Perspectives on disability as a demographic issue, based on the results of a study in China, South Korea and Japan

One of the challenges that developed countries are facing is the population decline, resulting in shrinking economies and labor shortages for some time now, and one of the solutions is employing women, elderly, and people with disabilities. But what does it mean to hire people with disabilities? The 2006 Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities is well known for forcing a paradigm shift in state parties from the previously dominant ‘medical model’ of disability to a ‘social model’. Since the conclusion of the Convention, three Northeast Asian countries (China, Japan and South Korea) have taken measures to implement the principles set forth in the Convention. To study the results of the efforts, in this report (1) we try to find out what measures the countries have taken to implement the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities («Article 8 Awareness Raising» from the Comprehensive Report) and how they have been evaluated by the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. (2) Secondly, we conducted our own questionnaire survey based on the research above. The purpose of the survey is to find out what attitudes are formed among residents of the three countries towards people with disabilities. The paradigm shift to one in which disabilities are a social issue rather than an individual issue is confronting each of us with the question of how we should view disability. Even among the three countries, that are closely related culturally and economically, there were significant differences in the perception of disability and the extent to which ‘medical model’ was upheld. How should each of the three countries respond to current situation? It is expected that efforts to address the problem stated (1) will continue in the future, but if incremental improvements can improve the labor market and create an environment where people with disabilities can play an active role in the workforce, it may help address labor shortages.