On 6 September 2021, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism (MLIT) held the meeting of Study Group for Supporting People with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities to Use Public Transport for the first time in FY2021.

People with intellectual and developmental disabilities tend to feel anxious about going out and panic in unusual situations, so it is essential to reduce their anxiety with outings and create an environment where they can go out on public transport with a feeling safe.

The number of people with disabilities requesting support has been increasing in recent years and is expected to grow continuously in the future. However, because it is difficult to identify persons with such support needs from outward appearances, public transport operators do not have the know-how to support them and have not sufficiently recognized their needs.

Therefore, this study group was set up in July 2020 to create a manual for public transport operators to organize hands-on program of traveling with public transportations for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. And the study group encourage the operators to take the program forward on their own initiative.

In FY 2020, a survey was conducted through questionnaires and hearings to find out about the actual situation and needs of people with intellectual and developmental disabilities, their families, and public transport operators. Based on the findings, experts composed of academics, disabled persons' organizations (DPOs), and public transport operators developed a draft program and its operating manual.

In 2021, with the cooperation of transport operators, the program will be tried several times, in which people with intellectual and developmental disabilities will participate, and feedback from the participants will be utilized for further improvement of the program. The manual will be available by the end of this fiscal year.

For more information, please visit the website below (Japanese).
https://www.mlit.go.jp/report/press/sogo09_hh_000307.html