Takeshi Kaneko
Adviser, Japan League on Developmental Disabilities/
Emeritus Professor, Meiji Gakuin University

The Japan League for the Mentally Retarded, the forerunner of the Japan League on Developmental Disabilities, came into being in 1974. The four organisations from Japan that had participated in the first Asian Conference on Intellectual Disabilities held in Manila, the Philippines, the previous year came together and set up a single organisation in order to host the second conference in Tokyo. These four were our current constituent organisations: the Japanese Association on Intellectual Disability, which brings together facilities for people with intellectual disabilities; the Japan Teachers’ Association for the Study of Special Needs Education; New Inclusion Japan for people with intellectual disabilities and their families; and The Japanese Association for the Study of Developmental Disabilities. In other words, it was established as a platform for collaboration and cooperation between people involved with intellectual and developmental disabilities from various standpoints, including welfare, education, and medicine.

The Asian Conference, which takes place every other year and is hosted in turn by each of the 14 member countries and regions, includes participants from Western countries and from UNESCO, in addition to those from the various Asian countries. The second conference was held in Tokyo in 1975, and the sixteenth in Tsukuba in 2003. One of the most distinctive features of these conferences is that alongside presentations by government officials and researchers, people with disabilities give presentations on their experiences and interact with one another. At one time, it was usual for professionals and those in support roles to take the lead when it came to this area of disability; however, reflecting the core philosophy of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “Nothing about us without us”, we have come to put the people who are directly affected at the centre and are aiming for inclusion.

The principle of “leaving no-one behind” has also been the subject of passionate discussions at these conferences, but as soon as we step outside the venue, we are confronted with the reality of roads crowded with cars furiously hooting their horns, reminding us once again that reforming the awareness of local communities is an important issue.

Report on a special needs school in the Philippines at the Asian Conference on Intellectual Disabilities

The 25^th conference, held last November, was hosted by the Philippine Association for Intellectual Disabilities, but was held online because of COVID-19. The theme was “Transforming Schools and Communities for Inclusion”, and presentations on initiatives and research from each country, symposia, and performances by children took place over three days, bringing around 1,000 people together online across the oceans.

Here in Japan, we have been working on policy proposals and seminars on topics such as “Autism Treatment and Education”, “Support for Child-raising”, “Medical Science of Developmental Disabilities”, making the most of the breadth spanned by our constituent organisations. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of seminars held online has increased and, while this has enabled people to participate at a distance, it has made practical content such as case consultations and hands-on skills more difficult. How to effectively incorporate hybrid elements is a challenge for us.

We were in charge of one of the seminars in a series hosted by the Cabinet during Disabled Persons’ Week in December last year, exchanging information about and discussing Business Continuity Plans during disasters.

We will continue to value the voices of the people directly concerned as we collaborate with a variety of people at home and abroad and move ahead with our work to bring about an inclusive society.

Board meeting of the Asian Federation on Intellectual Disabilities