Eiichi Konaka
Director, Japanese Federation of the Deaf

The “Act on the Promotion of Measures Related to the Acquisition and Use of Information and to Communication by Disabled People” has been passed. I am deeply moved that our 12 years of activism have borne fruit. The Japanese Federation of the Deaf had been working at the “Central Headquarters to Promote Systemic Reform for People with Hearing Disabilities” (made up of six organisations: the Japanese Federation of the Deaf, Zennancho [Japan Federation of Organisations of the Hearing Impaired and Partially Deaf], Japan Deafblind Association, National Research Association for Sign Language Interpretation, Zenyouken [National Research Association for Summary Writing Problems], and Japanese Association of Sign Language Interpreters) to demand the enactment of an information and communication act since FY 2010.

We carried out our activism in two ways: through the distribution of 300,000 copies of the pamphlet “We Love Communication”, which explains in an easily understandable way the different situations of and communication methods needed by the deaf, hearing impaired and partially deaf, and deafblind people; and through the collection of 1.2 million signatures for a “Written Request for the Implementation of a Legal Framework to Guarantee the Information Access and Communication Rights of all Hearing-Disabled People”.

The title of the pamphlet was an extension of the title of the “I Love Communication” pamphlet calling for the institutionalization of sign language interpreting in 1985. It made an appeal to readers to understand that there are people facing communication difficulties, including not only the deaf but also the hard of hearing, post-lingual deaf, and people with visual impairment (“We”), and that there are various communication methods, such as sign language, summary writing, letters, Braille, or reading aloud.

At that time, domestic legislation was being overhauled by the national government’s Headquarters to Promote Reform of the System for Persons with Disabilities, in the light of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities issued by the United Nations. We discussed how the guarantee of “accessibility” and “communication” should not be limited to the welfare field, but rather positioned as one of the important policies in all areas of society. I quote below from the “Purpose of signing” the written request.

“... The implementation of various projects supporting communication is strongly influenced by the finances and ways of thinking of local authorities, creating a large regional disparity between the scope of dispatch [of support], the number of times dispatched, the imposition of limits on dispatch over a wide area, and so on.

Social participation is not possible with communication support alone. The guarantee of access to information is needed. We must ensure that people are not put at a disadvantage by being unable to acquire information because they cannot hear, such as by displaying the content of spoken announcements about delays to trains in writing, or by adding sign language interpreting or subtitles to broadcasts, including unscheduled broadcasts about natural disasters, political broadcasts, and commercials. We also need to create a society in which the provision of information via sign language, writing, and tactile means is guaranteed in all the settings in which people with hearing disabilities participate in social life; and, in addition, everyday conversation directly via sign language, written communication, tactile communication, and so on becomes taken for granted.”

I cannot forget the national convention of 13 May, 2011. We thought that this meeting, which had been prepared in order to envigorate activism to achieve the goals of the pamphlet and signature-collection movements, could not be held given the situation of the associations in each of the prefectures in Tohoku, which had suffered extensive damage in the Great East Japan Earthquake of 11 March. However, our comrades from the prefectures of Tohoku told us that they would participate because they wanted to say thank you for the support received after the disaster. What made a great impact on me were the lists of signatures of people from the disaster zone. These lists of signatures, which had been soaked in water due to the tsunami and were falling apart, were carefully collected and delivered to us. Among the people who had signed those lists, there were probably some who were caught up in the tsunami and died. An inability to access information can cause loss of life. Their wish that we ensure the realisation of an information and communication act spoke directly to my heart. Colleagues gathered together from all across the country because we had to respond to this wish. In this way, 250,000 copies of the pamphlet were distributed nationwide and, after confirmation by around 350 participants at the national convention of 27 September, 2011, we were able to deliver a list of 1.16 million signatures, the crystallization of many tears, sweat, and lives, to the Diet and the Cabinet.

Since “information accessibility” is a new term which is hard to understand, we held big events to allow people to learn about it in familiar settings. We held talks, symposia, film showings, and exhibitions, as well as hosting an “Information Accessibility Forum” in Akihabara in 2013 for people to understand it by seeing, feeling, and experiencing for themselves. Around 20,000 people visited the event during the three days. We hosted a second forum over two days in 2015, attracting around 10,000 visitors.

In 2012, seeking to learn from policy measures in developed countries, we visited the USA (Federal Communications Commission, Department of Justice, etc.), South Korea (Ministry of Health and Welfare, Korea Communications Agency, etc.), and the UK (Department for Work and Pensions, Deaf Law Centre, etc.) to observe the actual situation regarding the guarantee of access to information and communication. I went to South Korea, observed the actual status of the promotion of measures to add subtitles to television broadcasts and of telecommunication relay services, and keenly felt how far behind Japan was.

Feeling that we must propose an information and communication law, we then formed a working group and held repeated discussions and, in 2018, put together and published a “Draft Bill to Guarantee Information Accessibility and Communication for Disabled People”.

The recent act on the promotion of information accessibility and communication measures for disabled people states that “Access to information and communication are extremely important for the social participation of disabled people”. The part summarizing the fundamental principles as adequate access (1) with a choice of methods according to the disability, (2) equally, without regional disparities, (3) to equivalent information to that available to people without disabilities at the same point in time, (4) by utilizing digital methods is an important, more concrete way of thinking that must be disseminated widely. There are still some aspects lacking in terms of basic policies, but there is also the question of the relationship to other legislation, and so it is important to make a start. We are hopeful that further amendments will be made based on the accumulation of the results of actual practice going forward.

At the Central Headquarters to Promote Systemic Reform for People with Hearing Disabilities, we spent time discussing what “information accessibility” means. What is “information”? What does it mean to make this easy to use? Asking for information or disseminating information oneself – these things also depend on the attitude of the individual. In the past, I think it felt natural to give up because information was difficult to use, not even to know that it existed, and for society to be indifferent to these barriers which were faced. In the period when I had just become an officer of the Japanese Deaf Association, we submitted a request for subtitles to be added to television broadcasts, but nobody was in favour of this. This attitude of wanting to know, needing information, wanting to make use of information must not be denied. When founded on this, ease of accessing and using information equal accessibility. Through my unremitting activism over 12 years – no, longer – I have learned never to give up. This new legislation is to comprehensively promote measures to make it natural for people to be able to use methods such as sign language, written information, summary writing, and so on because they cannot hear. What kind of concrete policy measures are pursued from now on depends on our stance of demanding accessibility without giving up. The establishment of sign language as a choice of language, alongside communication consistent with the disability, is also needed. At the same time that the national and local governments, businesses, and the nation’s citizens have duties, we will continue our activism, and I believe that we each have a duty to go on making an effort.