Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare

Japanese

Department of Health and Welfare for Persons with Disabilities

Aiming at the Independence and Social Participation of the Disabled

Based on the concept of "Normalization" that aims to create a society in which people with and without disability help each other to live in the community with vitality and richness in heart, this department will promote the independence and social participation of the disabled.


To Promote Normalization

In order to promote Normalization, the system to offer services is now under the improvement process along with "The Government Action Plan for Persons With Disabilities: A Seven-Year Strategy to Achieve Normalization". As we enter into the new age of the 21st Century, the service system is being renewed to respect the independence of the disabled and to enable them to select welfare services.

The Promotion of "The Government Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities"

In December 1995, the Office for the Promotion of Measures for the Disabled decided "The Government Action Plan for Persons with Disabilities" to aim at the creation of society where people with disabilities can participate and live in a social community.
This plan includes various measures across ministries and agencies such as barrier free measures and welfare services and also clearly indicates numerical target values for the end of fiscal 2002.
All government functions are working in harmony to create communities with vitality where the disabled can live with comfort throughout their lives.

The Mechanism for Using the New Welfare Service for the Disabled

Based on the concept of Normalization, and to respect the decision of the disabled and to establish the equal relationship between the service providers and users, the mechanism for using welfare services is being revised from the conventional system of the administrative office to decide the services offered to the users including the welfare facilities and home helpers to a new system in which the user selects services and directly make contract with service providers.

Securing Medical Care for Mental Diseases with Consideration of the Human Rights of the People with Mental Disorder, and Promoting their Independence and Social Rehabilitation

The population of the disabled is approximately 5.75 million in Japan, and among them the number of the people with mental disorder is estimated 2.17 million.
Based on the concept of Normalization, medical, health and welfare measures for the people with mental diseases focus on 2 themes, "Securing medical care for mental disease with respect for the human rights of the people with mental disease" and "Promoting the social rehabilitation of the people with mental disease and promoting their independence and participation to the social and economic activities". Centering on these themes, we are actively improving the condition of hospitalization and supporting the people with mental disease who live in local communities.

Promoting Social Participation

In order to promote the social participation of the disabled, various support has been provided. As an example, in order to secure the means for information communication (communication), we are training and dispatching volunteers who are capable of sign language and Braille to improve information offering to the disabled. To the people with disability living at home and to their families, we provide support to help them utilize welfare services and to improve their social life. Thus, we are propelling a wide range of measures.
In the Nagano Winter Paralympics held in March 1998, the performance of the disabled gave hope and strong impressions to many citizens. The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare will continue to promote sports for the disabled including the aide for the participation in the Sydney Paralympics. In addition, we are making effort to hold the National Sports Meet for People with Physical Disabilities and Friendshipics (National Sports Meet for Adults with Mental Retardation).


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