Hirofumi Takinami
Member of the House of Councilors
Secretary General, All-party Parliamentary Group for
Promotion of Information and Communication for Children/Persons with Disabilities

I.   Introduction

In the ordinary session of the Diet of 2022, the “Act on the Promotion of Measures Relative to the Obtainment and Use of Information and Communication by Persons with Disabilities” (commonly known as the “Act on the Measures to Promote Information Accessibility and Communication for Persons with Disabilities”) was passed into law.  In this regard, I would like to introduce the history and outline of this enactment.

II.  Background/History of the Enactment

For all persons with disabilities to participate in activities in various fields as members of society, it is extremely important to improve the accessibility (obtainment and use) of information and the enhancement of the means of communication. Based on the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities and the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities, measures such as access to information have already been taken.

Three years ago, the bipartisan “All-party Parliamentary Group for the Promotion of Information and Communication for Children/Persons with Disabilities,” of which I have been serving as the secretary-general since its establishment, proposed the bill and passed the “Reading Barrier-Free Act” (Act on the Promotion of the Improvement of the Reading Environment for Persons with Visual Impairments).  In order to further promote those measures, we have enthusiastically conducted hearings from persons with disabilities and related organizations.  We received a strong demand for the enactment of comprehensive laws related to information accessibility and communication for persons with disabilities. 　In response to this, our Group has conducted repeated deliberations and compiled this bill.

Furthermore, as our Group has many members of the House of Councilors, including Mr. Seiichi Eto, President, we in the House of Councilors submitted the bill, just like what we did for the Reading Barrier-Free Act.  The “Act on the Measures to Promote Information Accessibility and Communication for Persons with Disabilities” was enacted on May 19, 2022 and promulgated and enforced on May 25, 2022.

III. Outline of the Act

1.  Purpose (Article 1)

The purpose is to comprehensively promote the measures for information accessibility and communication for persons with disabilities, thereby contributing to the realization of an inclusive society aimed at by the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities.

2.  Definition of “Persons with Disabilities” (Article 2)

By using the definition of “persons with disabilities” in the Basic Act for Persons with Disabilities, all persons with disabilities are subject to the measures.

3.  Basic Philosophy (Article 3)

The following (1) to (4) are listed as the basic concepts for promoting the measures for information accessibility and communication for persons with disabilities.

(1) As much as possible, people should be able to choose the means of obtaining/using information and communication, according to the types and degrees of their disabilities (Item 1).

(2) To enable people to obtain and use information equally and to facilitate smooth communication regardless of the regions in which they lead their daily and social lives (Item 2).

(3) As much as possible, persons with disabilities should be able to obtain the same information at the same time as those who are not persons with disabilities (Item 3).

(4) In the digital society, we shall be able to obtain and use the information we need and facilitate smooth communication through the use of advanced information and telecommunications networks and technology. (Item 4).

4.  Responsibilities of National and Local Governments, Respect for Opinions of Persons with Disabilities

In addition to stipulating the responsibilities of national and local governments, business operators, and citizens, the Act also stipulates mutual collaboration and cooperation among the parties concerned (Articles 4 to 7).

In particular, Article 4, paragraph 3 stipulates that “the national and local governments shall formulate and implement measures, recognizing that measures for information accessibility and communication for persons with disabilities will also benefit persons without disabilities.”  This means that, for example, people with disabilities should of course be given priority in elevators of station platforms, but if they are vacant, it is useful even for persons without disabilities when they have to carry large luggage or push baby strollers.  This means that it is important to implement measures with the awareness that a society that is friendly to people with disabilities is a society that is easy for people without disabilities to live in.  This is based on the concept that even able-bodied people should be aware that measures for people with disabilities not only address other people’s problems, but also their own.

In addition, since it is extremely important to implement measures together with persons with disabilities, it is stipulated that efforts must be made to respect their opinions. (Article 8).

Furthermore, in order to ensure that the measures for information accessibility and communication are implemented in an integrated manner with other measures for persons with disabilities, the Basic Program for Persons with Disabilities shall be based on the purpose of the provisions of this Act, and ensure that the implementation status of measures is clarified in the White Paper on Persons with Disabilities (Article 9).

In addition, Article 10 stipulates that “the government must take necessary legislative and financial measures in order to implement the policy.”  Among the legislative bills submitted by house members, there are not necessarily many that include “financial measures” in the bill, and therefore, it was a great achievement that even “legislative measures” were also specified.

5.  Basic Measures

(1) Equipment that contributes to the ease of persons with disabilities in obtaining information (Article 11)

Services that utilize information and communication technology and ICT equipment have the potential to overcome the handicap of people with disabilities to a certain extent, and are indispensable for information accessibility and communication for people with disabilities.  Since it is believed that they will become even more important as the digital society progresses in the future, we have established provisions for measures related to the development and dissemination of these.

Specifically, in order to promote the development and proliferation of equipment that contributes access to information for persons with disabilities, the national and local governments shall subsidize the development and provision of such equipment, implement measures such as standardization, provision of information and support for the acquisition of equipment.  In addition, the Act stipulates support for helping persons with disabilities learn how to use the equipment in their homes, and the holding of seminars.

Moreover, in the “Reading Barrier-Free Act,” which was enacted three years ago by the bill submitted by our Parliamentary Group as mentioned above, the statutory ‘forum’ by the parties concerned was established to effectively promote measures.  In this Act, it is also stipulated that “the government shall promote the development and proliferation of equipment that contributes to the acquisition of information by persons with disabilities and improve the quality of such equipment by establishing a ‘forum’ with the staff members of the concerned government agencies, the people involved in the development and provision of such equipment, persons with disabilities and other related parties and shall take the necessary measures for the collaboration and cooperation among the parties concerned.”  It is expected that this statutory ‘forum’ will encourage Japanese companies involved in IT and electronic equipment to take steps to overcome the handicap of persons with disabilities through the development and proliferation of IT equipment.

(2) Disaster/crime prevention, reporting emergencies (Article 12):

Information on disaster prevention and crime prevention, as well as emergency calls are directly related to the life, body and property of persons with disabilities.  Therefore, it is stipulated that measures shall be taken so that persons with disabilities can quickly and securely obtain information on disaster prevention and crime prevention (for example, the installation of facilities and equipment), and they can quickly do emergency reporting and secure smooth communication (for example, the improvement of a reporting mechanism using e-mail and applications).

(3) Measures related to areas necessary for persons with disabilities to lead their daily and social lives independently (Article 13):

The national and local governments shall take measures to secure, train, and improve the quality of “communication supporters” in areas necessary for persons with disabilities to lead daily and social lives independently.  Efforts shall be made to implement measures to support business operators who are engaged in information accessibility and communication.

(4) Consultations with persons with disabilities and information provided to them (Article 14):

Some of the requests we receive from persons with disabilities are that the government should respond properly to consultations with persons with disabilities, that the support from the government should reach them entirely, and that administrative documents and materials should be converted to easy-to-understand versions.  Based on these requests, it is stipulated that the national and local governments shall consider information accessibility and communication for persons with disabilities when responding to various consultations with persons with disabilities, and that they shall provide information to persons with disabilities according to the types and degrees of their disabilities, meaning that consideration shall be given both ways.

(5) Enhancing public interest and understanding, promoting research/studies:

The national and local governments shall take measures such as enhancing public relations and awareness-raising activities (Article 15), and to make efforts to promote research/studies and disseminate their results (Article 16).

IV. About the Future

As mentioned above, this Act is intended to have cross-cutting measures from the perspective of information accessibility and communication for persons with disabilities.  We hope that this Act will trigger further promotion of measures organically with a bigger budget and other catalysts.

The forum, mentioned in above III 5 (1), is a concrete mechanism for the participation of persons with disabilities, and we believe that through this forum, measures that better meet their needs will be developed.