22 October 1997 (Wed)
History and Present Situations of the
Movement of People with Physical Disorder
by
Mr. Akira KODAMA, Vice-chairman
Japanese Federation of Organization of Disabled Persons
1. Beginning of the Movement of People with Physical Disorder
The earliest description of physically disabled persons in any writing can be traced back to Kojiki, the oldest Japanese history book written around 712A. D. The social status of those with physical disabilities seems to have been established around that time and it continued till 1945, a term of 1200 years.
As you all know, August 15, 1945, was the day when World War II ended for Japan. Under the occupation of the allied forces, all the laws and regulations based on discrimination and prejudices were abolished. Later, on December 26, 1949, the Welfare of Physically Disabled Persons Laws of Japan was enacted and, in the following year, 1950, it was put into effect.
The early move towards the Welfare of Physically Disabled Persons Laws started mainly because of our defeat in the war which had put an end to the aid provided by the pre-war government. To help understand the whole picture, it may be wise to start from the beginning of our history.
2. Movement : Process and Development
On August 15, 1945, Japan surrendered unconditionally and lost 43 percent of its once occupied territory including Korea, South Saghalin, the Kuril Islands and Taiwan. Japan not only lost 2,400,000 lives of promising youngsters in battle fields abroad, but also lost some hundreds of thousands of non-militant citizens by the Atomic bomb and other air raids. The total amount of property loss was astronomical. Seven million soldiers and three million Japanese citizens from abroad returned to Japan and in the midst when living conditions were the poorest. Consequently, there were shortages of food, clothing and housing. Not a grain of ration rice was left, only potatoes and sweet potatoes were distributed as staple food. Later on, when potatoes became scarce, beanstalks and pods as well as corn for horses were substituted. Most of the major cities in Japan were burnt down to ashes through air raids and many people had to live in shacks made with tin sheets surrounding the semi-underground air-raid shelters. The Ministry of Health and Welfare estimated the number of those in need of support at the end of 1945 amounted to around eight million.
The big cities were populated with war veterans and those who repatriated from abroad and war orphans without homes to live in or jobs to acquire food. Many of those who lost hope in their future became desperate and men/women degraded themselves to become prostitutes.
People who grew in desperate conditions were liable to do anything. In the fear a upheaval, General Headquarters ordered the Japanese Government to work out a practical plan of relief and welfare for the needy, emphasizing the importance of the principles of equal justice for all that guarantee the minimum standard of living.
Responding to this order, the Japanese Government drew up the "General Emergency Plan for Poor Relief", which was approved by the Cabinet. It was submitted to GHQ with a supplementary note indicating that it was a transitional plan. The Japanese government aimed to enact the Poor Relief Plan. It is interesting to guess how GHQ responded to this plan.
3. Present Situations and Future Issues
As mentioned above, social welfare in Japan was developed by adopting American social security system after World War II. Much emphasis was placed on the responsibility of the national government. The Article 25 of the New Constitution enacted in November 1946, states that the national government guarantees "the minimum standard of healthy and cultural life" of the people. Thereafter, various laws related to social welfare were enacted and put into effect one after another. Among the laws include the Welfare of Physically Disabled Persons Law in which physically disabled persons also includes the visually and hearing impairment. It was enacted in December 1949, and put into effect in April, 1950. This law is aimed to solve issues of the war veterans and physically disabled persons in general, but it had long, been neglected since after early atempts to resolve the attachment.
At a later result of the nation-wide movement prompted by the enactment of the Law, physically disabled persons' organizations were founded throughout Japan. They were organized by type of disability in various parts of the country. This trend spread slowly but steadily and powerfully to other parts of Japan.
The issue of the Physically Disabled Persons' Certificates for only individual disabled persons, is stipulated in Article 15 of the Welfare of Physically Disabled Persons Law. It serves as a sort of ID card to protect their daily life, medical care and rights. With this Certificate, the disabled person may get discount on railway or airplane fare, be exempted from medical care fee, and receive a 50 percent discount on highway toll fee. It would not be an exaggeration to say that the Certificate is indispensable to disabled persons' daily life. The Certificate system mentioned above started 42 years ago.
Persons with disabilities living in Tokyo can get a free ride on the metropolitan subway and buses by showing the conductors their Certificate Booklet. The population of disabled persons in the Metropolitan of Tokyo is 305,000 and 2,948,000 nationally.
In 1979 after the UN decided the International Year of Disabled Persons, the Japanese Promotional Council of IYDP was founded on April 19, 1980. Following the UN Decade of Disabled Persons (1983-1992), the Asian and Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons (1993-2002) was formed. Within the Asian Pacific Decade of Disabled Persons, meetings were held in Okinawa and Manila in 1993, in Jakarta in 1995, in Oakland in 1996, and in Seoul in 1997. Thus, interaction among disabled persons on international level become more and more apparent.
As for domestic movement, the Fundamental Law for Disabled Persons was promulgated on December 2, 1993, it was something that was most welcomed because in this law, the mentally retarded came to be regarded as the disabled for the first time. The concept of "Normalization" is that a normal society is a society where any person is respected as a member of society and can live equally regardless of disability, age and sex. This concept has become a big trend in disabled persons' movement not only internationally but also domestically. In December 1995, the Japanese government announced a Government Action Plan. As many of the previous promotional measures for the disabled tended to be short-term or temporal, the government followed the advice of the council on social security system that more long-term, comprehensive and phased promotion is essential, and brought forth the Action Plan on December 18, 1995. It has a sub-title "Seven Year Strategy on Normalization" and all the ministries have worked out various types of measures including numerical targets.
From "Resource Book of Training Course for Leaders of Persons with Disabilities 1997"
Japanese Society for Rehabilitation of Disabled Persons