Need for a paradigm shift in supporting children with medical care needs in Japan: Legal conflicts between scope and limits of reasonable accommodation in schools
| Published date | 01 September 2023 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/13582291231187060 |
| Author | Munehisa Yoshitoshi,Goro Horiguchi,Kiriko Takahashi |
| Date | 01 September 2023 |
| Subject Matter | Case Commentary |
Case Commentary
International Journal of
Discrimination and the Law
2023, Vol. 23(3) 283–294
© The Author(s) 2023
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DOI: 10.1177/13582291231187060
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Need for a paradigm shift in
supporting children with
medical care needs in Japan:
Legal conflicts between scope
and limits of reasonable
accommodation in schools
Munehisa Yoshitoshi
1
, Goro Horiguchi
2
and
Kiriko Takahashi
3
Abstract
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD)
guarantees the right of all children to receive inclusive education and requires reasonable
accommodations be provided accordingly. Japan, which ratified the CRPD in 2014, now
positions the social model of disability at the core of its domestic laws and, in schools, we
see more provisions of reasonable accommodations for children with disabilities. In this
article, we analyze the very first judgments delivered on reasonable accommodations for
children with medical care needs since Japan’s ratification of the CRPD. The case was
closed by simply recognizing the “financial limitations”of the municipal government and
school while excessively emphasizing the parents’“duty to ensure children to receive
general education.”Such a judgment did not sufficiently reflect the intent of the CRPD and
relevant domestic laws guaranteeing inclusive education as a “human right”for children.
We expect an inversion of this case in the future.
1
Faculty of Education, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan
2
Faculty of Law, Okayama University, Okayama, Japan
3
Center on Disability Studies, University of HawaiʻiatM
anoa, Honolulu, USA
Corresponding author:
Munehisa Yoshitoshi, Faculty of Education, Okayama University, 3-1-1 Tsushima-naka, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-
8530 Japan.
Email: yositosi@okayama-u.ac.jp
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