Yasunori Shimamoto
Executive Director, Japanese Federation of the Deaf

The Japanese Federation of the Deaf, a general incorporated foundation (hereinafter “the Federation”) is a nationwide organisation made up of member groups from 47 prefectures, and advances “deaf movement” which protects the human rights of deaf people and eliminates discrimination.

Group photograph taken at the time of our foundation

After WWII, a period in which discrimination was rife and human rights were not even recognized, a group of deaf people who were interested in these problems came together at Ikaho Onsen in Gunma Prefecture in 1947 and established a national organisation. This year marks the 75^th anniversary of our foundation. Over the course of this long history, there have been many fights against discrimination.

In 1973, deaf people became able to obtain a driving license “with certain conditions attached”. Moreover, in 1979, “deaf, mute, and blind people” were deleted from the list of “quasi-incompetent persons” in Article 11 of the Civil Code in use at the time, making it possible for deaf people to buy automatic cars and motorcycles for use in their daily lives and to take out housing loans to purchase their own homes, and thus enabling them to improve their quality of life. Furthermore, efforts were made to develop sign language interpreters in order for deaf and non-deaf people to live and prosper together in society.

An expert witness speaks before the Diet on the topic of obtaining driving licenses

We have many comrades who underwent forced sterilization or abortion on the pretexts of preventing the birth of inferior progeny and protecting the mother’s health under the former Eugenic Protection Act, a law which was in existence from 1948 until 1996. This is now the subject of much discussion. They have been compelled to fight tough court cases across the country, and won their cases in the High Courts of Osaka and Tokyo. However, the national government has appealed the High Court decisions. Our fight is not yet over. Discrimination stemming from eugenic thought against people who cannot use spoken language, as inferior in their abilities or as humans, still exists even today.

The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, adopted by the United Nations(UN) in 2006, states that sign language is a language. I will explain the background to the reason why the Convention states it. In 2003, at ESCAP (the UN’s Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific), Eiichi Takada, one of Board Members  of the World Federation of the Deaf, who was from the Federation in Japan, proposed that spoken language and sign language were included in “language”. As a result, this was incorporated into the Bangkok draft. The Bangkok draft was reflected in the discussions at the UN, and the fact that “Language includes sign language” came to be clearly stated in the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. After the Convention was adopted, Japan’s Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities also specified that language included sign language, and we carried out movement demanding that the government shall enact a Sign Language Act.

Demonstration calling for the enactment of a Sign Language Act

In 2015, the UN adopted the SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals). These have 17 different themes, with the slogan of “leaving no one behind”.

Third place in the table tennis women’s doubles, Deaflympics 2017!

The Federation is currently taking on a major challenge in the run-up to 2025: hosting the Deaflympics, the Olympics for deaf athletes, in Japan(*). This is not simply about encouraging sports for deaf athletes; it is about transforming society to make it inclusive, as one aspect of the attempt towards the SDGs. First, we aim to raise awareness about the existence of the Deaflympics, and then about deaf people, as well as about sign language, and to work together eventually for people with and without hearing disability to build a society in which we can live and flourish together: this is our vision as we promote our movement.

* On 9th September 2022, Tokyo, Japan was selected to host the Deaflympics in 2025.