Towards a society where everyone can live easily
Date: June 28 (Fri.), 2019
Venue: Waseda campus Building No.3 601 class-room
Spe
aker:
Takuya Teramoto, a Counselor on Promotion of Measures for Persons with Disabilities and an Assistant to the Director General for Policies on Cohesive Society, Office Cabinet (at the time of lecture)*
*Currently a Counselor on Medical Care and Welfare, Reconstruction Agency (since July, 2019)
Master of Ceremony:
Hiroshi Fujimoto, Senior Dean, Faculty of Human Sciences (Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences)
Guaranteeing information accessibility for the disabled was supported by PC character interpretation (Screen on the right).
170 staff managers took part in a seminar conducted by Mr. TERAMOTO Takuya, a counselor at the Cabinet Office who is in charge of the Disability Discrimination Elimination Act.
During the lecture, participants discussed with each other themes such as the troubles faced by persons with disabilities, why these troubles arise, and what reasonable accommodation can be provided for specific cases. While presenting and sharing information throughout the venue, he talked about the basic concepts and examples of reasonable accommodation and the direction of society as a whole.
He explained that the purpose of this act is to provide reasonable accommodation necessary to remove the social barriers in daily and social life. In addition, the provision of reasonable accommodation may result in an overload and balance may be lost. In that case, he advised it is important that the university does not handle the issue by itself but in consultation and cooperation with other universities, local governments, and the national government.
It was a fulfilling seminar in which participants could recognize again the importance of thinking about reasonable accommodation from their own standpoint; regardless of whether or not someone has a disability there is always the possibility of facing social barriers.
Voice of the participant
Participants actively engaged in group work (Author, center)
Until now we had identified the difficulties of a disability with the functional difficulties of a disabled person. We learned in this lecture that it is this fixed concept, which should be melted and dissolved, that is the obstacle to the promotion of a barrier-free society.
When we see that conventional social systems are originally designed for the majority of people without disabilities, we realize that disability is inherent to the social system itself, and we can recognize this as a social issue to overcome. Solving this issue means that society acquires a new perspective and expands an irreplaceable diversity.
The idea that a barrier-free society is for everyone, regardless of whether or not a person has a disability, has begun to warm up with the brightness of a sunset in the rainy season.
Administrative Director for General Affairs and Admissions
SILS / GSICCS
Takeyuki Tsukui
