On February 19th, the Niigata District Court handed down a sentence of 14 years in prison to a former employee of an organization, who was charged with crimes including sexually assaulting and injuring a woman with a disability while transporting her in Sanjo City. The court ruled that “he repeatedly committed the crime, taking advantage of the fact that the victim could not resist, which is despicable.”

Episode Notes:

‘Former Niigata NPO employee sentenced to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman with a disability’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/02/24/former-niigata-npo-employee-sentenced-to-14-years-in-prison-for-sexually-assaulting-a-woman-with-a-disability/


Former Niigata NPO employee sentenced to 14 years in prison for sexually assaulting a woman with a disability

The Japan Branch of the NPO Disabled People’ International (DPI), located in Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, will hold an online rally on the theme of “Prisoners with disabilities and their right to use wheelchairs” on Saturday, April 5, 2025.

The rally is being held in response to a ruling handed down in a lawsuit seeking ‘reasonable accommodation’ in Gifu, a lawsuit concerning an alleged human rights violation in which an inmate with walking difficulties was denied wheelchair access at Gifu Prison for over 10 years. On October 30, 2024, the Gifu District Court did not recognize the denial of wheelchair access as illegal and ruled against the plaintiff.

Episode notes: 

‘Disabled People International Japan Branch to Hold ‘Online Rally’ on “Prisoners with Disabilities and the Right to Use Wheelchairs” ’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/02/26/disabled-people-international-japan-branch-to-hold-online-rally-on-prisoners-with-disabilities-and-the-right-to-use-wheelchairs/

DPI Website:

https://www.dpi-japan.org/blog/events/disabled-inmates-and-wheelchair-access-rights-rally/

Disabled People International Japan Branch to Hold ‘Online Rally’ on “Prisoners with Disabilities and the Right to Use Wheelchairs”

A report by All Nippon News Network (ANN) broadcast on February 28th confirmed that the seven employment support offices of the company ‘Union Social System’ that has its headquarters in Shinjo City, Yamagata prefecture, will close in March 2026; leading to 217 employees losing their jobs, a result of the so-called "1.06 million yen barrier.”

Episode Notes:

‘Yamagata Employment Support Offices for Disabled Closures Confirmed, Seven Offices to Close in March 2026, 217 Layoffs’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/03/01/yamagata-employment-support-offices-for-disabled-closures-confirmed-seven-offices-to-close-in-march-2026-217-layoffs/


Yamagata Employment Support Offices for Disabled Closures Confirmed, Seven Offices to Close in March 2026, 217 Layoffs

This UVA Speaks podcast features Abby Fines, Assistant Professor of Education in the Department of Kinesiology and Director of the Lifetime Physical Activity Program at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. Fines specializes in adaptive physical activity, focusing on tailoring exercise and sports programs to meet the unique needs of individuals with disabilities. She highlights that in kinesiology, exercise is regarded as medicine and advocates for equal access to sports and recreational activities. This involves breaking down barriers and advancing opportunities in adaptive sports.

Transcripts of the audio broadcast can be found here. https://www.rev.com/transcript-editor/shared/hnzOOgANgiHnF7kEfRnI6C1pqJpD-XH318GS7cejg6LDrd0JdC7rSlkxrnQiOi25Q2IaZFYKqQUtV9GIK79gjIwfVis?loadFrom=SharedLink

Abby Fines is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Kinesiology and the Director of the Kinesiology Lifetime Physical Activity (KLPA) program at the School of Education and Human Development at the University of Virginia. She oversees more than 35 academic courses designed to equip students with the knowledge and skills needed to lead physically active lives. With a specialization in adaptive physical activity, Fines focuses on sports development for individuals with intellectual, physical, and sensory disabilities across various levels of play and competition. Her research is dedicated to creating equitable opportunities for participation, particularly for para-athletes, in both school and community athletic settings.

Adapting Physical Activity for the Disabled

The final episode of NHK’s TV programme on minorities ‘Baribara’ will air on NHK E on Thursday March 6th 2024 at 20:00PM. It will look back on the 15 years of the programme covering the issues concerning minority groups in Japan.

NHK ‘Baribara’ Website:
 
https://www.nhk.jp/p/baribara/ts/8Q416M6Q79/episode/te/X4G14WJ361/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR3lm_sjqkgRcXoriLFGcnhx4xjVVOkkunC39QgIO8CeqlmiC25tz_qbW1k_aem_IkpwKm5ZFRuT4FU8-H8xLw

Final Episode of NHK’s ‘Barrier Free Variety’ TV Show Airs on March 6th 2025

In August 2024, Ms. Koyuki Hamano, 16, an intellectually disabled girl who was a resident of Chiba City, was rejected from the Chiba prefectural high school entrance examination, and asked the prefectural government to cancel her rejection, the Chiba District Court rejected her request to be provisionally obligated to enroll in the school. On February 4, Hamano's parents held a press conference in the city and announced that they have given up on the idea of continuing her education in the prefecture, terminated the trial, and that she will enroll in a Tokyo metropolitan high school from April.

Episode Notes: ‘Intellectually Disabled Girl Has to Move from Chiba to Tokyo to Attend High School’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/03/05/intellectually-disabled-girl-has-to-move-from-chiba-to-tokyo-to-attend-high-school/

Intellectually Disabled Girl Has to Move from Chiba to Tokyo to Attend High School

In this Complex Care Journal Club podcast episode, Dr. Cristina Sarmiento discusses a qualitative study exploring experiences of young adults with cerebral palsy and their caregivers with transition to adult care. She describes the major barriers and facilitators to transition, challenges and opportunities related to conducting the study, implications for practice, and next steps from this work.

SPEAKER
Cristina Sarmiento, MD
Assistant Professor
University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

HOST
Emily J. Goodwin, MD
Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics
University of Missouri Kansas City School of Medicine
Pediatrician, General Academic Pediatrics Beacon Program
Children’s Mercy Kansas City

DATE
Initial publication date: March 10, 2025.

ARTICLE REFERENCED
Sarmiento CA, Wyrwa JM, Glaros C, Holliman BD, Brenner LA. Experiences of young adults with cerebral palsy in pediatric care transitioning to adult care. Dev Med Child Neurol. 2025 Jan;67(1):99-110. doi: 10.1111/dmcn.15907. Epub 2024 Mar 24. PMID: 38523396.‌

TRANSCRIPT
https://cdn.bfldr.com/D6LGWP8S/as/63kfcjrfv57nh4t8qbrhrvj/March_CCJCP_Sarmiento_transcript_Final_3-5‌

Clinicians across healthcare professions, advocates, researchers, and patients/families are all encouraged to engage and provide feedback! You can recommend an article for discussion using this form: forms.gle/Bdxb86Sw5qq1uFhW6 

Please visit: http://www.openpediatrics.org OPENPediatrics™ is an interactive digital learning platform for healthcare clinicians sponsored by Boston Children’s Hospital and in collaboration with the World Federation of Pediatric Intensive and Critical Care Societies. It is designed to promote the exchange of knowledge between healthcare providers around the world caring for critically ill children in all resource settings. The content includes internationally recognized experts teaching the full range of topics on the care of critically ill children. All content is peer-reviewed and open-access thus at no expense to the user. For further information on how to enroll, please email: openpediatrics@childrens.harvard.edu

CITATION
Sarmiento, C, Goodwin EJ.  Let’s Talk about Transition: Experiences of Young Adults with Cerebral Palsy and their Caregivers. 3/2025. OPENPediatrics. Online Podcast.



Let’s Talk about Transition: Experiences of Young Adults with Cerebral Palsy and Their Caregivers‌

In this episode of 'Where Am I?', we hit the cinemas to test out audio description devices! Lima and Jamal, both vision-impaired, share their experiences—do these devices make movies more accessible, or is streaming at home with AD the better option? We talk about what works, what doesn't, and how cinemas can improve.

Supported by the City of Sydney.

Where Am I? - A Trip to the Movies with Audio Description 🎧

On the 27th of last month, Sho Tanaka, 31, a doctor, was found collapsed in a space on the first basement floor of an elevator in a commercial building in Chuo Ward, Kobe, and later died. Before Dr. Tanaka was found, a store employee saw the elevator's fourth floor door open with no “cage” in place.

Episode Notes:

‘Police Investigate Elevator Management Company After Man Dies in Kobe Elevator Accident’:

https://barrierfreejapan.com/2025/03/07/police-investigate-elevator-management-company-after-man-dies-in-kobe-elevator-accident/


Police Investigate Elevator Management Company After Man Dies in Kobe Elevator Accident

Barrier Free Japan found a copy of ‘Hunchback’ by Saou Ichikawa in the Osaka Umeda branch of Kinokuniya. I have been looking forward to reading this. Saou Ichikawa’s ‘Hunchback’ won the Akutagawa Prize in 2023.

I would love to meet Saou Ichikawa. 

As people with disabilities we are not meant to use terms like ‘inspires’, but as a fellow person with disabilities, she ’inspires’ me to write fiction about having a disability in Japan - Ichikawa has congenital myopathy.

‘Hunchback’ (Amazon JP): 

https://www.amazon.co.jp/-/en/Saou-Ichikawa/dp/0241700787/ref=sr_1_1?crid=YWLMGXWX9HX0&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.tviLY6Hihc9Wld73kSNFDNgIMyu95jzmtY1FHVvoFbo.O-ev19sX2ziT9J5aBh6OU0KTipw5EKycw-KkJEItoZw&dib_tag=se&keywords=hunchback+saou+ichikawa&qid=1741701309&sprefix=%2Caps%2C187&sr=8-1

Saou Ichikawa’s Akutagawa Prize-Winning Novel ‘Hunchback’ Now Translated into English

The University of Virginia Lifetime Learning program enriches the intellectual life of UVA’s alumni, friends, and families through faculty lectures and online resources.

Hosted by Michael Gillan Peckitt, who resides in Kobe, Japan, the Disability News Japan Podcast is News website 'Barrier Free Japan's podcast, a weekly digest of some of the news about disability in Japan in audio form. New episodes will usually available every Friday at 6am Japan Time.

Radio Skid Row is a grassroots community radio station based in Marrickville, broadcasting to the Inner City Sydney. This includes the municipalities of Leichhardt, Marrickville and the City of Sydney.
Radio Skid Row plays some of the best hip hop and reggae you will hear on air Sydney. we also broadcast in 15 languages!

Our SoundCloud page invites you to listen to programs, interviews and segments.

New tracks tagged #disability