※ For those who registered to attend the symposium, we sent the webinar URL via email on September 12, 2024. If you have not received the email, it is possible that the email address you provided was incorrect. In that case, we kindly ask you to contact us at info@touken.org via email.

Co-organized by:

　Tojisha-Kenkyu Laboratory, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, UTokyo

　The Center for Coproduction of Inclusion, Diversity and Equity, UTokyo

Date and Time: Monday, September 16, 2024 (National Holiday) , 14:00-18:00 JST

Location: ENEOS Hall, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, UTokyo + Webinar

Languages: Japanese (sign language interpreting and captioning will be available) / English / Korean

Participation Fee: Free

The concept of "neurodiversity," created by multiple autistic individuals within online communities since the 1990s, has gradually gained recognition in Japan. This concept emerged within the context of a self-advocacy movement that criticizes the individual model paradigm, which forces one-way adaptation to a society oriented towards the majority. However, in recent years, this term is often used to represent unique human resources, causing the human rights perspective that initially underpinned it to recede into the background.

In the first part of this symposium, practitioners of the neurodiversity movement and participatory autism research/Tojisha-Kenkyu on autism from Finland, the Netherlands, South Korea, Chile, and Japan will be invited to provide an overview of the background of the term neurodiversity and the subsequent developments in the movement and research. In the second part, speakers will introduce how the concept of neurodiversity is being accepted and practiced in various fields in Japan, such as welfare, architecture and urban planning, education, business, and healthcare. Building on these discussions, the third part will involve a general discussion on the challenges that need to be addressed in the future.