22.05.2019The Disability Right Movement in Japan: Uncompromising Self-Assertion at the Risk of Isolation?

Referentin

Dr. Anne-Lise Mithout (Université Paris Diderot)

Datum und Zeit

22. Mai 2019, 10:15 - 12:00 Uhr

Ort

Universität Zürich, Asien-Orient-Institut, Raum ZUB 416, Zürichbergstrasse 4, 8032 Zürich

Abstract

This presentation will present a chronological overview of the movements defending disabled people's rights in Japan, their strategies and relationships with the State and other social movements. It will analyze the shift from category-based movements (wounded soldiers, associations of the Blind or the Deaf, parents of children with intellectual disability) to a unified movement aiming at representin all "disabled people" in a broader sense. The association Aoi shiba no kai played a key role in this shift, yet its strategy was based on a radical denunciation of "eugenic" and an uncompromising assertion of disability as an identity, whicht at the same time contributed to isolating the Disability Right movement from potential allies such as feminist groups or parents associations. By examining how the movement asserted its specificity, we will discuss the path through which people with disabilities have fought for self-advocacy in contemporary Japan.

Organisation

Asien-Orient-Institut - Japanologie