In order to aim for the true meaning of inclusive society where the rights of people with intellectual disabilities to be able to love, marry, and give birth to and raise children are being respected and protected,
This is not only about the eugenics perspective…
Statement: In order to aim for the true meaning of inclusive society where the rights of people with intellectual disabilities to be able to love, marry, and give birth to and raise children are being respected and protected,
This is not only about the eugenics perspective…
We, “ A group of researchers concerned with the sexuality of people with disabilities” are issuing this statement in the wake of the infertility treatments which occurred at a group home of the Asunaro Fukushi Kai social welfare corporation (hereinafter “the Asunaro Fukushikai”) in Hokkaido, with the aim of reforming society where anyone who wishes can love, marry, and raise children.
We see this case in two aspects: from the clients’ point of view, there are areas where human rights are violated, while from the service provider’s point of view, there are areas where it is understandable.
We regret that the fact that Asunaro Fukushikai violated the “Rights to maintain reproductive capacity” enshrined in Article 23 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (hereinafter “the Convention”).
Furthermore, if, as the media reports indicate, people with intellectual disabilities were not provided sexuality education and were forced to choose sterilization as a precondition for marriage, then this decision is not considered to have been made with free will, rather, it should be considered as a “double bind”. For this reason, it is inconceivable that people with intellectual disabilities had the opportunity to “choose and manage their own life” which is stipulated in the General Comment of Article 19 of the Convention. Even if the person with disabilities declared that they have no desire to become pregnant or have a baby in the near future in order to live with her partner, we believe that it was necessary to consider the possibility that people with intellectual disabilities’ intention could change in the future, and therefore to propose irreversible procedures instead of contraceptive methods is a violation of their rights.
On the other hand, when considering the fact that many facilities and organizations are not yet able to permit people with intellectual disabilities to live with their partner or to get married, for the sake of “safety” and “management” reasons of their facilities and organizations, it could be seen that Asunaro Fukushikai has been taking progressive steps to acknowledge the wishes and willingness of people with intellectual disabilities.
Even today, in the field of social welfare for people with disabilities, there are many carers who are striving hard to create opportunities for people with disabilities to be able to form relationships with others, to support their ability to marry, and to give birth to and raise children.
However, there is neither legal basis which can help to sustain such supports for people with disabilities nor adequate compensation for such support. In these circumstances, supporting those needs are totally left to the values of individual carers and each organization, so that we have to rely on their goodwill. Especially, in the area of child-rearing support, people with disabilities are not expected to become parents so that there is no enough support for parents with disabilities. It is stated in the Article 23 of the Convention that it is the right of people with disabilities to form a family and to raise their children, and the necessary support for having a family and rearing children should be provided by the government.
In other words, it is the responsibility of our society to create an environment in which everyone, including people with disabilities, can raise children. It is not the Asunaro Fukushikai but rather our society, that has failed to acknowledge that people with disabilities also have the willingness to love, marry, and give birth to and raise children, and therefore has failed to create a legal system that takes their needs into consideration.
In each of our lives, there is a chance that such life events as meeting with somebody, separating, falling in love, cohabiting, marriage, divorce, remarriage, childbirth, and child rearing would occur. However, many people with intellectual disabilities even do not have chance to experience those life events.
We believe that this is not only the eugenic perspective in the society, but also the following six underlying issues that make people with intellectual disabilities unable to experience those life events.
1) Lack of opportunities and support to form and maintain enriching relationships, including romantic ones.
2) Lack of policy/systems that support marriage, childbirth, and child rearing regardless of having a disability.
3) Lack of options for contraceptive methods.
4) Lack of comprehensive sexuality education.
5) Lack of opportunities for carers to learn about the sexuality of people with disabilities.
6) Lack of research by the government.
Based on the current circumstances above, the government should consider the following 6 tasks.
1) The government should provide a legal basis to allow and to support the opportunity to form and maintain enriching relationships, including romantic ones.
2) A system that allows people to be able to marry, give birth, and raise children regardless of having disabilities.
3) Permit more contraceptive options (e.g., LARC1).
4) Promote comprehensive sexuality education according to each life stage.
5) Provide opportunities for carers to learn about love, marriage, childbirth, and child rearing of people with disabilities.
6) Research on the current situations in the field in regards to love, marriage, childbirth, and child rearing of people with disabilities.
From all members of " A group of researchers concerned with the sexuality of people with disabilities"
Wakae Nobuhara, Yuko Kadoshita, Ai Takeshi, Masaru Nagawa, Shunsuke Kyo, Etsuko Sakairi and Jiyoon Song
Note 1: LARC is Long Acting Reversible Contraception, the most effective and safe method of reversible contraception to avoid unwanted pregnancy. In Japan, there are the IUD and IUS, but in the overseas, there are many other contraceptive options such as contraceptive implants.
Translate by Etsuko Sakairi
