Research Report for Cycle 2

Education ≠ equal right?

Education for people with foreign roots

negative stories of toujisha

(According to The Mainichi in 2019)

① A Brazilian girl: 14-year-old

Without getting a sufficient explanation, she was placed in special-needs class. One day, when the girl was in her fourth year of elementary school, it emerged that she couldn't do multiplication. She said "At school, we dig for potatoes."

②A Brazilian woman: in her 20s (already graduated)

Japan's school was "prison camps for Brazilians" because we are forced to enroll in special-needs classes whether we want to or not.

The reason for the increase of special support needs

First, developmental disabilities are widely recognized today, so more and more children are being diagnosed.

Second, parents are now choose special-needs schools and classes for their children in order to make receive more detailed and individualized support for each children's situation.

According to the NPO 夢職人, These lead more and more classes are needed and mean facilities and equipments inadequate.

検証会議 and 報告書(report)

The prefectural government has identified this as a case of abuse and set up a 検証会議. It compiled the report after six meetings and suggested two main lack points.

The first one was sex education and support for people with intellectual disabilities. In special-needs schools, students are taught that if they became pregnant, they should visit a hospital and consult with someone closely.

However, the woman said, "I didn't really have anyone to get advice from about my pregnancy." She also implied that she didn't understand the effect of pregnancy on their bodies and raising a baby. This means it was difficult for her to act even if she receive sex education. I thought this go through not only for people with disabilities, but also for all of woman.

The second one was support for people with intellectual disabilities and their families. At that time, several agencies were not aware of her pregnancy. Welfare services are hospitable for people with more levels of disabilities. But there are few opportunities to provide extensive support for people with mild disabilities unless they are willing to consult.

One of the woman's older sister and younger brother who lived together had more severe intellectual disabilities, so not enough relationship was established between parents and her. The situation was considered a problem in which she were separated from the agencies and also from her parents.

Summary

These days, inclusive education is a hot topic, I have found that it is realistically difficult to educate all children in the same classroom without dividing them. For children with disabilities, enough facilities are urgently needed, and for children with language difficulties, teachers should start with a reasonably slow teaching. I realized the importance of forming an environment where the child can receive the education he or she desires.

Sex education for children with intellectual disabilities could be viewed as an issue of intersectionality. Since it was the first time for me to have this perspective, I felt the complexity of the issue of education of children with disabilities and pregnant women from actual court cases.