2,000 disabled people in rally call for withdrawal of bill to revise ‘self-support’ law

Japan Press Weekly

Japan Press Service Co., Ltd. is the only news agency providing information of progressive, democratic movements in Japan

2,000 disabled people in rally call for withdrawal of bill to revise ‘self-support’ law

On June 8 in front of the Diet Building, about 2,000 disabled people held a rally demanding the abolition of a bill to revise the disabled person “self-support” law that includes the “beneficiary-pays principle.”

The bill maintains the “beneficiary-pays principle” which forces disabled persons to pay 10 percent of the costs for any services they use, and which has been criticized for imposing heavier burdens on those who have a more serious disability.

Mediated by the court, the government once agreed with plaintiffs and their lawyers in the disabled persons’ lawsuits in their effort to abolish the current “self-support” assistance law and to establish a new one.

Based on this agreement, with disabled persons’ in attendance, a discussion on creating a new law has just begun. However, in collaboration with the Liberal Democratic and Komei parties, the ruling Democratic Party of Japan intends to enact the bill as it is.

At the rally, ex-plaintiff from Hiroshima Prefecture said, “The bill doesn’t contain the important point reached in the agreement. If such a bill passes through the Diet, we’ll have to experience the same difficulties again.”

Japan National Assembly of Disabled People’s International Secretary General Onoue Koji said, “I condemn the government for submitting the bill without talking with us at all.”

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Councilors Koike Akira stated, “It is unacceptable that the government is attempting to enact the bill in defiance of the court-mediated agreement. Public pressure can influence government policy. Let’s work together to scrap the bill.”

- Akahata, June 9, 2010