According to a questionnaire survey conducted by NHK in collaboration with experts this year in all prefectures and municipalities across the country, there are at least 22,000 people with disabilities who wish to use large-scale “residential facilities” or “group homes” where small numbers of people live, but are on waiting list.
A report published by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare on the 4th, states that the number of workplaces where abuse was confirmed (including overlaps) increased by 4% from the previous year to 447, and the number of people with disabilities who were abused increased by 16% to 761.
Tatebayashi City announced that there was an error in the certification of the “disability surcharge” that is paid to people with disabilities who receive welfare benefits, and that there were cases where the city paid less than the amount, and apologized to the recipients.
In early May 2024 it was reported how, as the employment rate for people with disabilities rose in April 2024, the number of businesses providing work opportunities to people with disabilities on behalf of companies is expanding. However, it is becoming clear that many businesses, but seemingly especially farms, use agencies to hire people with disabilities, without giving them actual work to do; one employee who had a disability was told “coming to the farm is your job.”
The Disability Policy Promotion Council, which is made up of people with disabilities and academic experts, met in Niigata City to exchange opinions on the policies being implemented by the prefecture. Seventeen people attended the meeting of the Disability Policy Promotion Council, and the results of a questionnaire survey conducted by the prefecture last year targeting people with disabilities were announced. 373 people with disabilities living in the prefecture responded to the survey, and 115 people, or 30.8%, answered that they had been discriminated against or had a bad experience.
At a press conference on the 27th, Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare Takemi Keizo said, “I have instructed the Labor Bureau to respond to the successive dismissals and resignations at employment offices where disabled people can learn skills and knowledge while working,” in order to provide detailed support for re-employment.
A nationwide survey of local governments by Kyodo News on the 13th revealed that 329 workplaces where disabled people could gain skills and knowledge while working were closed nationwide between March and July of this year, resulting in at least 5,000 disabled people who worked there being fired or quitting. The highest number of disabled people ever fired in a year was about 4,000. Although this includes retirees, this is an unprecedented number in just five months.
A nationwide survey of local governments by Kyodo News on the 13th revealed that 329 workplaces where disabled people could gain skills and knowledge while working were closed nationwide between March and July of this year, resulting in at least 5,000 disabled people who worked there being fired or quitting. The highest number of disabled people ever fired in a year was about 4,000. Although this includes retirees, this is an unprecedented number in just five months.
Japan is seeing a spread of so-called welfare nail services, or nail stylists dispatched to welfare and other facilities giving manicures to elderly or disabled people.
The number of certified providers of such services, known as “welfare nailists,” has grown 3.5-fold over years, according to a training organization.
It has become clear that group homes for people with disabilities operated by Megumi Co., Ltd., headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo, are overcharging food costs, and the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare has also revealed that they are also fraudulently charging fees for welfare services for the disabled.
Barrier Free Japan