90 percent Japanese feel discrimination against disabled: survey
Some 88.5 percent of respondents said prejudice against these persons either «exists» or «exists to some amount» despite the Tokyo Paralympics held in 2021, showed survey results issued by the Cabinet Office in late February.
The figure, from the survey conducted last year, was higher than the 83.9 percent of respondents who gave comparable responses in the prior survey, which was done in 2017, a year after legislation prohibiting discrimination against individuals with disabilities went into effect.
Revised in 2021, the law required private businesses to make reasonable accommodations for people with disabilities by putting in place policies including providing wheelchairs with sloping entry points and written communications for those who have hearing impairments.
However, just 24 percent of respondents indicated they were aware of the law, while 74.6 percent gave negative replies.
When asked if there had been any improvement over the previous five years among those who reported experiencing bias and discrimination in the poll, which was performed in November and December 2022, a total of 58.9 percent of respondents replied yes, while 40.4 percent said no.
The survey was conducted by mail, with questionnaires being sent to 3,000 people aged 18 and older, resulting in 1,765 providing valid responses. In-person interviews were used in the prior poll in 2017.