role para sports have had in fostering awareness and helping Japanese society become progressively more inclusive.
Toshiyuki Saito, the head of the All Nippon ID Sport Association, also known as ANISA, is urging the IPC to allow competitors with intellectual impairments to contest a broader range of sports to give them more visibility at the Paralympics.
“They should increase the number of intellectual disability Paralympic medal events in order to give athletes with intellectual disability a chance to inspire the world,” Saito said.
While the success sparked increased interest in the Paralympics, it came against a background in which many domestic athletes with disabilities struggle to find places to practice.
Tokyo police sent to public prosecutors on Thursday papers on an employee of Toyota Motor Corp. over a self-driving bus accident at the Paralympic athletes village in Tokyo that inflicted injury on a visually impaired Japanese athlete.
Tokyo police sent to public prosecutors on Thursday papers on an employee of Toyota Motor Corp. over a self-driving bus accident at the Paralympic athletes village in Tokyo that inflicted injury on a visually impaired Japanese athlete.
In addition to encouraging their participation in society, more products that demonstrate disabled people’s artistry and sense of design are hitting the market, with last year’s Tokyo Paralympic Games giving these initiatives even more momentum.
Amid concern among the Japanese public over staging the Summer Games during the pandemic, when the capital and other parts of the country were under a COVID-19 state of emergency, Japanese athletes excelled by winning a total of 58 medals, including a record 27 gold, in the Olympics and 51 medals, including 13 gold, in the Paralympics.
Seventy percent of respondents in the survey, conducted on people with a wide variety of disabilities, such as hearing, mental, and visual impairments, in 45 of the 47 prefectures said the hosting of the sports event led to a better understanding of their own disability or disabilities, in general.
The former Paralympic swimmer said that the legacy of the Tokyo Paralympics should be Japan becoming more aware of people with disabilities and barriers they face and realizing a more inclusive society.
Barrier Free Japan